and the man collected as
many of the hymn books as were not spoilt by the mud. Knowing how hard
it was and how long it took to get hymn books from the Base, it was
with regret that I left any behind. But then I reflected that it might
be really a scattering of the seed by the wayside. Some poor lone (p. 104)
soldier who had been wandering from the paths of rectitude might pick
up the hymns by chance and be converted. Indulging in such self
consolation I arrived just in time for the service.

Services were never things you could be quite sure of until they came
off. Often I have gone to bed on Saturday night feeling that
everything had been done in the way of arranging for the following
day. Battalions had been notified, adjutants had put the hours of
service in orders, and places for the gatherings had been carefully
located. Then on the following day, to my intense disgust, I would
find that all my plans had been frustrated. Some general had taken it
into his head to order an inspection, or some paymaster had been asked
to come down and pay off the men. The Paymaster's Parade, in the eyes
of the men, took precedence of everything else. A Church Service was
nowhere in comparison. More often than I can recollect, all my
arrangements for services have been upset by a sudden order for the
men to go to a bathing parade. Every time this happened, the Adjutant
would smile and tell me, as if I had never heard it before, that
"cleanliness was next to godliness." A chaplain therefore had his
trials, but in spite of them it was the policy of wisdom not to show
resentment and to hold one's tongue. I used to look at the Adjutant,
and merely remark quietly, in the words of the Psalmist, "I held my
tongue with bit and bridle, while the ungodly was in my sight."

People at Headquarters soon got accustomed to my absence and never
gave me a thought. I used to take comfort in remembering Poo Bah's
song in the Mikado, "He never will be missed, he never will be missed."
Sometimes when I have started off from home in the morning my sergeant
and Ross have asked me when I was going to return. I told them that if
they would go down on their knees and pray for illumination on the
subject, they might find out, but that I had not the slightest idea
myself. A visit to the trenches was most fascinating. I used to take
Philo with me. He found much amusement in hunting for rats, and would
often wander off into No Man's Land and come back covered w