l. The town never looked more
beautiful than at sunset on that lovely summer evening. It had about
it the spell of the old world, and the quiet life which had gone on
through the centuries in a kind of dream. One did hope that the attack
to the South would be the beginning of the end and that peace would be
restored to the shattered world. On that day, the King had arrived on
a flying visit to the front, and some of his staff were billeted at
the hotel. The following day I visited the Second Army Headquarters in
the Casino Building, and met some of our old friends who had gone
there from the Canadian Corps. In the afternoon I rode off to St.
Omer, little Philo running beside me full of life and spirits. It was
a hot and dusty ride. I put up at the Hotel du Commerce, where I met
several Canadian officers and many airmen. The next day was Sunday so
I attended the service in the military church. After it was over, I
went with a young flying officer into the old cathedral.

The service had ended and we were alone in the building, but the
sunlight flooded it and brought out the richness of contrast in light
and shadow, and the air was still fragrant with the smell of incense.
My friend and I were talking, as we sat there, about the effect the
war had had upon religion. Turning to me he said, "The great thing (p. 135)
I find when I am in a tight place in the air is to pray to Jesus
Christ. Many and many a time when I have been in difficulties and
thought that I really must be brought down, I have prayed to Him and
He has preserved me." I looked at the boy as he spoke. He was very
young, but had a keen, earnest face, and I thought how often I had
seen fights in the air and how little I had imagined that the human
hearts in those little craft, which looked like tiny flies among the
clouds, were praying to God for help and protection. I told him how
glad I was to hear his testimony to the power of Christ. When we got
back to the hotel, one of the airmen came up to him and said,
"Congratulations, old chap, here's your telegram." The telegram was an
order for him to join a squadron which held what the airmen considered
to be, from it's exceeding danger, the post of honour at the Somme
front. I often wonder if the boy came through the fierce ordeal alive.

It was pleasant to meet Bishop Gwynne and his staff once again. There
was always something spiritually bracing in visiting the Headquarters
of our Chaplain Service at St. Omer.