The Henson Journals

[103]

11th Sunday after Trinity, August 7th, 1910.

The double stillness of the country & the Sabbath rests on one's spirit as a cooling bandage on a fevered wound. Sunlight breaking fitfully through summer foliage suggests the gentle sport of angels, visiting the homes of men & halting on the threshold. This is the first Sunday free of preaching which I have spent for a whole year.

We were driven to Bulford Camp for the military service. Both chaplains were present, of whom the younger ( Mr Tobias), an Irishman, preached. He possessed considerable fluency, and much confidence. He displayed some power of preaching suitably to his audience, & declined into something perilously akin to vulgarity at several points in his discourse. But vulgarity in extemporaneous preaching is too common to be remarkable. I was informed that the "Tommies" like him, & are interested by his odd sallies in the pulpit.

Bulford Camp has rather an uninviting aspect, being mainly constructed of corrugated iron to the disgust of the soldiers, who complain that in summer the heat is intolerable, & in winter the cold. Trees have been planted which will presently improve the appearance of the place, which now looks very naked & unsheltered. This camp is the most considerable aggregation of field artillery which the Army possesses.

[104]

During the afternoon various officers called. Of these two − Major White & Captn Hamilton – had some links with us; the former being acquainted with Jim; the latter being a Canadian friend of Mr Scofield of Harvard, Mass:, whom me met last year.

We walked to the aeroplane sheds in the hope of seeing somebody fly. But we arrived too late to witness an accident, happily not serious to the airman, Captain Fulton. He kindly allowed us to enter his shed, & inspect his damaged machine. It appears that the wind had caught him as he rose; that in trying to avoid the telegraph wires he tilted over, & came heavily down on one side. He must have struck the earth with considerable violence, as the front wheel was completely "bucklered." He told me that his machine weighed nearly 500 lbs. apart from his own weight.

As we returned, the rain began to fall rather fast: we hastened home, & arrived shortly after 7 p.m. wet enough to justify prompt change of garments.

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