Norwich bulletin., 1918-07-20

sponsibility is for the conduct of their own thoughts.
 In intercourse with our soldiers in France one soon discovers that many of them are living an active, often an exalted, inner life. The gossip that used to satisfy their hours of leisure no longer meets their need for mental refreshment, and their minds seem to crave the solid nourishment to be found in poetry and religion. A mem Der of the Foreign Legion, who was by no means an educated man in the usual sense of the phrase. told us that he always carried in his pocket a copy of The Golden Treasury" which had comforted him through many a weary vigil in shell-hole and trench. Ro- bert w. Services Rhymes of a Red Cross Man" is the familiar friend of thousands of our boys. Kipling, too. they know well and a host of other poets less celebrated. Many a boy has his pocket crammed full of verses I Fthat he or his. correspondents at home have culled from the newspapers. Not only do they read poetry; they write it. We met one boy who had composed reams of 'vers fibre" and whose letters home, his official cen ! sor told us, were written in the same medium.
 That delightful mirror of army life ''The Stars and Stripes" is brimmine 1 with the poetic effusions of it's read CTS. The Parisian New York Herald l held a competition in verse last spring, open to men in the A E. F i The response was overwhelming ir qauntity and the prize winners, espe- cially the sonnet that won the first prize, were worthy of really serious consideration.
 | Confronted with the most serious ot i all problems, that of death and wha1 comes after it, the boys thoughts turr | often towards religion-not so ofter l to the traditional creeds in which they were brought up as to the significance
 to them personally of the sacrifice
 they hold themselves prepared tC make. The Y M c. A. secretarie! and the Chaplains find them willing to lay bare and discuss the most in
 innate problems of their lives. Th' trend of their religious thought i
 away from the Journalism of dogms
 and doctrine and towards simpl code of service and self sacrifice Tn many tales of gallantry and self-for lgentfulness that come to us from tn,
 battle line show how this code ex l presses itself in deeds. Two incident that have been reported to me shoV
 how it expresses itself in words.
 In the course of a hot battle a de
 tachment of American soldiers wa
 cut off and surrounded by the enemy
 Some one must cut his way througl
 to where relief could be obtained 4
 private generally known as a rough
 neck" volunteered and performed thi
 dangerous service. Afterwards h
 confded to a Salvation Army wofke
 that, although he never before ha
 prayed, this time he had offered : prayer before he left his lines.
 But what did you say?"
 "Oh," I said. God I don't give
 damn what happens to me, but pleas keep me safe till I can bring bac
 help for these boys here"
 Another boy confessed that he al ways prayed before he went over tn ,, top. He did not pray to be save ,, from all harm, for that would seen as if he were taking an unfair ad vantage of the fellows who forgot 0 did not know how to pray; he praye only that no matter what happened h might be given the strength to bea himself like brave man. Could tn most pious of saints have framed nobler prayer than this?