ghts out!"

BLOEMFONTEIN, O.F.S.

DEAR MOTHER,--I can't say I care much for this place. Nothing to
see but kopjes all round; and if you want to buy anything, by
Jove, you have to pay a pretty price. For instance, cup of tea,
6d.; bottle of ginger beer, 6d.; cigarettes, 1s. a packet. But at
the Soldiers' Home a cup of tea is only 3d. Thanks to those in
authority, the S.H. is what I call our "haven of rest." I shan't
be sorry when I come home to _our own_ haven of rest, as it is
impossible to buy any luxuries on our little pay. Just fancy, a
small tin of jam, 2s. It's simply scandalous; and the inhabitants
seem to think Tommy has a mint of money.

[Sidenote: _S.C.A. Work._]

After a while similar Homes were opened in various parts of the town;
but this long pause in our progress was a veritable harvest-time for
all Christian workers; and especially for those of the S.C.A., who
planted two magnificent marquees in the very midst of the men, and had
the supreme satisfaction of seeing them crowded night after night and
almost all day long. Every Sunday morning I was privileged to conduct
one of my Parade Services under their sheltering canvas; and many a
time in the course of each succeeding week took part in their
enthusiastic religious gatherings.

Here, as at Modder River, secular song was nowhere, while sacred song
became all and in all. I am told that sometimes on the march,
sometimes amid actual battle scenes, our lads caught up and encouraged
themselves by chanting some more or less appropriate music-hall ditty.
One battalion when sending a specially large consignment of whizzing
bullets across into the Boer lines did so to the accompanying tune of

"You have to have 'em
Whether you want 'em or no!"

Another fighting group, when specially hard pressed, began to sing
"Let 'em all come!" But in the Bloemfontein camps I seldom heard any
except songs of quite another type; and on one occasion was greatly
touched by listening to a Colonial singing a sweet but unfamiliar
melody about

"The pages that I love
In the Bible my mother gave to me."

Even among men on active service, many of whom are nearing mid-life,
and have long been married, mother's influence is still a supremely
potent thing!

[Sidenote: _Rudyard Kipling's Mistake._]

Partly as the result of influences such as these, a