ed me most
cordially and told me they had a spare heap of straw in the room. They
not only said they would arrange for me for the night, but they called
their servant and told him to get me some supper. They said I looked
worn out. A good dish of ham and eggs and a cup of strong tea at that
time were most refreshing and when I had finished eating, seeing a
copy of the Oxford Book of Verse on the table, I began to read it to
them, and finally, and quite naturally, found myself later on, about
one a.m., reciting my own poems. It was most interesting meeting
another set of men. The barn, which was kept as a prison for Germans
was large and commodious. As we took only five or six prisoners (p. 082)
at that time, it was more than sufficient for the purpose. The officers
told me that the reason why so few prisoners turned up was that the
Canadians got tired of their charges before they arrived at the
prison, and only handed over a few as souvenirs. I really think the
Scotsmen believed it. The Glasgow men moved away and were succeeded by
a company of Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders. The tables were now
turned, for as I had kept on inhabiting the large room with the three
heaps of straw in it, the two officers who came "to take over" asked
my permission to make their billet in the prison.

In the meantime, the fighting in the trenches was very fierce. I spent
my days in parish visiting and my nights at the various dressing
stations. The batteries of artillery were all round us in the fields
and orchards, and there was great concentration of British and
Canadian guns. In spite of the brigadier's orders, I often went east
of Headquarters. One lovely Sunday evening I had a late service for
men of the 16th Battalion in an orchard. They were going off later
into No Man's Land on a working party. The service, which was a
voluntary one, had therefore an underlying pathos in it. Shells were
falling in the fields on both sides of us. The great red sunset glowed
in the west and the trees overhead cast an artistic gray green light
upon the scene. The men were facing the sunset, and I told them as
usual that there lay Canada. The last hymn was "Abide with Me", and
the words, "Hold Thou Thy Cross before my closing eyes", were
peculiarly touching in view of the fact that the working party was to
start as soon as the service was ended. At Festubert our Cavalry
Brigade, now deprived of their horses, joined us, and I remember one
morning