SIDELIGHTS ON THE WAR

New Zealand Tablet, 11 October 1917, Page 11

SIDELIGHTS ON THE WAR

GENERAL, ■*. >.; -V _ „ i; . ; v "The money spent on this war up to the present would," said Mr. J. W. Poynton, S.M., speaking in Palmerston, "cut 100 Panama Canals, drain all the big swamps and irrigate all the deserts on the globe. At £IO,OOO a mile, it would make a million miles of railway, or one 40 times round the earth. This waste •could not go on indefinitely, and universal bankruptcy was inevitable if it continued much longer." On Sunday, July 15, 2500 Irish soldiers, accompanied by three generals and forty officers, assisted at a Mass offered for their special intention in the Basilica of Notre Dame des Miracles, Saint Omer. A guard of honor took up a position in the sanctuary. Mgr. Julica, the new Bishop of Arras, presided at the Holy Sacrifice. The whole nave of the church was filled by the soldiers, who sang hymns during the Mass with great fervor. At the conclusion of the Mass, one of the military chaplains entered the pulpit and thanked his Lordship the Bishop and the clergy of Arras for the cordial facilities they always accorded to the British troops for the fulfilment of their religious duties. His Lordship responded with much feeling, and praised the piety and good example of the Irish soldiers. The troops then knelt to receive the Bishop's blessing. At their departure the Bishop, surrounded by his Canons, on a dais in front of the basilica, reviewed the marchpast of the soldiers, headed by the military bands —saluted him as they passed. After the march-past the three generals knelt before the bishop for his blessing, whereupon the many thousands of French people who were present cheered most lustily. CATHOLIC WAR SHRINE UNVEILED. The unveiling of a war shrine which had been erected in the grounds immediately in front of the Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Harwich, on the main road between Harwich and Dovercourt, took place recently. Rain fell the greater part of the morning, and was still falling when the ceremony took place, but, nevertheless, there was a very large gathering. A strong guard of honor, composed of men of the Royal Navy, lined the roadway immediately in front of the shrine, and in addition to the large number of naval officers present were Commodore R. Y. Tyrwhitt, C. 8., D. 5.0., R.N., the Mayor of Harwich, and Alderman E. Saunders. .. Father Clements, who has charge of the mission, remarked that many would doubtless ask why had they chosen a crucifix as the shrine. His first reason was that is was a sign of our redemption. His next reason was that husbands, sons, fathers, and brothers were out at the front, and they were very much struck in France and Belgium to see the crucifix everywhere. Therefore it was very appropriate, and would serve to remind our brave men when they came back—as please God they hoped they mightof. what they had seen. The shrine is a beautiful piece of workmanship, which takes the form of a crucifix 15 feet high, on a brick pedestal, and it was much admired. A dedication prayer was said by Father Clements, followed by the singing of the hymn "Soul of My Saviour." The Lord Mayor of London having unveiled the shrine, said it was peculiarly fitting that they should have a war shrine in such an important seaport town, because-if his memory served him aright had read of many glorious deeds of men who had come from Harwich in "this great war. The shrine had been given by a young officer, now serving abroad, in memory of those heroes of the Navy and Army who had died in the war: . The Mayor of Harwich thanked the Lord Mayor very cordially for unveiling the shrine. - Father Clements mentioned that the shrine had been ?iven by the only son of Mr. and Mrs. Cover dale, of Dovercourt. : f J SISTER JULIENNE—A WAR HEROINE. ;> I *''; \. Mr. ■ Geoffrey. Young, officer • of the British Ambulance Unit for Italy, and . formerly in comm of

the French Unit at Ypres, writes from- Gorizia:—

''Sister Julienne, one of the senior Sisters of the Civil Hospital at Ypres, has just been reported killed by a shell. This saintly and devoted woman, well on in years, was one of the few heroic Sisters who remained in Ypres during the first terrible bombardment, when the town was abandoned. She remained to care for a number of wounded Germans, nursing' them : until they were finally removed. A few days later she was one of those who returned when - the Friends' Ambulance Unit opened in the cellars a ward for the wounded children and civilians. She remained through all the subsequent bombardments one of the boldest figures of the epidemic, one of the most courageous to issue under shell-fire to fetch in the wounded and the sick. When the town was finally abandoned, she remained with one other Sister, oh her own initiative, at an aid-post in the cellars, to nurse the wounded British soldiers. Only under compulsion did she at last retire to Poperinghe, where she remained to the end, nursing civilians and soldiers alike, under repeated bombardments, until her death. She was the custodian of the treasures of her hospital, and braved death constantly to visit or remove them. A gentle, sensitive, nervous lady, she was beloved by the wounded children for her sunny gentleness, and by those who worked with her for her refinement and humor. Nothing but a profound sense of duty and love could- have supported her through peril and shock, sight, and sound, such as proved too much for vigorous men. There may be many heroines in the war more conspicuous, but none whose courage was more tested, or whose motives and character were more beautiful." BACK TO THE LAND. The war has taught us many lessons (states the Ceylon Catholic Messenger). One of them is that in spite of the boasted eldorado of commerce and the alchemy of manufacture, in the ultimate resort man must go to mother earth to get his bread by the sweat of his brow. Till and plant, plough and sow, is the cry of the day. In England, the home of commerce, the very parks have been turned to agricultural purposes. No square foot of available soil is allowed to refuse its contribution towards the food supply of the country. Is this progress are we retrograding? Twenty-five, nay, ten years ago, the farmer was considered little better than a menial. To-day, as in the so-called dark ages, the farmer, in the highest opinion, stands on an equal footing with the warrior. Said the knight to the farmer, "I am born of a noble race." The farmer replied proudly: "I cultivate the corn, that is the better part. If I did not work, you could not live on your heraldry." So ran the popular songs in the days of medieval Europe. The farmers of those days were conscious of their dignity and importance as tillers of God's earth, as universal benefactors who furnished daily bread for all. Man's obligation to work, in obedience to primeval command, and the dignity of labor, as elevated by Christianity, were both well recognised, and the speculations of commerce were looked upon with a suspicious eye by the single-hearted farmer. The Reformation and other religious revolutions gradually imposed other and newer criterions of nobility and standards of excellence, and things came to be valued purely according to their material worth and monetary value. The banker and the merchant rose to become the peer of princes while the farmer was relegated r to the obscure backyard of civilisation. The peasantry instead of consciously being the backbone : of their country, became merely a minor appendage to- be exploited at will >by the plutocracy of'a materialistic civilisation. For good or for ill, ; it how 1 seems that under the stress of war the peasant •" will have r an opportunity to come back to his own. How he will take advantage of it, and ; how he will use] the powers he "will soon be conscious of possessing r will 'be 'another; of the problems : which post-war statesmen and philosophers will be called upon to solve. ;.gg7] rjv: i £jizil&