car, and they have
talked about their own cars at home. It was quite pathetic to see how
much men thought of some little courtesy or act of kindness. A young
fellow was brought in on a stretcher to the Red Chateau dressing
station one Sunday afternoon at Courcelette. He was terribly wounded
and gave me his father's address in Canada so that I might write to
him. He was carried away and I heard afterwards he died. Some months
later I had a letter from his father, a Presbyterian minister in
Ontario, thanking me for writing and telling me how pleased his son
had been by my giving him a ride one day in a Headquarters car. I
mention this so that people will realize how much the men had given up
when they considered such a trifling thing worth mentioning.

The position of a chaplain as the war went on became very different
from what it had been at the beginning. The experience through which
the army had passed had showed to the military authorities that there
was something more subtle, more supernatural behind the life of the
men, than one might gather from the King's Regulations. Our chaplains
had done splendid work, and I think I may say that, with one or two
exceptions, they were idolized by their units. I could tell of one (p. 116)
of our chaplains who lived continually at the advanced dressing station
in great hardship and discomfort, sharing the danger and privation of
his men. The curious thing about a chaplain's popularity was that the
men never praised a chaplain whom they knew without adding "It is a
pity that all chaplains are not like him". On one occasion when I was
going through the Division, I was told by the men of one unit that
their chaplain was a prince, and it was a pity that all chaplains were
not like him. I went to another unit, and there again I was told that
their chaplain was a prince, and it was a pity that all chaplains were
not like him. It seems to be a deeply rooted principle in a soldier's
mind to beware of praising religion overmuch. But it amused me in a
general survey to find that ignorance of the work of other chaplains
led to their condemnation. I fancy the same spirit still manifests
itself in the British Army and in Canada. I find officers and men
eager enough to praise those who were their own chaplains but always
adding to it a condemnation of those who were not. An officer said to
me one day that the war had enabled chaplains to get to know men. I
told him that the war also had enabl