Notes

New Zealand Tablet, 23 December 1915, Page 35

Notes

Paper and the War Newspaper;?, like most other businesses, have felt the pinch of the war, notably in the difficulty of obtaining full supplies of paper, and particularly of the finer quality required for illustrations. On this ground .we have to apologise to our readers for having, on this occasion, to forego our usual Christmas supplement. Two War Stories The Strand is gathering together what it calls the ‘ Best War Stories,’ and here are two from the collection. They are doubtless as true as the rest of the war items that are sent to us. Scene: Somewhere in France, some time last winter. On the German -trenches a placard was erected, bearing the words, * Gott mit uns ’ (God with us). The British Tommies were not to be outdone. Up went their rival notice; ‘ We’ve got mittens too !’ * A company of Sherwood Fox-esters were walking along the bank of a river, when suddenly the commanding officer shouted, ‘Fall in!’ ‘No fear!’ answered a raw recruit. ‘ I didn’t join the Coldstream Guards! ’ Cardinal Hartmann and Peace That the Pope’s efforts in the direction of peace by which he has expressed himself to mean a ‘ just ’ and ‘ lasting ’ peaceare not altogether without effect, and that there is something very like a definite peace movement in Germany, seems fairly clear from the following paragraph which appears in a recent issue of the German Vorwaerts: — The Cardinal Archbishop of Cologne, who has already repeatedly betrayed his ardent love of peace in Pastoral Letters to his fold, recently issued an appeal to all the faithful to take part in a procession or supplication for the termination of the war. The appeal was published in huge letters on posters all over the town, and it was expected that it would meet with a tremendous response, as all the Catholic unions of Cologne were invited to participate. At the last moment, however, the following notice was issued; The procession planned- for Sunday and authorised by the authorities will not take place in consequence of later misgivings on the subject.” ' : ;v_

The Undamaged Crucifix - ; • Coming from a Catholic - witness the following testimony would probably be x-ejected as savoring of superstition, but coming, as it does from a Presbyterian minister, the Rev. Kenneth D. McLaren, of the Church of Scotland, it will hardly be considered open to any such suspicion. Mr. McLaren says that as military chaplain he spoke to many of the men home from the. front. They told him that wherever they went they had again and again come across churches which had been shelled and broken to pieces, but one part remained, namely, the wall bearing the crucifix, theCross with a figure of the Saviour upon it. In the little shrines by the roadside the same thing had happened. He asked scores of men what was the significance of that to them, and the reply almost invariably was that it had a religious significance. One said that whatever might be destroyed in this war the Cross of Christ was to remain erect amid the ruins. A Correction The Rev. Father Bowers, of Geraldine, writes to us as follows: —‘Allow me to point out that you are in error regarding the quotation from the 2nd Book of Esdras of the Apocrypha mentioned on page 35 of last Thursday’s issue of the Tablet. .M 3 copy of the Apocrypha is the Revised Version, published at Oxford, 1895, and a revised version-"of the words quoted occurs there exactly as stated by the correspondentof the Spectator. . The 2nd Book of Esdras of the Apocrypha must not be confounded with the 2nd Book' of Esdras or Neheraias that is to be found in the Douay, Authorised, and Revised Versions of the Bible. . Two other Books of Esdras, a 3rd and a 4th, were published, but their authenticity having been denied they are not now included in any of the above named versions. The 2nd Esdras quoted by the correspondent of the Spectator is, .of course, the 4th Esdras just mentioned.’