It is very curious about the prayer. I have no recollection of
writing it, and I am wondering how Dr. Abbott Northrop got hold
of it. What a fine collection of sentiments and opinions he has
got together!
Yours sincerely,
ROBERTS.
There, so far as I was concerned, the matter dropped, but when next
I saw Lord Roberts he again expressed his curiosity in regard to the
mystery by which the prayer was attributed to him, and his desire to
unravel it, asking me if I heard any more of it to let him know.
That I was of some service to him in the matter was due more to
chance than to any mystery-unravelling merit of my own.
A friend who is interested in religious work among soldiers lent
me a little book, with the request that I would look into it and
return it at my leisure. I opened the volume somewhat indifferently,
and the first thing to catch my eye was the very prayer which Lord
Roberts and I had been discussing. The book stated that it had been
written by the late Archbishop Alexander for the use of the troops
in South Africa, and so exactly expressed the faith and feelings of
Lord Roberts that he had it printed at his own cost and sent it to
his various officers, asking them to distribute it to all ranks under
their command.
That the prayer was ultimately attributed to the Field-Marshal
instead of to the Archbishop I diagnose thus: Even though “Tommy”
was specifically informed that it was composed by Archbishop
Alexander--to “Tommy” that information meant little or nothing. But
to “Tommy” the fact that it had been specially sent to him by his
beloved “Bobs” would mean everything; and so, no doubt, it became
known as “Lord Roberts’ prayer,” and as “Lord Roberts’ prayer” it
came to the knowledge of the editor of _A Cloud of Witnesses_, and
was printed in good faith by him over the Field-Marshal’s signature
in that book, whence it was reproduced, equally in good faith, in
other prints.
But to recur to the little book in which I found the prayer
attributed, and rightly, to the Archbishop. With the owner’s
permission I sent it to Lord Roberts to see for himself how, in my
opinion--and he entirely agreed with me--the mistake originally
arose. His reply has a characteristic touch, for though he went
out to South Africa to take supreme command, his soldier-like way
of putting it is “When I was ordered out.” Nor is the reference to
failing memory without pathos to those whose smallest service to the
cause he had so at heart--National Defence--was never forgotten by
one of the greatest-hearted and most generous of men and of chiefs.
ALMOND’S HOTEL, CLIFFORD STREET,
LONDON, W., _15th Feb., 1914_.