Church Army Work.

Waiapu Church Gazette, Volume IX, Issue 14, 1 August 1918, Page 109

Church Army Work.

The following 1 vivid description: of Church Army work at the front is extracted from the " Church Times" — we are sorry to have been compelled to curtail it considerably: — Let us now take you m imagination close up to the firing' line and -show you the Church Army at work m a district under observation of the enemy. The place I have m mind was the model mine of France; its buildings were all quite new, erected on the most approved lines, and fitted with the best modern machinery. Now, what a scene of sorrow and desolation! Every single house is laid m ruins. Each one was picked out m turn by the German guns and systematically destroyed. The large coal elevator is a mass of twisted steel. The palatial building which housed the offices of the mine is a wreck, but underneath it are spacious vaults, which no shell has yet reached. In these vaults the Church Army is installed. For there is now an underground town m this garden city, and a new population has to be catered for.

As you pass along by the ruins of the houses you will notice the flue of a chimney emerging 1 from the ground m front of each. It comes up from the cellar beneath the ruin.

There is no place or means of recreation within reach of the men, not even an 1 estaminet, for the entire civil population has been evacuated. So the Church Army has literally and metaphorically stepped into the breach. Steer your way with me carefully round the shell-holes m the ground. Keep your box respirator at hand, ready to fix on at. a moment's notice.

We climb gingerly down the broken steps that lead to the vaults, of which the Church Army has taken possession. The Royal Engineers have at last succeeded m installing electric light, so that now you will be able to see all the beauties of this hidden palace.

At one end of the main cellar a stage lias been erected, brig-lit with colored hangings; and here the local troupe of military "Whiz-bangs" give their displays. The walls are gay with gaudy posters culled from the advertisement hoardings at. home. The air, if it is evening, is thick with cigarette smoke, and the tables are crowded with men playing games, reading magazines, or writing home. Come through a side door and follow an underground passage, and we reach another portion of this labyrinth. Switch on the electric light, and you find you are m a beautiful chapel. A vaulted recess at the end forms a natural sanctuary, m which the altar

is plja^d,.;? fittings have been^irikde^bjr'th'e^reatly^^iias of the men themselves- -out- of such materials .as .werev,av.ail.able;. The : candlesticks ; on. the altar., have been 'ingeniously f^hioiied. out -of 'ibhe- tin linings -of , packing cases from, ithe^ canteen. The wooden cross, is also the- work of < the men;" ' 'In this primitive chapel of the catacombs the Holy Communion is • celebrated 'week- by week, and whien possible : day by day, • • while our heavy guns .m. their pits' close by roar their 'deafening, notes and -the Hun sends his shells overhead, with their moan and scream. Here the men may dome for such quiet, as war allows and for prayer. Such is a piece of the Chui'ch Army's work at the front. And it serves to remind our boys out yonder that the Church at home has not: forgotten them amid • the dangers .and hardships of' their lives.