THE "DARE" OF REV. HULTON SAMS.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 165, 14 April 1916, Page 4 (Supplement)

THE "DARE" OF REV. HULTON SAMS.

FAMOUS BOXING REFEREE SAYS THAT ANSWERS QUESTION WHETHER PARSONS SHOULD GO TO WAR OR NOT.

THE STORY OF THE "MAN ANGEL" OF LOOS.

(By EUGENE CORRI, in "Illustrated Sunday Herald.'')

Speaking in London recently, Sir Edward Clarke dealt with the question of whether the young clergy ought to be allowed' to go to war. There were, he said, a thousand young clergymen clamouring to go into tin; barrack yard lor tli:ee or four months to practice bayonet exercise " until they are capable of killing their fellow men." He hoped the Bishops, if they allowed them to go, would never allow them to "return to the posts they had deserted."

In the following article Mr. Eugene Corri, the famous boxing referee of the National Sporting Club and a hundred other fights, says what lie thinks. And it doesn't agree with Sir Edward l Clarke's remarks. Mr. Corri is a great admirer of the late Rev. Hulton Sams, known in Australia as a "bush brother" and "fighting parson." He cites Mr. Sams as the best answer to those who ask whether or not our clergy should go to the front. Surely there should be a place for a clergyman where there i 3 work toward in the cause of honour and uprightness. Even Christ came "Not to bring peace, but a sword" —in more ways than one. I am a fighting man, always, and to the finger tips, and though my fighting, the fighting I love, and war are not synonymous terms, tfiat is prolably why I have been invited to oli'er an opinion on the question which has recently occupied much attention, whether parsons should get into khaki, ;n other words, should the cleric, ue he young, fit and free, shoulder arms? I really believed that long ago we discarded all "princip'es" which made it impossible to do an obvious duty, and I am at a loss to understand why the healthy, keen, vigorous, athletic clergyman should be exempt from piaying an active and man's part in this 1 war. Any man, be he cleric or layman, who stands aside »nd takes shelter under his profession and conscientious scruples does not appeal to inc. I would have none of him , THE BAN OF THE BISHOPS. Tho fact that the clergyman is bound to secure the permission of his birhop before taking himself to the front uoes not weigh one jot with me. Participation in this war is a questibn for a man himself. He shoulcj not be tied to any apron-strings. He should be his own agent. He should do his own thinking and his own acting.

There are, of course, many parsoim at the front, many of them my friends, and I know that every one is playing the part of a hero, and the boys juil love them. Listen—this is what a youth, whose home is in the unlovely East End, told me the other day. He is back wounded from Loos only a "scrapper" in times of peace, hut what a man!

"Gawd, Mister Corri," he said, "next time you does an article,, give the parson a wore; a little 'un, he is, but what' a good 'un! He ain't over there to slip one acrost nobody, but he went to hell for us at Loos, and there warn't one of us that day—it was, I fink, the lirst of October who didn't believe that he was an angel. " Aht he would go, rushing here and rushing there, nah taking water, nali he'ping, coming up to them what had been ah tod and bringing them in. He was arsking for it, I give you my dicky bird, guv'nor, but he didgee'em allThe angels was wi' 'iin, guv'nor. 1 can see hi mnah. Tired, stoney-eved, his chivy chase as white as chalk, but ha was made of little stool girders and he never thought abaht a knockout, not him. A champion he was. ACROSS OPEN* GROUND 10 WOUNDED. "There 'is parsons collar; he looked as ii he were straight from the pulpit. But he didn't come it wiv 'Let us pray'; he just oppcu it acrost open ground just to see what he could do for us blokes what had' stopped a fourpenny one. Only us knew what he did. He ain't the feller what would tell, but look 'ere, guv'nor, tell the tale abaht the little parson what was wi' the •lit'i Division at Loos.

"Gawd bless 'un! That bloke is the only bloke what's made me cry. And, you know, Mr. Corri, I have l>een Hammered pretty well in me time, and ought ter have cried afore." 1 would like to give the name of the man-angel at Loos, but if I did I know I should make bad friends with a gentleman who would 1 wither under publicity. ] mention liini because i feel he is only what every parson would or could be if he were at the front.

Only men count in these days, and ;f the clergy who remain at home could but realise what a tremendous power iliey will be able to exercise upon the youth of this country when this war is over, by reason of their having taken a place on the battlefield, my view is that there would bo no hesitation about getting into khaki. THE REV. HELTON SAMS. I take my stand in declaring that clergymen should be like any other man by tlie side of the ltev. Hulton Sams, whose first fights wtien he was a boy at St. Paul's I refereed, and whose lat:v battles at the University I also officiated' at. He died iu Northern France, like the great, fearless fellow he was whoa he used to nut the gioves 011 and fight until he dropped. It happened that he was never beaten in the ring, at least not to my knowledge, but if he had iveen beaten he would have gone down as he went down before the German guns.

This war has begotten many nerv-v tingling stories. But if I say thai Hulton Sams stands out high among tho many heroes, I do not exaggerate. At St. Paul's School he was the "hampion boxer at his weight; at the 'Varsity no one could stop him; he g'ori'ci in a good, honest tight, revelling .11 tilling punishment, glorying in g'.ring nunishment.

And' there is nothing in the lea'm el' sport that tells what nil Eiig.:".hman really is na the little symposium tlu-o follows an inter-'Yarsity hoting eontest. Black eyes are more details; puffed lips are fashionable, for with the 'Varsity boxer it is ding-dong from the moment of getting into the ring. And so you will see a youngster witli a gorgeous-coloured. half-shut eye makinu merrv with the fellow who presented it to him. IDOL OF TITE " TI'FFS." Tfoulton pains used to limnmer his men with misto, Imt he was their (test friend. When lie left (he 'Vnrsitv, and after his ordination, he was in the Is. lands soiiie time, and then went t« ustralia, whore he attached himself to a mission whose work was among ths

"tuffs."' Houlton Sams fought his way to the hearts of his flock through the medium of the boxing gloves. He was •one of them"; he was loved, he was worshipped; he was known as the "fighting parson" throughout the Commonwealth. Then came the war. Straight ana, without analysing his conscience, vol using to ponder whether it was right for a Gentleman of the Cloth to go to war, and only feeling that Germany must be throttled, he returned at once tv this country. After being refiued an armv chaplaincy he enlisted as a private in the Bedfordshires. Quickly lie became a corporal; further promotion soon came, and in France, in the biggest fight in all his strenuous career, giving untold wcigtit away, as we boxing people say, he was kil'ed. And t lias been set on record that ''his loss is an irreparable one." The career, the death of Hulton Sams answers the question "whether parsons should go to war" in the affirmative, and with an emphasis that cannot be understood.