THE RED
VINEYARD
[Illustration: REV. B. J. MURDOCH]
THE RED VINEYARD
BY
REV. B. J. MURDOCH
LATE CHAPLAIN TO CANADIAN EXPEDITIONARY
FORCES
[Illustration]
THE TORCH PRESS
CEDAR RAPIDS IOWA
1923
_Copyright 1923 by
Flora Warren Seymour_
DONE BY
THE BOOKFELLOWS
AT
THE TORCH PRESS
CEDAR RAPIDS
IOWA
[Illustration]
_THE RED VINEYARD_
_To the memory of all those men
With whom I walked up and down
The ways of The Red Vineyard;
But especially to the memory of those
Who stopped in the journey, and now
Rest softly in their little green bivouacs
In the shadow of the small white crosses,
This book is affectionately dedicated by their
Friend and Comrade_
_The Author_
[Illustration]
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I--A LITTLE SPECULATION 11
CHAPTER II--THE BISHOP WRITES 13
CHAPTER III--A LITTLE ADJUSTING 16
CHAPTER IV--THE PORTABLE ALTAR 19
CHAPTER V--IN TRAINING CAMP 21
CHAPTER VI--MASS OUT OF DOORS 24
CHAPTER VII--A LITTLE INDIGNATION 26
CHAPTER VIII--WE BREAK CAMP 28
CHAPTER IX--THE PANEL OF SILK 32
CHAPTER X--MOVEMENT ORDERS 33
CHAPTER XI--THE HIGH SEAS 35
CHAPTER XII--BY IRELAND 37
CHAPTER XIII--ENGLAND 38
CHAPTER XIV--IN CAMP 39
CHAPTER XV--THE CENACLE 41
CHAPTER XVI--THE BATTALION IS BROKEN UP 44
CHAPTER XVII--THE LITTLE SPANIARD 46
CHAPTER XVIII--THE GARRISON CHURCH HUT 48
CHAPTER XIX--THE NEW SACRIFICE 50
CHAPTER XX--THROUGH ENGLISH LANES 54
CHAPTER XXI--AT PARKMINSTER 56
CHAPTER XXII--ORDERS FOR FRANCE 60
CHAPTER XXIII--AT NO. 2 CANADIAN INFANTRY BASE DEPOT 62
CHAPTER XXIV--THE NEW ZEALANDERS 65
CHAPTER XXV--THE WORKERS 67
CHAPTER XXVI--ORDERS AGAIN 69
CHAPTER XXVII--HOSPITALS AND TRAINS 70
CHAPTER XXVIII--D I’S AND S I’S 75
CHAPTER XXIX--DOWN THE HOSPITAL AISLE 77
CHAPTER XXX--THE TWO BROTHERS 80
CHAPTER XXXI--AN UNEXPECTED TURNING 82
CHAPTER XXXII--PRIVATE BELAIR 86
CHAPTER XXXIII--A LITTLE NONSENSE 89
CHAPTER XXXIV--TRANSFUSION 93
CHAPTER XXXV--THE MINISTERING ANGELS 95
CHAPTER XXXVI--MORE ORDERS 97
CHAPTER XXXVII--HELD FOR ORDERS 100
CHAPTER XXXVIII--THE FRONT AT LAST 103
CHAPTER XXXIX--A STRAFE AND A QUARTET 106
CHAPTER XL--THE VALLEY OF THE DEAD 110
CHAPTER XLI--NEW FRIENDS 115
CHAPTER XLII--A LITTLE BURLAP ROOM 118
CHAPTER XLIII--CHRISTMAS AT THE FRONT 120
CHAPTER XLIV--BACK TO REST 123
CHAPTER XLV--BRUAY 129
CHAPTER XLVI--FOSSE-DIX 132
CHAPTER XLVII--THE LITTLE CURÉ OF FOSSE-DIX 136
CHAPTER XLVIII--INTO THE LINE 139
CHAPTER XLIX--CALLED UP 142
CHAPTER L--BULLY LES MINES 144
CHAPTER LI--THE ONE THAT WAS LOST 146
CHAPTER LII--A VAGUE UNREST 151
CHAPTER LIII--THE GREAT OFFENSIVE 153
CHAPTER LIV--AGNEZ-LEZ-DUISANS 158
CHAPTER LV--THE REFUGEES 162
CHAPTER LVI--ARRAS 164
CHAPTER LVII--EASTER SUNDAY 166
CHAPTER LVIII--THE RONVILLE CAVES 168
CHAPTER LIX--THE BANQUET HALL 171
CHAPTER LX--THE SHEEHANS 178
CHAPTER LXI--ECOIVRES 181
CHAPTER LXII--ECURIE WOOD 188
CHAPTER LXIII--THE DIFFERENT DISPENSERS 192
CHAPTER LXIV--INCAPACITATED 195
CHAPTER LXV--ANZIN AND MONCHY BRETON 197
CHAPTER LXVI--A NEW SHEEP 200
CHAPTER LXVII--NOTRE DAME D’ARDENNES 203
CHAPTER LXVIII--THE PROCESSION 207
CHAPTER LXIX--ON LEAVE 211
CHAPTER LXX--ST. MICHAEL’S CLUB 212
CHAPTER LXXI--PARKMINSTER AGAIN 215
CHAPTER LXXII--ANOTHER SURPRISE 217
CHAPTER LXXIII--BACK TO THE BATTALION 219
CHAPTER LXXIV--NO MAN’S LAND AGAIN 222
CHAPTER LXXV--NO MAN’S LAND 227
CHAPTER LXXVI--CAMBLIGNEUL 229
CHAPTER LXXVII--A NEW FRONT 232
CHAPTER LXXVIII--BOVES 237
CHAPTER LXXIX--THE BATTLE OF AMIENS 242
CHAPTER LXXX--AT THE WAYSIDE 244
CHAPTER LXXXI--IN AN APPLE ORCHARD 246
CHAPTER LXXXII--A STRANGE INTERRUPTION 249
CHAPTER LXXXIII--BOVES AGAIN 252
CHAPTER LXXXIV--THE BATTLE OF ARRAS 258
CHAPTER LXXXV--BERNEVILLE AGAIN 263
CHAPTER LXXXVI--LETTERS OF SYMPATHY 266
CHAPTER LXXXVII--A LITTLE BIT OF SHAMROCK 269
CHAPTER LXXXVIII--LEFT BEHIND 277
CHAPTER LXXXIX--WITH THE FOURTEENTH 280
CHAPTER XC--TELEGRAPH HILL 282
CHAPTER XCI--CANAL DU NORD 283
CHAPTER XCII--THE MOST TERRIBLE DAY 287
CHAPTER XCIII--IN RESERVE 293
CHAPTER XCIV--FREQUENT MOVES 295
CHAPTER XCV--SOMAINE 297
CHAPTER XCVI--THE END DRAWS NEAR 300
CHAPTER XCVII--NOVEMBER ELEVENTH 303
CHAPTER XCVIII--THROUGH BELGIUM 305
CHAPTER XCIX--THROUGH THE RHINELAND 309
CHAPTER C--L’ENVOI 312
THE RED VINEYARD
Chapter I
A LITTLE SPECULATION
“I’ll give you just three nights in the front line trench before your
hair will turn grey,” said a brown haired priest, looking at me with a
slightly aggressive air.
I remained quiet.
“You’ll not be very long in the army till you’ll wish yourself out
of it again,” was the not very encouraging assertion of a tall, thin
priest who suffered intermittently from dyspeptic troubles.
Still I did not speak.
Another priest, whose work was oftener among old tomes than among men,
said slowly and, as was his wont, somewhat seriously, that it surprised
him very much to note my eagerness to go to war. He did not consider
it in keeping with the dignity of the priest to be so belligerently
inclined. Did I not recall that I was an ambassador of the meek and
lowly Christ--the Prince of Peace?
Had I obeyed the first impulse, I think my reply would have been
colored with a little asperity; but as I was weighing my words, a
gentle white-haired old priest, stout and with red cheeks, said to me
as he smiled kindly; “Ah, Father, you are to be envied. Think of all
the good you will be able to do for our poor boys! Think of the souls
you will usher up to the gates of heaven!”
He shook his head slowly from side to side two or three times, and
the smile on his kind old face gave place to a look of longing as he
continued, somewhat regretfully: “Ah, if I were a younger man I’d be
with you, Father. All we older men can do now is to pray, and you may
rest assured I shall remember you often--you and your men.”
I looked at the old priest gratefully. “Thank you, Father,” I said, and
I thought of Moses of old, with arms outstretched.
None of the other priests spoke for a while, and I gazed into the fire
of dry hardwood that murmured and purred so comfortably in the large
open fire-place, built of small field stones. I was thinking earnestly
and when the conversation was again resumed I took no part in it. In
fact, I did not follow it at all, for I was wondering, among other
things, if my hair would really turn grey after a few nights in the
front line trenches. However, I did not worry; for I concluded it would
be wiser to wait until I should arrive at the trenches, where I might
have the evidence of my senses.
I gave but a passing thought to the words of the good priest who was
a little dyspeptic. He had never been in the Army, and where was his
reason for assuming that I should not like the life? Of course, I did
not mind what the old priest, whose work was so often among old books,
had said about my being an ambassador of the Prince of Peace. I felt
that this priest had got his ideas a little mixed. Not very long before
I had heard him vent his outraged feelings when the French government
had called the priests of France to fight for the Colors. He had been
horrified. So I surmised that he imagined I had voluntarily offered my
services as a combatant. I had not.
The conversation continued, but I heeded it not. I was busy meditating
on the words of the saintly old priest with the red cheeks. How well he
understood, I thought. And the flames of the fire shot in and out among
the wood, purring pleasantly the while.