Excerpt
INTRODUCTION
The story I am about to tell is one of surpassing interest. It is the story of Christian life, work, and heroism among our troops at the front.
The soldier is easily moved to good or to evil. In the past evil influences have been more powerful and more numerous than influences for good. Our soldiers had been drawn, for the most part, from classes outside all churches and Christian influences, and the wet canteen had been the most popular institution in the Army.
For the last twenty-five years, however, the situation has been altering for the better. The day-school has done its work, and a free education has accomplished splendid things for the working-man. The Sunday-school, too, has extended its scope and has of late years been more efficient than ever before. There has been a steady levelling up of the people, and the Army has risen with the rest. Said a soldier to me during the South African war: "They think we are the same as we used to be, but we are no longer the scum of the earth."
Slowly and surely the work done outside the Army has been reflected in the Army. The Army Temperance Association, the Soldiers' Christian Association, the Soldiers' Homes provided by the churches, and other uplifting organisations have found that they were working on soil to some extent prepared. The soldier has responded readily to the appeals made, and the Soldiers' Homes have become as popular as the canteens, and often more so. A Soldiers' Home in a camp has meant at once a change for the better. The senior officers have recognised this fact, and have gladly welcomed every Christian effort on behalf of their men.
I remember, when Bordon and Longmoor camps were formed, with what joy my colleagues and I were welcomed by the officer in command. Everything he had was placed at our disposal, a hut was apportioned to us, and we furnished it, for the most part, from furniture belonging to the camp. Everything was very rough in those days, and the roads well-nigh impassable; but when we got there what a welcome we had! The late Colonel Gordon, R.E. (nephew of Gordon of Khartoum), lent us his piano and his wife often played it for us.
I was standing on Petersfield Station platform one night looking sadly at a group of drunken and half-drunken soldiers, when a non-commissioned officer came up, and, after saluting, said, "They would not be like that if you had a Home for them, sir."
By and by it was not only a hut we had, but a permanent Soldiers' Home, and when it was opened by the Earl of Donoughmore, it became crowded at once. Brigadier-General Campbell stood our friend through all those difficult days, and rejoiced as much as we did in the prosperity of the Home.
It must be remembered also that for many years past there has been an increasing leaven of Christian men in the Army. The Home to which I have just referred could not have been the power it became had it not been for this. I remember a lance-corporal who, so far as he knew, was the only Christian in his regiment....