"The ordinary services were taken usually in the open air, though sometimes some large building, a barn, schoolroom, or shed was available. Whenever it was practicable I had the Holy Communion indoors, and for this service I invariably put on my surplice. I have had to celebrate in many strange places—in lofts, kitchens of farm-houses, engine sheds, stables, and even in a slaughter-house. But there has been a devotion and a spiritual uplifting in these most unwonted surroundings which have been good to see, and officers and men have come to the Holy Communion in large numbers with a reverence and an evident longing for communion with God which one does not always see, even in the most splendid churches at home.
"When my stay in the Fourth Division was drawing to a close, Mr. Hall, whom you probably know, the Wesleyan chaplain at Chatham, was posted to the Eleventh Field Ambulance, and came to live with me at my billet. He and I did a great deal of work together, and he would tell you about it, for he is at home now. I shall never forget how we went together one night to a certain battalion which was going into the trenches the following day. We first had the ordinary evening service in an underground place, and afterwards there was the Holy Communion, to which came 122 officers and men. The room in which we were gathered was very dim, and we felt very deeply the immense solemnity of the hour.
"It was all very wonderful and very beautiful. During the actual administration, the commanding officer walked behind me with a lantern, up and down the rows of kneeling men, so as to make sure that all were cared for.
"We did not reach our billet until after eleven o'clock that night. The next day some of those who had made their communion on the previous night were killed in action.
"Very often our service had to be conducted under shell fire. I recall one amongst many instances. I was taking a service one weekday morning for a battery in the garden of a house at Houplines. A great number of shells went over us while the service was proceeding. Afterwards we had the Holy Communion in the house. During the service the houses on either side of ours were struck, and, finally, at the close there was a deafening crash and we found that the house in which we were had been hit, though not much damage was done.
"These circumstances of difficulty and danger seem to bring out the very best that is in men, and I have been immensely impressed by the craving for spiritual help shown by both officers and men, and their gratitude for anything I could do for them, as well as by the humble reverence and real devotion of all ranks.
"There are, of course, many other sides of a chaplain's work: the ministrations to the wounded and dying in the hospitals, and advanced dressing stations of the Field Ambulance, the burial of the dead—often at night and in strange weird circumstances—the visiting of men in the trenches when feasible, the writing of letters to relatives, the censoring of letters, and a number of other duties.
"It is often in a strange sort of place that one witnesses a poor fellow's last dying testimony, in some cellar possibly, where a wounded man has had to be conveyed so as to be safe from shell fire.
"In times of comparative quiet, and when troops are resting, I consider it most important that chaplains should try to organise some directly spiritual work, and also recreation daily during the trying hours after dark, until men have to be in their billets. For instance, in this place we have a room and a hall; in the room we have a Bible-class each evening, while in the hall there are papers and games, coffee can be procured, and there is an impromptu concert every evening. We have a stage with footlights, and a serviceable piano. On Sunday evenings there is a well-attended voluntary service there. Both places are well warmed and well lighted, with plenty of seats and chairs. This is most important.
"One great difficulty under which the Church of England has to labour in this country is that, with very few exceptions, the Roman Catholic ecclesiastical authorities will not allow us to use their churches. This is, I think, to be deplored, and I cannot understand how people can worship comfortably in their churches, while they know that fellow-Christians are obliged to hold their service in the open air, in cold discomfort, or in some quite unsuitable and mean building.