PARSONS WHO ARE SPLENDID FIGHTING MEN.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 132, 6 February 1915, Page 5

PARSONS WHO ARE SPLENDID FIGHTING MEN.

CLERICAL HEROES ON THE BATTLEFIELD. "Cloth fuiii casscck cover many a stoat, valiant, >.nd patriotic heart," the iJiiii.op cf Lor.dcn, chaplain of the Lcndo.i Rifle Diipude, said not long. ago, referring to the valuable work performed by the chaplains and priests at present with the fighting' armies. It was nc exaggerated statement, for no •lien at the front to-day are doing iicbler work and performing finer :leeds than the 'padres cf the regiments,' as they are affectionately known, bcth in the French and English armies.

But v. few days ago a story was told ! of an heroic chaplain who, on the bat-1 tlefield near Steuay, celebrated Mass I it the r«c;r.c.3t of a number of woundid scldier.s, to the grim music of the ; ;uns which dropped shells within a j 'iiuidre;! yards cf where ho si cod.-An altar was improvised from a surgical : lressing-table resting on a box con-1 aining splints, and covered with a lies-1 lital sheet. On the altar were placed i bunches cf flowers in vases made from ! be bases cf German shells, and when j lieso arrangements had been made | he chaplain picceedd to say Mass, un ] disturbed by the fact that at any mo-i ment a shell might annihilate him. Another striking illustration of the ducky manner in which regimental j haplains perform their duties is af-i 'crded by a letter from a medical effi- j er in the fighting line, who says, "A; parson having turned up, we had a j lerviee. What a funny service it was! j Each man holding a rifle in one hand j and sharing a hymn-bock with the j other, while in between the verses of j the hymns you could hear the shells ■ vhistiing, one cf which might well] have killed thirty'or forty of us." PRIESTS IN THE FIGHTING LINE.' In France, under the conscription i

-aw, yilests are liable for military ser/ice in ease of war, and that explains why twelve abbea, who were either officers, ncn-conimissioned officers, or private soldiers, figure in the roll of sol-dier-priests, who have laid down their .ives for their country One, Abbe Lu.hat, was a sergeant in a cyclists' jcrps and was killed on the held of battle alter being mentioned in despatches on the previous day, while another clerical lieutenant, Abbe Grenier, was struck down in leading his men in a charge.

Many heroic deeds, too, are being recorded of chaplains in the British Army, One of these was with our soldiers during seme of the hottest fighting at Mens. Witnessing the cruel-'-.ies practised by 'ibe G { mans on he British, wounded, he became so inlignant that he shot one German and became a combatant en the spot. An excellent shot, he did a gcod deal cf 3xecuticn among those of the enemy ,vho had aroused his anger, and kept >n fighting until he received a wound n the kg which necessitated his renoval by the ambulance corps. A CLERICAL V.C.

The history cf British campaigns of .he past, however, contains many itcries cf brave deeds performed by Army chaplains, and although only on ?ne occasion has a V.C been awarded o an Army chaplain, scores cf them have distinguished themselves by gal"ant acts which merited the simple delation—"For Valour." The V.C. chaplain alluded to was Chaplain J. W. Adams, who, during :;he Afghan War of 1879, rescued two troopers cf the 9th Lancers at the imminent risk- cf his life. One of the bravest men during the South African Was was Padre Robertson, chaplain of the Highland Brigade, who risked his 'ife a hundred times, carrying messages where the bullets were flying thickest, taking water to wounded men, and ministering to the dying on he 'field. In the Kgyptain War, too, Padre Robertson, who accompanied he Cameron Highlanders, specially distinguished himself by bringing in Lieutenant Cameron, who had been mortally wounded. A BRILLIANT RECORD. It was in South Africa that Padre Hill at Belmont succoured many wounded men, and often steed amid i hail of I'i'lets, book i.i hond, reading the tacrainent tor the dying. Another chaplain who had a brililant re-co'-l of .service \ ohmd him was the Rsv. Robert hrindie, who was with Lord Wolseley in the Egyptian War, and distinguished himself by his intre. oid conduct fit Ei Ttb. He was also in the Nile Expedition, and was mentioned in Lord Kitchener's despatches during th<( Dongola Expedition, rcjliving from the hands of Queen Victoria the D.S.O. A brilliant teat, too, was that of Chaplain Collins, of the Royal Irish

Fusiliers, during the Soudan campaign, when a desperate attack was made by the Arabs on Sir John M'Neil's r.areba. Sc sudden was the attack that the British soldiers were scattered, but quickly forming into a number of little squares, they faced the foe in a gallant and letermined style, Chaplain Collins, standing back to back with Major Alston, doing deadly execution with his heavy revolver. Among other heroic chaplains might be mentioned the Rev. James Bellord, who was severely wounded at Tel-el-Kebir, the Rev. G. M. Gordon, who was killed in Afghanistan while attending to a, stricken soldier on the field of battle, and the Rev. E. Ayrton who during the Indian Mutiny was