The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-03-20
IN A BASE CAMP

more certainly than if he had sworn it, to them the men know that it is not of his own will that he stays behind
 He ceases speaking. Another officer the chaplain, stands beside him andl speaks next. Surely never to any minister of God is such an opportunity given. Hei says one simple word of exhortation: Pray, for of prayer comes courage, strength, patience and the inward peace.", He prays aloud that God may tighten theI surrounding darkness and may deliver from all peril. His head is raised, andr on the mems ears fall the words of thet benediction, on the mems hearts surely that of which the benediction tells. the peace of God which passeth all under-i standing, which even war cannot take' from him who has it.
 From the neighboring camp comes tkel sound of men singing as they march downs the muddy road. Another draft is on it's. way. From further off we hear the skirl, of the bagpipes. There, too, men havea said good-by to security, and are on theirl way to join their comrades. A sharp; order rings out. Then another and an other. The men on the parade ground
 
 fours. march. For few minutes the si- ' lence of the camp is broken by the tramp, of marching feet and the rattle of arms. The little group of officers, the sergeants, orderlies with the lanterns, stand and sa -s lute the passing column. Far down the road we hear a shouted jest, peal of laughter, burst of song.
 Tn what mood, with what spirit, does the soldier, the man in the ranks, go forth into the night of his supremely great ad -Ss venture? We do more than guess. Wes know. Through the hands of the of 1. ficers who act as censors these men have. written before they start There is a9 curious sameness about them. Hardly ever is there the least suggestion of heroic. resolve or hint of consciousness of great purpose. Very often there is a prayer. a hope, very simply expressed, of Gods blessing; but this is almost always for' those left at home, for wife and children parents, brothers, friends. It is as if, they and not the men who fight had dant gers to face and trials to endure. From his letters we may gues that the soldierb thinks very little of himself and very. mulch about those he has left behind He, says little of what his life has been' less still about that to which he looks' forward His mind is altogether occu-p pied with the little afafirs of his home. life, with the marriage of this friend, the. wages earned by son or daughter. the. thousand details of life in some Englisf village or some great city. Sometimes there is an expression of pleasure at the. thought of joining again comrades by, whose side the writer has fought. Some-' times an anticipation from young sol-f dier of seeing in the fighting line some. friend who has gone there before him They are not the letters which an imagI inative writer would create for soldierE who say farewell. They are, suppose4 the letters of men who are in love with peace and quiet ways, who have no great taste for adventuring, to whom war is non a joy, but hard necessity. Yet, as WI know, as all Europe knows now, thereS are no better fighters in the world thanI these citizen soldiers, whose blood the bugle stirs but sluggishly, whose hearts are all the time with those whom they have left at English flresides.