MEMORIAL SERVICE AT MIDDLEMARCH.

Otago Witness, Issue 3313, 12 September 1917, Page 26

MEMORIAL SERVICE AT MIDDLEMARCH.

On Sunday afternoon one of tho largest congregations that have assembled in Middlomarch gathered in tho A. and P. Hall to take part in a memorial service to the soldiers who have fallen during the war. During the past week or two the grim and tragic nature of the conflict has been brought home poignantly to the people of the district by the deaths of Lieutenant Eric Standring and Private Alec. RobertEon, who were killed at tho front. 'lhe hail was packed to the door and the Rev. Mr Standring (father of Lieutenant Standring) conducted the service. Ten wreaths, one for each of the boys from the district who have given their lives for the Empire and the oause of freedom, were ranged in front of the platform, and the reading desk was draped with tho Union Jack. The members of the Middlemarch Band, Territorials, and Senior Cadets, and the members of the Oddfellows' and Freemason Lodges marched to the hall in procession, and the flags outside the hall were flown at half mast. Taking for his text the words "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friend," the Rev. Mr Standring delivered a most eloquent and touching address. He recalled how, after the great eruption at Mount Tarawera, in 1836, tho search for the victims revealed the body of a mother who was stooping over the body of her little child. The mother could have saved herself by leaving the little one, but the mother heart, beating with love for her child, tried to shield it by stretching out angel wings above it and so shelter it from tho eruption of flame and molten lava. She died rather than forsake it. Then there was the case of "Father Damicn, who went to cast in his lot with the lepers on one of the Hawaian Islands. He spent about 16 years of his life amongst them, isolated in that great sepulchre of living death and_ oorruption. After about 12 years' service the disease laid hold of him and ho laid down his life for thoso amongst whom he had worked so faithfully. It was quite right to speak of the men who had gone out from every part of the Empire to place themselves between the onrush of a terrible foe and the homes and loved ones arid liberties they loved as men who had laid down their lives for their friends. Thank God! they were gathering still, and under God's hand they would be the saviours of the Empire and the race, interposing their bodies between us and tho onslaught of our enemies. We had much to be thankful for. It was intended by those who set this hellish tide flowing that our Empire should be levelled to the dust. Thank God! they had not accomplished that, and they were not going to accomplish it. Such evil must not predominate, and by and by it would be crushed utterly and forever. They had to face the heart-breaking sorrow of the cost, not financial or material cost, but the awful wastage of human life. The cream and flower of the nation had gone sforth and given their lives, and to many of them the sorrow and tragedy had come very close. Let them in their sorrow be thankful that their sons had so nobly borne their part and upheld the highest of the old battlefields where the isons of Britain fought and died for liberty and freedom. They must keep the memories green of those who had gone from their mortal vision, but never from their hearts, never £rom their loving thoughts. There was one who went away about a year ago (Private Robertson), well known to them all, of a quiet, unassuming disposition, a good son and affectionate brother. He wais always most solicitous for those associated with him, and in writing home condemned what he thought was exaggerated reports of the perils and pains of the battlefield, because such reports would cause anxiety at home. Others had gone through all the dangers of battle from the beginning of the war, and hopes were raised that having escaped so far they might soon be back with their loved oneis hero, but it was not to bo. In the midst of all this tragedy of grief let them be thankful that they had been given the power to bear it all. The address moved the audience powerfully. Appropriate hymns were sung, and tho meeting closed with the benediction.