CHAPTER V[ToC]
THOMAS ATKINS IN THE TRENCHES
The Original Thomas Atkins—No Infidels in the Trenches—In the Trenches at Night—A Salvation Army Story, and Others—Man Who was Digging a Trench—They have "Kept Smiling "—What Christ is to the Soldier—What a Picture!—Every Place the "House of the Lord"—The Soldier Spirit—The Gilts from Home—Courage has never Failed—And the Christian Soldier?
"I tell you what it is, sir, God is jolly near you in the trenches." So spoke Thomas Atkins to a Church of England chaplain. It was just like him to speak thus. A vigorous utterance suits him.
But how did he come by the name Thomas Atkins? The story goes that it dates from the Peninsular War. The Duke of Wellington was directing some operations in the field. An aide-de-camp rode up to him with the outline of a new attestation form, or something of that kind sent out by the War Office of those days.
It was advisable to fill up the top line in order that those who filled up the following lines might have an example of how it should be done. The question was, Whose name should be put in there? The aide-de-camp thought the Duke would mention the first name that came into his mind, but not so the Duke. He looked at it a moment, and said, "I must think. Come back to me in an hour."
During that hour he turned over in his mind the deeds of bravery he had seen performed by private soldiers. He thought of the brave deeds of soldiers in the Peninsular Campaign. And then his mind went back to India, and at last he said to himself, "Yes, that was the bravest deed I ever saw performed by a private soldier." And when his aide-de-camp came back he said, "Put down Thomas Atkins." And "Thomas Atkins" it has been from that day to this. So the title enshrines the memory of a brave man, and I wonder if he, too, felt God "jolly near" him in the trenches.
"Jolly near!" It is a thought-provoking phrase. "Near!" Ah! yes, we know that, and if we can look up amidst the bursting shell and see, not the angry, but the smiling face of God, then the word "jolly," if not as we should put it, is at any rate expressive.
The "Eye-witness" with the British Army tells us something of what it is like in the trenches.