The Henson Journals

[287]

7th Sunday after Trinity, July 18th, 1915.

349th day

A beautiful morning after the rain. This house is situated on the main street of the little town: but I was nowise incommoded by the noise. The front gives no promise of the fine garden, gay with flowers, which stretches behind. Only in old towns does one find such charming surprises. At 9.30 a.m. I was in my place for the Church Parade. The magnificent perpendicular parish church was filled from end to end with soldiers, whose demeanour was reverent, and singing hearty. I preached for about 12 minutes on the claims of children, & was listened to with close attention. The acoustics of the Church are excellent. After the parade, West led me up the hill to the camp of the Queen's Westminsters. The view of the church with tapering spire was superb from this elevation. On the way he shewed me some charming medieval houses which wd not have disgraced Nuremberg. I particularly admired the Oriel windows entirely of carved oak. At 11 a.m. I attended Mattins, & was much pleased with the reverence & heartiness of the service. The singing was unusually good. Mr Antrobus, the Vicar, preached the sermon – a very young–looking man, but probably older than he looks (I was told that he was 38). He preached from notes, & with fluency. The congregation listened with evident appreciation. Of course he preached about the war, & from his words I inferred that he was probably a "Catholick". This supposition was confirmed by his manner & his crossing of himself at the Creed. However, he seemed earnest, & was brief! I learned from the Mayor that he was married only a fortnight since, & has been about two years in the parish. After Mattins the Mayor strolled in the town with me, & pointed out its beauties.

[289]

We had tea very pleasantly with the Colonel in camp, which we walked round. Everything is excellently organized, & very clean. The young men look clean & eager as young men should. On the way back to the House we visited the Almshouses, founded in 1550. There is in the Hall a portrait of Edward VI, said to be by Holbein.

There can be no doubt that the quality – physical, mental & moral – of this new army is far higher than that of the regular troops. They show the fact inconveniently sometimes by 'thinking for themselves', and so giving trouble to officers. But the unprecedented nature of this war, & its strange developments, have gone far to destroy the value of the old training, on which the soldiers had set such store. In point of fact, the efficiency of the Territorial troops appears to be quite equal to that of any but the very best Regulars. The appearance of these young men is excellent: they have the clear healthy countenances of temperate & virtuous men, & in size & carriage they are above the average. Of course, these are picked regiments, & can hardly be considered quite representative of the whole force. The Colonel last night described the situation at Rangoon as very alarming. Pathans & Sikhs had been tampered with by the Germans: & most of the Sikh regiments had been sent to Europe because their disaffection was so alarming. His authority was that of private letters from Rangoon. The longer the War drags on the severer will be the strain on native loyalty.

I inquired at the Canteen what liquors were mainly sold, & I was told that cider was the favourite in hot weather, & beer in cold: but generally more was sold of the former than the latter. There are many tee totallers.

[291]

At 7.30 p.m. West called, and led me to the Y.M.C.A. tent where a service of an impromptu character was arranged. Only about 50 or 60 soldiers were present, for the fineness of the evening after the comfortless weather of yesterday made the appeal of the open air irresistible. However, the service was hearty, & seemed to be sincere. I spoke S. Paul's words, "If God be for us, who is against us?", & was well listened to. The Scotch Chaplain made a brief speech, fulsome & foolish, giving me a distaste of him, & then I chatted with some of the men. West came in to supper. He was one of Westcott's young men, & was by him encouraged to go to Australia for a period. But he had found, as I always said would be the case, that his return to work in England was not easily arranged. I told him frankly that I had disapproved Westcott's scheme when it was first announced, & that I disapproved of it still.

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