It was noticed also that the same chivalrous feeling of relationship existed between him and his men as existed formerly between a Highland chief and his clan. His interest in them and their families was ever showing itself in kindly visits to the married quarters of the barracks, in order to look after the welfare of the women and children, so as to increase their comfort. Fêtes and social meetings were not unfrequent, and at Christmas time it was his custom to have a well-laden Christmas tree, on which were suitable presents for the children, while the mothers had welcome little gifts of money distributed to them. All this, says the Rev. Alexander Stirling, minister of the Presbyterian church, York, was at his own private expense, and must have cost him not less than £50 on each occasion. In spite of the attractive splendours of a grand cathedral, Colonel Wauchope preferred to worship according to his accustomed manner in the simpler form of the Presbyterian church. There, too, by his arrangement, the regiment worshipped in force, and he always insisted upon a full complement of officers accompanying the men. Not only so, but, as Mr. Stirling informs us, Mrs. Wauchope and the officers of the Black Watch were in many ways helpful to him and his congregation, taking a part in much of their church work, and showing their loyalty to their Presbyterian principles in many ways. {144} In July 1898, Colonel Wauchope was selected by Lord Wolseley to command a brigade in the expedition then being organised under General (now Lord) Kitchener for the reconquest of the Soudan. The 42nd regiment was not ordered out for this service, and so the time had come when, after thirty-three years of close connection with them both in peace and in war, that connection must for a time be broken. One of his brother officers, writing afterwards of that period and the grief that was in every heart over the prospect of losing him, says: 'The send-off he received at York when he left will never be effaced from the memory of those who took part in it. I have never seen Scotch soldiers exhibit any such emotion, or give way so thoroughly to their feelings. They knew whom they were losing; they realised their loss, and gave vent accordingly.' At the same time, the circumstances, if touching, were not without a dash of the ludicrous; but they show how warmly attached the Black Watch were to one who from the rank of subaltern had risen steadily to be their colonel, and was now to leave them for the command of a brigade. Many a man among them wished he had the chance to accompany him. [Sidenote: Send-off from York]