fire zone two whistles pierced the air—one to deploy in loose order and the other to double. We now swept forward, the enemy's batteries opening upon us. The men of my company went down, sometimes one and sometimes three or four in a heap at a time. As we reached our old position I was perfectly furious because of our losses, and though I had never sworn in my life before I yelled between my clenched teeth, 'Give them hell, boys!' Just as we were tumbling in upon them our colonel, who was braver and better than any of us, was shot through the brain and instantly killed. Even though the colonel was killed and whole companies had gone down in that awful rush, the Japanese might as well have tried to stem Niagara's torrent as to beat back our infuriated men, and all that was left of them got out faster than they had charged in. The night within the village was one that would never fade from memory. The streets were strewn with broken rifles, twisted sabres and bayonets, dismounted guns, broken gun carriages and dead men, some of whom still clutched each other in the grip of death. I was now ordered, though I felt unequal to the task or honor, to take temporary command of our decimated regiment.

"In trying to hold on to our old position we had to withstand some terrible bayonet rushes on the part of the enemy in efforts to retake it, and our regiment, which entered the battle with 2,450 men, had just 585 left to respond to the order to retire. Another regiment lost 1,100 men. The place assigned us in this most, orderly retreat was in the rear-guard, and just as we took our places our brigade commander was decapitated by the explosion of a pom-pom shell, and I was ordered to hand over my regiment to a major and take charge of the brigade.

"We had an awful time during the retreat, but every onrush was stemmed, and at each repulse of the foe our men, with bayonets dripping red, cheered to the echo.

"The war was now practically over, and although every man of ours had two foemen opposed to him, the Japs had a narrow escape from defeat; nothing but the accident of a duststorm averting it, by enabling them in the darkness thereof to break the lines of General Linevitch when his men could not see a yard ahead of them.

"When we reached headquarters I, having nothing but a temporary connection with the Russian army, went to my chief and tendered him my uniform and arms, telling him, as there was not likely to be any more fighting, I would return to Canada. He, however, refused to take anything, saying that as a mark of honor and appreciation I must retain them, and after saying 'Good-bye' to my battle-scarred comrades I went to the station to entrain for the coast, and as it steamed out a crowd of officers and men waved their caps and handkerchiefs, shouting, 'Canada for ever; long live Canada and the Canadians!' I felt I did not do much for them—any one, perhaps, would have done better—but I had done my little best, and they had trusted and honored me. I like the Russians; they are good fellows, and are greatly slandered in the West. They have a moral code, and with some exceptions, they live up to it, and any nation that crosses arms with them will pay a heavy toll.

"In closing, I presume you would like to know more fully my opinion of war, and in giving it I will say that if you murder a man by shooting or stabbing him you are merciful, but if you kill him by exploding an eleven-inch shell, in many cases he will be torn to fragments and his dismembered body scattered over an acre of ground. In other instances that I have seen at Mukden and 203 Metre Hill, men have been mortally wounded and left an unrecognizable mass of flesh and blood, which for days heaved with anguish and life, while others, after hours and sometimes days of agony, died with broken bayonets protruding from their backs, having entered as gallant breasts as ever swelled with breath and life.

"I have forsworn war for ever, after the dreadful scenes which I have witnessed, and there were scenes which I did not witness, in far-off Russia and Japan, which were infinitely more appalling, where was seen the dreary sobbing of broken-hearted widowhood and the piteous wailing of hungry, fatherless children. Added to this was the pale-faced sorrow of sisters bereft of brothers and sweethearts, who had lost those who would have been nearer than brothers, and who now with broken hearts ceased to live and began only to exist in hopeless despair. The Russians met in their foes armies trained after the pattern of the German military system, and none of us ever again desire to cross weapons with men trained as those are, who have learned from that land of advanced scholarship and military superiority. The Japanese were foemen worthy of their steel, but instead of their arms being dishonored fresh lustre was shed upon them."

At the close of his address Mr. Devoau was applauded to the echo, after adding as a rider that in his denunciation of war he would, of course, make an exception of defensive operations.

The next Sabbath in the morning service Mr. Melvin started the tabernacle congregation by announcing that as he would soon reach the retiring line, and as the immense congregation, with its many needs, overtaxed his strength, he had long thought of an associate who, when he retired, would take full charge. Continuing, he said: "I have spoken to Mr. Devoau and asked him if he would not abandon the thought of a life so selfish as that of making himself one of the foremost iron founders in Canada and join me in the work of preaching and teaching. His answer has been favorable, if it is the will of the people, and he has further said that if it is their will he will accept it as the Master's will."

A meeting of the officers of the church was called for Tuesday evening, when the matter was discussed, and Mr. Devoau's profession of faith heard, when he told them that he was of French-Canadian parentage and could not subscribe to every technicality. His frankness and fearlessness won every heart, a vote was taken, and he was unanimously called to be associate pastor of Mount Zion.

CHAPTER VI.

FURTHER TEACHINGS AND HOW THEY ARE ESTIMATED.

After his ordination the new preacher took his place in the pulpit once every Sunday, and being now a close student of theology as well as of other subjects, he soon became an eloquent and powerful speaker, and the entire congregation was delighted with him. The last Sunday of the national year, Mr. Melvin announced a sermon on "The Ideal Relationship of Capital and Labor," prompted by the recent trouble at the foundry between employers and their hands. The preacher of the day said: "Beware of so-called socialism, for it trenches very closely on the borderland of anarchism, and after having listened to lectures and sermons an hour long and read many books upon that much-abused topic, I am constrained to turn to the teaching of the Man of Nazareth, and find in that teaching something more rational and common-sense than elsewhere. In the first place our Saviour recognized property rights when he said, 'Render unto Cæsar the things which are Cæsar's, and unto God the things which are God's.' This doctrine is for the workingman as well as for his employer, and enables both to procure homes for themselves and hold them in their own right.

"We cannot fail to recognize the fatherhood of God, and if so then we must recognize the brotherhood of man, for all men truly should be such. If you and I have come to that point where we regard every man as our brother, on the authority of Jesus Christ, the social problem will be solved, and the capitalist will regard and treat the man who toils for him as the son of his Father God, and the toiler will regard the employer as not only his brother, but co-heir with himself to an incorruptible inheritance. Much depends, brethren, on the exercise of that charity which translates love. Love one another and you will use one another