ly by our medical men, of whose self-sacrifice and devotion
no praise is too high. The same is true of their conduct all through
the war.

Our life on the Plain was certainly a puzzle to us. Why were we (p. 033)
kept there? When were we going to leave? Were we not wanted in France?
These were the questions we asked one another. I met an Imperial
officer one day, who had just returned from the front. I asked him
when we were going to train for the trenches. "Why" he said, "what
better training could you have than you are getting here? If you can
stand the life here, you can stand the life in France." I think he was
right. That strange experience was just what we needed to inure us to
hardship, and it left a stamp of resolution and efficiency on the
First Division which it never lost.

CHAPTER IV. (p. 034)

OFF TO FRANCE.

_January To March, 1915._

Towards the end of January, rumors became more frequent that our
departure was close at hand, and we could see signs of the coming
movement in many quarters. The disposition of the chaplains was still
a matter of uncertainty. At last we were informed that only five
chaplains were to proceed with the troops to France. This was the
original number which the War Office had told us to bring from Canada.
The news fell like a thunderbolt upon us, and we at once determined to
get the order changed. The Senior Roman Catholic Chaplain and myself,
by permission of the General, made a special journey to the War
Office. The Chaplain-General received us, if not coldly, at least
austerely. We told him that we had come from Canada to be with the men
and did not want to leave them. He replied by saying that the
Canadians had been ordered by Lord Kitchener to bring only five
chaplains with them, and they had brought thirty-one. He said, looking
at me, "That is not military discipline; we must obey orders." I
explained to him that since the Canadian Government was paying the
chaplains the people thought it did not matter how many we had. Even
this did not seem to convince him. "Besides", he said, "they tell me
that of all the troops in England the Canadians are the most
disorderly and undisciplined, and they have got thirty-one chaplains."
"But", I replied, "you ought to see what they would have been like, if
we had brought only five." We succeeded in our mission in so far that
he promised to speak to Lord Kitchener that af