Yesterday we had a large Communion Service in a field. Almost the
whole Battalion was present, as we were back six or seven miles from
the firing line. It was drawn up in the form of three sides of a
square, and the fourth side consisted of the Officers, in the centre
of whom was the Chaplain with a little table covered with a white
cloth. On the table was a single Communion Cup. The wine used was
the red wine of the country. The bread was ration bread cut into
little pieces. After the first portion of the Service was over, the
Colonel took round the bread to every Officer and man, and the
Chaplain and Major Shaw took the wine. To every man both were
personally handed. We sang--'The Lord is my Shepherd,' 'God is our
Refuge and our Strength,' 'Twas on that Night,' and 'O Thou my Soul;'
and 'God save the King.' I raised the tunes, 'Wiltshire,'
'Stroudwater,' 'Communion;' and then the tune I wanted for 'O Thou my
Soul' was St. Paul, but I forgot how it went, so I just took another
that I didn't know the name of. I wonder if it would trouble you to
send me my Psalter with the tunes? I sent it home from Falkirk in my
long uniform box.
That afternoon the Battalion moved off to the trenches--a dusty march
of several hours. My transport went by a different route. One gets
plenty of practice in leading troops over unknown country by the map
alone. Even in daylight one makes mistakes, and it is more difficult
in the darkness. I got my column to the point indicated in the map
reference, and found the field I was to occupy in possession of
another unit's transport. This is what is known in the army as 'bad
Staff work.' So I had an argument with the lad who was answering for
the Staff Captain, and gently pointed out that I was right; and after
gaining my point we got into the field and took the loads off the
weary animals. But the work was not yet done for the day and it was
already 8.30 p.m. Coke had to be taken to the trenches, so we set
off at 10 p.m., with 'four mule burdens of coke,' again over several
miles of unknown road, and handed it over to some members of the
Battalion quite near the trenches. We got back to our field at 2
a.m. this morning, and thus ended our Sabbath.