DAVIES OF DARTMOOR.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 49, 3 April 1914, Page 10

DAVIES OF DARTMOOR.

"PRESENTED" TO THE KING. The gentle. shepherd of Dartmoor (Davies), who brought tears to Mr Lloyd George's eyes, has achieved yet \ higher honours. In a sense, he has been presented at Court, says the London "News." , Prebendary Carlile, of the Church Army, waited on the King at Buckingham Palace to lay before His Majesty the army's work and achiever ments. * Documents of all .sorts were submitted, and amongst them appeared the dossier of the Shepherd. \ t . The King was much interested, and. said that in his opinion Davies v was suffering from a kind of criminal disease. Prebendary Carlile had, to admit that, the Army had taken charge of the Shepherd three times, and could make nothing of him. " Nevertheless, ■'' isaid the Prebendary to an '' Evening News'' representative, "Davies is a wonderful shepherd and cowman. He can call cows by their names and they will' come to him, and very few farmers can do that," Prebendary Carlile takes religion from a very practical point of view. He was discussing the story of "Old Joe" —which was amongst the eases submitted to His Majesty—and he exhibited Old Joe's tieket-of-leave, which had been sent to him by the ex-convict as a Christmas card. For Joseph had been in and out of gaol for twenty years, and at last, thanks to the Army, he had done with the ticket-of-leave. • '' Religion may be humbug,'' said the chief of the Army, "but anyhow, in Joe's case-it saves the Government a hundred a year." WHAT THE KING SAID. - The King- was most interested in the work of the Church Army. He said:— "I rejoice to hear of the reduction in the number of prisoners and vagrants throughout the country, and doubt not that the Church Army and the other voluntary agencies have helped materi- * ally towards this good result. I feel the greatest sympathy for those who have made a slip in life, and now, without means or character, are working their way back to good citizenship through King Edward's Labour Tents, and afterwards in the numerous Labour Homes of the Church Army, with the aid of your devoted workers, on whose self-denying efforts I pray God's richest blessing;" The Prebendary's adventures began outside the Palace gates. Here he found a reclaimed convict awaiting him; a man who had been a pickpocket ififn* 18 years, and having come Tinder the influence of the Church Army had-re-mained straight since 1901. '' He gave me his Post Office bank book," said Prebendary Carlile, "and asked me to show it .to the King, as a proof that the grace of God' can keep a man from picking and stealing. "He has £l2B in the bank, and there would be £1.38 if he had not lent a friend £lO to keep him out of trouble. "I showed the King the bank book and his Majesty remembered the man as the thief who had stolen thirty-two watches and purses on the Coronation Day of .King Edward VII., and had ex- , pressed a wish that the King could be' crowned every day." "The King, in his usual kindly and - friendly way, made me feel at home at once. His Majesty looked at the pic-' tures of King Edward's Tents, and said that he worked hard himself, and that he was sure that it was good for everybody to work hard. "He was particularly interested in the photograph of our little chapel,in the King Edward Tents. I showed this picture to King Edward at Biarritz not long before he died. "You see the altar has a cross and two candlesticks on it. Cross and candlesticks were made out of waste wood, wood that was sent to us to be cut into chops. '' So you see that waste wood can be made into a Cross, and be made able to bear the Light; and that is a good symbol of the work of the Church Army." "What is the percentage of your total failures?" THE REDEMPTION OF OLD BILL. "I'm not very clear about the figures, but I should think about a third." "Hardly so much as that," said another official of the army. "In the last year we have had 816 convicts who have gone through our labour homes in Loudoif. Of these the total and absolute failures only amount to 81." Prebendary Carlile mentioned the case of '' Old Bill, the Counterfeit Man." Bill has spent fifty-three years of his life in prison and under police supervision, and has been "straight" for some Dime. He wrote to Prebendary- Carlile the other day, and his letter might furnish the Church Army with a motto as apt as the symbol of* the) Cross and Candles. Bill writes: "Out of the lowest depths there is a path that leads to the loftiest heights."