the
work of the munitioners whose labours made possible this great strafing
of the Hun. The leader of the party, a colonial from far-off Australia,
simply danced with excitement which he made no attempt to suppress,
contenting himself with ejaculating from time to time expressions to the
effect that that was the most dramatic moment of his life. An
unemotional Professor from one of our great universities stood with
clenched fists, and was overheard to say, 'Give 'em hell, boys!' Another
padre in the company began to quote Browning, the quotation referring to
the signal flashes to which reference has already been made:

'From sky to sky. Sudden there went,
Like horror and astonishment,
A fierce vindictive scribble of red,
Which came across, as if one said,
. . . "There--
"Burn it!"'

How often it happens that in the greatest moments of one's life, it is
the trivial thing that appeals most strongly to one's imagination. So in
this case. The thing never to be forgotten was connected with the early
dawn. I can see even now that long grey streak on the horizon across the
battlefield, as the daylight came. A thrush from a bush close to where
we were standing began to pour out its song of praise and thanksgiving,
heedless of falling shells and the roar of guns. There was something
unspeakably pathetic in that song on the battlefield, yes, and prophetic
of the great day that is coming in spite of all reverses; the day of
victory and peace, peace purchased at the price of struggle, and of
blood.

As one watched the barrage from Kemmel the onslaught seemed to be
irresistible. It seemed impossible for the German hordes to hold our men
back. Neither could they have held them, but what the Hun could not do,
the rain did for him. It just teemed down, and in a few hours Flanders
was churned up into a swamp of mud. It was impossible to bring the big
guns up and the whole advance was stayed. One thought how often the same
thing had happened before, and wondered, only wondered, if we at home
were supporting the boys at the Front as they had a right to expect us
to support them? It is so easy at a time like this to put one's trust
merely in 'reeking tube and iron shard,' and to leave God out of our
calculations. After all in this great struggle we are not fighting
merely against 'flesh and blood,' but against 'principalities and
powers, against spiritual