good, sound, hard reasons as to why
we should not do these things. These friendly chats with
their sound common sense do us far more good than hundreds
of stereotyped sermons.

"The service finishes up with many more hymns and the
Benediction. But even then we do not leave. This particular
Padre of ours has introduced what he calls
'get-away-from-the-war chats.' We sit round and talk about
everything in general--of home, of books, and all general
topics. His idea is that we should try to forget about the
war for that brief half-hour or so. These talks are very
popular; we get large 'congregations,' and these services
really do much more good than the official Church Parade,
when the battalion often has to stand in the cold for about
an hour on end before the service commences."

To this description of religious services at the front Sydney Baxter
adds the following note. You will remember that he writes of what he
himself has seen and felt. He has fought in the trenches, and we who
have not, have got to face life from his point of view if we are to
understand and help him in the days to come.

"The majority of the men who used to attend these services
would probably shock the ordinary church-goer. These chaps
would occasionally swear, at times they certainly got too
'merry.' But this did not make them any the less good
fellows. Unless one has actually been at the front, it's no
good arguing with him or trying to make him understand the
front's point of view. What man who has not been through it
can even dimly imagine the after-effect of continuous
bombardment and heavy shelling? This I do want to say: the
whole time these men were at the services they were far more
reverent than many I have seen in churches in England. On
leaving they would probably speak of the Chaplain as a
_damn_, or even more expressive, fine chap; half an hour
after the service one might find them playing cards, later
on taking rather more than was good for them at the cafe,
and yet there was absolutely no doubt as to their
earnestness and sincerity or their attitude towards
religion. On the whole they were a far cleaner-living lot of
men than those one unfortunately sometimes finds in a place
of worship in England.

"_They were real good sorts. They would never go bac