"Now they begin to return." ( See page 60. )...

I am indebted to the Rev. James Green for the privilege of writing an introduction to his book, in which he gives a lucid and interesting description of the life of our gallant soldiers of the A.I.F. In his capacity as one of our Chaplains to the Force, all of whom have done such noble work during the war, he has been able to enjoy a close personal touch with our men—more particularly perhaps at Gallipoli; the record of his sympathetic observation and experience will, I am sure, be heartily welc

For reasons known to the men of the Australian Imperial Force, I am always interested in meeting others who wear the green badge on their arm. A good soldier is always as proud of the colours he wears on his shoulder as the colours he wears on his breast. He knows that each brigade and battalion possesses a soul of its own, and he is proud to belong to his battalion and to worthily wear its colours. For these reasons I ask the privilege of dedicating this book to the officers and men of the Firs

We are getting near IT at last. We have started our march through the quaint Flemish villages, past canals where long strings of barges, painted grey, and bearing the marks of the wonderful Army Service Corps of the British Army, are being towed steadily forward. Occasionally, we march through good French towns, with their fine churches and cathedrals. We hate the pavé. It is hard for marching; but we recognize that it is a great advantage to possess such hard roads to bear the enormous War traf

At the gate of a ruined farm in our sector in Flanders is a little chapel to 'Our Lady of Deliverance.' It is seventy years old. The brickwork at one corner is broken down by shell-fire, but the ancient picture above the altar, and the altar also, are intact. What was the idea of the ancient proprietor in building this chapel at his gate? for most of the wayside sanctuaries hereabout are dedicated to our Saviour. It was a large farm-house, evidently the property of some wealthy farmer. It must h

'No Man's Land' is that bit of ground six hundred yards, and sometimes only thirty yards, between our trenches and those of the enemy. Over this disputed area we 'strafe' each other night and day. There are often water-holes, even swamps, in No Man's Land, and both sides have a habit of draining trenches into it. Wild flowers and even garden flowers grow in this area, for it contains ruined farm-houses and orchards. Poppies red as blood, lilies white as snow, roses, and blue cornflowers are ofte

We had a treasure in our battalion—a sergeant who knew all about bombs. He liked them, and knew exactly how to treat them. Of course we could not keep such a man in the battalion. He was manifestly called to the vocation of Instructor for Bombing Schools. They will never make a general of him—he is too valuable in his present capacity. Besides, his grammar and pronunciation are not equal to such a strain. The more lucid his explanations are, the looser is his control of the aspirate; although th

The Army Chaplain, drawn by Mars from his quiet round of parish work and life, made up, as it is, of pastoral visitation, educational and devotional meetings, and the public services of the Sabbath, is certain to find active service a restless experience. His battles aforetime, fierce enough sometimes, were in the arena of Synod or Conference Hall, and his duels were of the more or less friendly sort of the Ministers' Fraternal. Now he sees something of battles more dramatic, in which the missil

Everything is in the melting-pot. Even our ideas of religion are changing. The development of theology is being hastened by the 'big push,' and orthodoxy is being tested in the red crucible of war. There is a lot of confusion, and that all the contending nations claim God is embarrassing to us , but not to God. We may be sure that there is no jostling or confusion in the Eternal mind. The Good Shepherd knows His own and is not deceived by our claims and counter-claims. 'Gott mit uns' is engraved

There is some very fine architecture in London, and buildings which reveal some of the finest workmanship in the world, for the London craftsmen are famous. But all this is crowned with the craziest collection of chimney-pots. Sometimes the brickwork of the chimneys is built from one angle to another above the roof; like a zigzag, and then surmounted on the same building with chimney-pots of different designs and heights, pointing, too, in different directions, and again capped with many weird c

When the great war is over there are some places which will live in the minds of the Australians. Mena and the desert around the Pyramids has become a part of the perspective of many Australian lives. It is stamped there by many a long route march, and the training of the Australian Forces there is a page in the annals of the history of Egypt, which includes so much that is military, most noteworthy being the assembling, training, and fighting of Napoleon's Army at the same place. We had our Bat