our experience, all sorts of pictures,
bright and sombre, crowd the mind--the Square at Poperinghe in the
evening, the Guards' fife and drum bands playing tattoo in the old
town while hundreds of men looked on; the dark station of Poperinghe
in the evening, and the battalions being sent up to the front in
railway trucks; the old mill at Vlamertinghe with the reception room
for the wounded, and the white tables on which the bleeding forms were
laid; the dark streets of Ypres, rank with the poisonous odours of
shell gas; the rickety horse-ambulances bearing their living freight
over the shell broken roads from Bedford House and Railway Dugouts;
the walking wounded, with bandaged arms and heads, making their way
slowly and painfully down the dangerous foot-paths; all these pictures
flash before the mind's eye, each with its own appeal, as one looks
back upon those awful days. The end was not in sight then. The war, we
were told, was going to be a war of attrition. It was to be a case of
"dogged does it." Under the wheels of the car of the great Juggernaut
our men had to throw themselves, till the progress of the car was
stayed. How peaceful were the little cemeteries where lay those
warriors who had entered into rest. But how stern was the voice from
the sleeping dead to carry on undismayed.

The Canadian Corps seemed to have taken root in the Salient, and,
after the severe fighting had ended, things went on as if we were to
have a long residence round Ypres. In looking over the notes in my
diary for June and July, I see a great many records of visits to
different units. How well one remembers the keen active life which
made that region a second Canada. There was the small town of Abeele,
where our Corps Headquarters were, and where our new commander,
General Byng, had his house. Not far away, up the road, was the
grenade school where the troops were instructed in the gentle art of
bomb-throwing. We had our divisional rest-camp in a pleasant spot,
where our men were sent to recuperate. The following is a typical
Sunday's work at this time:--Celebration of Holy Communion at St.
George's Church at eight a.m., Parade Service for the Division at nine
fifteen a.m., followed by a second Celebration of Holy Communion at
ten a.m., Parade Service followed by Holy Communion for a Battalion at
Connaught lines at eleven a.m., service for the divisional rest-camp
at three p.m., service at the Grenade School at four p.m., service (p. 13