TOC H LAMP

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 239, 6 July 1931, Page 10

TOC H LAMP

Ceremony at Pro-Cathedral U WE WILL REMEMBER” Late Captain W. H. D. Bell Deeply impressive, though simple, the ceremony of lighting the Lamp of Remembrance of the "Wellington and Hutt Valley members of Toe H was performed by the Governor-General, Lord Bledisloe, at St. Paul’s Pro-Cathedral yesterday afternoon. The service was also one of thanksgiving and remembrance of the late Captain W. H. Dillon Bell, to whom the lamp Is dedicated. Every seat in the Pro-Cathedral was occupied. His Excellency was accompanied by Lady Bledisloe. Others present included Sir Francis Bell -and Lady Bell, the Chief Justice, Sir Michael Myers, and Lady Myers; the Attor-ney-General, Sir Thomas Sidey, and Lady Sidey; the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Sir Charles Statham; the Leader of the Opposition, Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates, and Mrs. Coates; Sir William Hall-Jones, and Mr. G. A. Troup. ■Lighting the Lamp. Three padres conducted the service —the Rev. Canon Percival James, who delivered the address, the Rev. R. S. Watson, M.C., and the Rev. H. H. Jeffreys. Seats in the chancel were occupied by the Revs. H. E. K. Fry and W. Gj Parker. In addition to conducting the Ceremony of Light, his Excellency read the lesson. The cathedral was darkened for the ceremony, and standing in* the faint glow of the lamp’s flickering flame, his Excellency recited the words of Laurence Binyon, “With proud thanksgiving let us remember our elder brethren, - ’ followed by the solemn response of the congregation, “We will remember them.” While all present stood with bowed heads in silent memory of fallen comrades and friends, buglers from Wellington College sounded “The Last Post” and then the “Reveille,” signifying the life that Is after death. The prayers were recited by the Rev. H. H Jeffreys and the Toe H Litany by ths R. S. Watson. The service closed with the Benediction and the National Anthem. * Canon James’s Address.

Canon James traced the history of the original Talbot House in Poperinghe, and said the impulse that' created the Toe H movement came from the survivors of the Ipres salient and qthers who wished to pass on to the generation to come something of the spirit that had possessed nnd upheld those who fought in the Great War, and to teach some of the lessons they had learned in- the terrific ordeal, how, the Toe H movement had spread over the Empire and beyond it, and had even reached those who were our enemies in the war. ‘“The Times” had recently declared that “its justification is the need it continues to serve.”

Referring to the ceremony of light, the preacher spoke of Captain W. H. DillonBell. to whom the Lamp of Maintenance” of the Wellington branch is dedicated, as a very gallant gentleman, chosen as the elder brother of the Wellington branch, because he was conspicuous, in his lifetime, for the qualities which Toe H sought to commend and to foster. Among those who had laid down their lives were a great proportion of the abler young men of hope and promise, who would have been to-day the leaders of their generation. But as they had been' proudly glad to hazard their lives, and to lay. down their lives, in doing their duty as they saw it, so must our remembrance of them be without sadness,: but rather with proud thanksgiving. “To describe the aim of Toe H I would recur to the much-used war-time phrase about finding a ‘moral equivalent of war,’ ” said Canon James. “We are called today by the leaders of thought and action all over the world to a crusade against war, so that never again the nations of the world may seek to settle their differences by an appeal to the dreadful arbitrament of war. But you will never , win the youth of to-day for the movement lowards world peace, if you present to them merely the negative idea of ‘ending war.’ You must put it before them as something adventurous, positive, constructive. That, I believe, Toe H tries to do The four points of its compass are to think fairly, to love widely, to witness humbly, and to build bravely.' Youth of To-day. “As to the first of these, however, our opinions of the strange, interesting youth of to-day may differ, we will all acknowledge the splendour of its uncompromising, pitiless sincerity. Our young people despise shams; they are impatient of prejudice, however venerable. Here is something to build upon. If people learn to think fairly, then gradually prejudice will disappear, and suspicion, jealousy, hatred, fear and whatsover else has divided man from man, class from class, nation from nation, Aqdthey men will love widely: they will become ashamed of narrow sympathies. A rising tide of love will overflow rhe barriers, national, racial, social, which have confined it for too long, and flow out to all the children of the one Father in Heaven. “We must witness humbly; it is the humble witness for our Lord that tells. We must be content to act our Christian beliefs and principles, when we may not talk about them. We must live the Christian life more, faithfully and thoroughly among those who will have none of iti The only argument for Christianity which will convince the ordinary man Is a consistent Christian life lived before his eyes under ordinary conditions. If we school ourselves to think fairly, to love widely, to witness humbly, we will be found fit to be used by God'to help build a better world in the language of Toe H, to ‘build bravely,’ even in these dark days of disappointment and disillusionment. ‘disowming discouragement.’ Toe H attempts to pass on to a new generation the spirit of fellowship and service that ennobled the men who endured the horrors of war. It seeks to reveal to the younger brothers the inspiring power of fellowship, and to lead them to find in simple ways the joy of service.” J . ■ Talbot House. Toe H (Talbot House) was founded in memory of the heroic death of Lieutenant Gilbert. Talbot in Sanctuary Wood, Hooge, in July, 1915, and was used throughout the last three years of the Great War as a house of rest and recreation fo British soldiers. In the upper room the chapel is preserved to-day in the same state as during the war, when the founderpadre, Rev. P. T. B. Clayton, used to conduct religious services there. It still contains the few modest benches and chairs, the altar macle of an old carpenter’s workbench, and the .harmonium showing the marks of shrapnel bullets. After the war the religious ornaments were removed to England, but just over a year ago they were taken back to Poperinghe, Belgium, and restored to their former places in the chapel of Talbot House, which has now become the property of Toe II through the generosity of Lord Wakefield. When the Great War broke out in 1914 the late Captain W. H. Dillon-Bell was M.P. for Wellington Suburbs, having entered the House of Representatives at the 1911 general election. He was the first member of Parliament to enlist for active service, and, in fact, one of the first in the Dominion to'join the colours. Captain Bell went to Samoa with the advance party of the New. Zealand Expeditionary Force. He later returned to Now Zealand, and proceeded Home, where he joined up with one of the English regiments.