With the Guards' Brigade from Bloemfontein to Koomati Poort and BackLowry, Edward P.
History
With the Guards' Brigade from Bloemfontein to Koomati Poort and Back
Lowry, Edward P.
South African War, 1899-1902 -- Personal narratives
"I was particularly anxious that you should know the luxury in
which we are living in the matter of Church privileges, and the
keen appreciation which our people show of that which is so
freely offered. Nothing can exceed the kindness of the dean and
his clergy. They allow us to have the use of the cathedral on
Sunday mornings at nine o'clock for a parade service for the
Guards, and at 5.30 on Sunday evenings we have a special evensong
for the convenience of officers and men to enable them to get
back to barrack or camp in good time; in addition to this, we
have permission to hold a special mission service for soldiers on
Friday evenings at 6.30. There is a daily celebration as well as
Morning and Evening Prayer and Litany, while on Sundays there are
three celebrations of Holy Communion. These are luxuries to us
wayfarers on the veldt. Now for the appreciation of them. On the
Sunday after we came in, the cathedral choir volunteered their
help at our nine o'clock (Guards') parade, and the service was
home-like and hearty. The drums were there and rolled at the
Glorias, and 'God Save the Queen,' which was sung because it was
a parade service. I spoke to the men on the blessings of a
restful hour of worship in an English church after our
journeyings, and of the mercies which had been granted to us,
basing what I had to say on 'It is good for us to be here.' At
the morning service at 10.30 there was a large number of the
headquarter staff present, many of whom, Lord Roberts included,
stayed to the celebration.... At 7.30, the ordinary hour for
evensong, long before the service began the church was literally
_packed_ with officers and men, one vast mass of khaki; all
available chairs and forms were got in, and officers were put up
into the long chancel wherever room could be found for them. The
heartiness of that service, the reverence and devoutness of the
men, the uplifting of heart and voice in the familiar chants and
hymns, the clear manly enunciation of the Articles of our Faith,
and the ready responses, all combined to make the service a grand
evidence of the religious side of our men and a striking
testimony to their desire to worship their God in the beauty of
holiness. Many of us will remember that Sunday night with
thankfulness. Coney preached us a very excellent sermon. The few
civilians who were able to get in were much struck by the evident
sincerity and devout behaviour of the men who surrounded them.
And yet the Boers say 'the English _must_ lose because they have
no God.' One of the clergy told me a day or two after we got here
that he met one of our men outside the cathedral as he was
walking along, and the soldier accosted him. 'Beg pardon, sir,
is that an English church?' 'Yes,' said the clergyman. 'Might I
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account