all wanting to the front to see the “pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war,” while the brave fellows battling with fever, sickness, and wounds in the hospital are fighting the stiffest fight of all.  And yet there is work for us on the march and at the front, too.  To make yourself a friend and brother, to seek out and comfort the exhausted and ailing, to speak a word in season to the weary, to preach “the glorious Gospel of the blessed God” as opportunity offers—­this is a task worthy of the highest powers and greatest gifts.  After being nearly four months on the field, I do not regret the great sacrifices made in going there.’

Chapter XII

ON TO PRETORIA

The march from Bloemfontein to Pretoria was one never to be forgotten.  It taxed the strength of the strongest.  There was fighting most of the way, and many a soldier who started full of hope never reached the end.  The first stage was from Bloemfontein to Kroonstadt.

Mr. W.K.  Glover, of the S.C.A., arrived at Kroonstadt in company with Mr. D.A.  Black, but there was taken ill and compelled to rest.  The Rev. T.F.  Falkner and the Rev. E.P.  Lowry marched nearly the whole way to Kroonstadt with the troops, and the latter speaks of it as the most trying march of the whole campaign.  Opportunities for Christian work, with the exception of the hearty handshake or the whispered prayer, were but few, though during the pauses at Brandfort and at Kroonstadt several successful services were held.

A new name now appears on the line of march—­that of the Rev. W.G.  Lane, chaplain to the second Canadian contingent.  He accompanied the Canadian Forces as Chaplain-Captain, and had the spiritual charge of all Protestants except those of the Episcopal Church.

=The March to Pretoria.=

We have, however, our fullest account of Christian work on the line of march from the pen of the Rev. Frank Edwards, the acting Wesleyan chaplain attached to the South Wales Borderers.  He came out late in the war at his own charges to preach to the Welsh soldiers in their own language, and only overtook Lord Roberts at Brandfort.  He shows us in vivid outline the sort of work our chaplains did between Bloemfontein and Pretoria.

’And now for the regular routine of “life on the march.”  We rise at 4 a.m. in the dark and cold, breakfast hastily on biscuit and tea made of very doubtful water, stand shivering in the piercing cold of dawn while troops are paraded, then start on our way long before the sun rises to warm our frozen frames.  We march an hour and rest ten minutes—­the hour is very long, the ten minutes very short.

=South African Dust.=