of getting up again until the
family went to Mass on the following Sunday. So I paid the woman five
francs for my lodging and started out in pursuit of another. I managed
to find a room in another little farmhouse, somewhat larger and
cleaner. My room was a small one and had an earth floor. The ceiling
was so low that I could touch the beams with my head when I stood on
my toes. But in it were two enormous double beds, a table and a chair.
What more could one want? A large cupboard full of straw furnished a
billet for Murdoch and he was allowed to do my simple cooking on the
family stove.

Small as my billet was, I was able on one occasion to take in and (p. 045)
house three officers of the Leicesters, who arrived one night in
preparation for the battle of Neuve Chapelle. I also stowed away a
sergeant in the cupboard with Murdoch. My three guests were very
hungry and very tired and enjoyed a good sleep in the ponderous beds.
I saw a photo of one of the lads afterwards in the Roll of Honour page
of the "Graphic," and I remembered the delightful talk I had had with
him during his visit.

At that time we were all very much interested in a large fifteen-inch
howitzer, which had been placed behind a farmhouse, fast crumbling
into ruins. It was distant two fields from my abode. To our simple
minds, it seemed that the war would soon come to an end when the
Germans heard that such weapons were being turned against them. We
were informed too, that three other guns of the same make and calibre
were being brought to France. The gun was the invention of a retired
admiral who lived in a farmhouse nearby and who, when it was loaded,
fired it off by pressing an electric button. The officer in charge of
the gun was very pleasant and several times took me in his car to
interesting places. I went with him to Laventie on the day of the
battle of Neuve Chapelle, and saw for the first time the effects of an
attack and the wounded being brought back in ambulances.

There was one large barn not far off full of beautiful yellow straw
which held several hundred men. I had a service in it one night. The
atmosphere was smoky and mysterious, and the hundreds of little
candles propped up on mess-tins over the straw, looked like a special
illumination. A large heap of straw at the end of the barn served as a
platform, and in lieu of an organ I had a mandolin player to start the
hymns. The service went very well, the men joining in heartily.