r room could be found for them. The
heartiness of that service, the reverence and devoutness of the
men, the uplifting of heart and voice in the familiar chants and
hymns, the clear manly enunciation of the Articles of our Faith,
and the ready responses, all combined to make the service a grand
evidence of the religious side of our men and a striking
testimony to their desire to worship their God in the beauty of
holiness. Many of us will remember that Sunday night with
thankfulness. Coney preached us a very excellent sermon. The few
civilians who were able to get in were much struck by the evident
sincerity and devout behaviour of the men who surrounded them.
And yet the Boers say 'the English _must_ lose because they have
no God.' One of the clergy told me a day or two after we got here
that he met one of our men outside the cathedral as he was
walking along, and the soldier accosted him. 'Beg pardon, sir,
is that an English church?' 'Yes,' said the clergyman. 'Might I
go in, sir?' 'Why, of course,' was the reply, 'it is open all
day.' 'Thank you, sir; I should just like to go in and say a
prayer for the wife and children;' and in he went.

"I felt after our first experience that it was hardly fair to
oust so many of the regular worshippers from their own place of
worship, and so we arranged for the extra service at 5.30. It was
to be purely a soldiers' service. But a word or two about the
Friday evening special Lenten service. Familiar hymns, a metrical
litany, and part of the Commination Service were gladly joined in
by a large number of men, the cathedral being more than half
full, and the archdeacon gave us a very helpful address. After
that service a good number of men stayed behind, at our
invitation, to practise psalms and hymns for the soldiers'
evening service on the following Sunday, a precaution which
served its purpose well. At that service the church was _filled_;
Lord Roberts came to it, and it was an ideal soldiers' service.
Coney and I took the service, Norman Lee and Southwell read the
lessons, Blackbourne was at the organ, and the dean preached. One
of the staff officers said afterwards that he had never enjoyed a
service so much, and I think many others had similar feelings.
But the flow of khaki-clad worshippers had not c