, crosses himself, repeats a prayer, and passes on,
probably confident that his sins are forgiven. Everybody goes to
Mass at the church of his commune at seven o'clock each morning,
and often in the evening as well--on Sunday about three times.
Church spires are about the only landmarks in this very flat and
rather uninteresting country. The towers vary between the square
and the spire. The church itself is always large and quite
imposing. You don't see churches of anything like the same size
in English villages of corresponding population. A common sight
as you ride along these roads is to see the cure, dressed in a
long black surtout and a huge wide-brimmed hat just like "Don
Bartola," the music-master in the opera of _Il Barbiere de
Siviglia_. The cure gravely salutes you as you pass by, "Bon
jour, mon ami!"

I am billeted with very decent folk, extremely devout Catholics.
The old man is the secretary to the Mayor. He spends his spare
time learning English, and can read an English newspaper quite
well. My room is of the kind I like--plain, with two huge windows
opening like folding-doors, and only a tiny carpet to attract the
dust; the rest clean, bare boards. In the room are two waxen
images, one of the Virgin and Child, and one of Christ carrying a
child in His arms; also a waxen model in a case of glass of the
Virgin and Child, besides no fewer than three crucifixes. This is
only characteristic of the whole village: every room I've seen
hereabouts seems crowded with images. There are lots of these
images, chipped and smashed, lying about the streets of Ypres. I
suppose where you are at present [Scotland] everybody is a
Presbyterian and very much against all ritual. There is at least
this resemblance between Scot and Flemish: they both call the
church "kirk" or "kerque." It is rather amusing to think that,
according to the ideas of some English Churchmen, both Scottish
Presbyterian and Flemish Catholic are lost for ever; while the
Baptist of Llanelly is equally convinced that all three of them
are; and each imagines the other to be hopelessly wrong. The war
has this advantage: that it cuts athwart of all such ridiculous
distinctions--for have we not among the Allies English Churchmen
and Nonconformists, Catholics, Mohammedans, Hindus and