the country. Military bands marching detachments to the station on their way to the front.

At first there was much drunkenness, for this is generally the case where there is much excitement. But soon a serious feeling crept over all, and the town grew more sober in every respect. Our troops were going to fight the greatest military power in the world, and every man realised that it would be a struggle such as this country had never known before.

By and by our regular troops had departed, and the "Terriers" began to come in. A workman-like lot of men these, shaping like good soldiers. In their thousands they had volunteered for active service, and to active service after a period of training they should go.

And then came Kitchener's Army. And what an army! The appeal had gone forth for half a million men, and then for another half million, and by and by for still another million.

The response was magnificent. Never was our country so great as in those days when Kitchener's Army was being formed. The rush of recruits was overwhelming. It seemed as though the whole body of young men in the country would volunteer.

The churches were to the front in this matter. All suspicion that the churches would prove unpatriotic was blown to the winds. They had been training their young people for peace, but when their country was threatened they were ready for war. They had, many of them, been strongly opposed to conscription, but it was no conscript army which was being embodied; it was an army of free Englishmen.

The churches gave of their best. The vicarages and manses of the country were denuded of their sons. In some Sunday-schools the young men's classes volunteered to a man. In many places it was only with great difficulty that the work of the Sunday-schools was carried on, because the male teachers had enlisted. From the Nottingham Wesleyan Mission went five hundred young men.

All sorts and conditions of healthy young manhood responded to their country's call. Kipling's lines, true of the regular army, were prophetic when applied to Kitchener's Army of those days:

And the young women would have gone too, if they could. It went hard in those days with a sweetheart who was not disposed to volunteer. And the young women did go. The rush of volunteer nurses was tremendous and had to be checked. We shall hear of their good work as we progress.

Aldershot was taken by storm by Kitchener's Army. At one time there were a hundred and fifty thousand men in the camp. Seeing that the barrack accommodation in the camp is not for many more than fifteen thousand in normal times, it was evident that the only way to meet the new conditions was to create a canvas city, and a canvas city it became. There were many miles of tents.

It was a sight indeed to see Kitchener's Army drill. The rush was far too great to be met by the Army clothing factories, and for many weeks there were no uniforms, and the men drilled and were drilled by other men in ordinary civilian clothing.

One could see the varied occupations of the men who had enlisted. Here is a man, great of girth, who will need to have his size reduced considerably ere he rushes at German trenches, and he still wears the leggings with which he trudged across his fields. Here is a man who evidently a few days ago held in his hand the yardstick with which he measured his calico. He is bent on sterner work now.

Here, again, is one from the pit and another from the mill, and a third who looks as though he had been a lawyer or a lawyer's clerk. And drilling them all is a man who evidently a few days since was hewing coal from a Welsh mine. He is back to the colours now, but will have to wait for his transforming uniform.

But all eager, all intense. No work for pay this. "Mercenaries" the Kaiser called them, but no mercenaries these—England's best and noblest ready to give their lives for the land they love so well.

It was a happy thought which allowed men who had been accustomed to live and work together to form their own battalion or regiment; and so we had the Public School Corps, and the Pals' Brigade, and many another. Fastidious young men from West End drawing-rooms proved that they had the hearts of true Englishmen, and worked hard as the rest. Later on, in one hut were men whose income was said to average £2000 a year. They were just privates.

From the religious point of view it was a great opportunity. Nearly every church in the land had sent of its best and had done its best to honour those who went. "Rolls of Honour," containing the names of those who had gone from that particular church, hung in the porches. In many, Sunday by Sunday, the names on the Roll of Honour were read out and special prayer offered for them.

The young men had left their homes and churches with the voice of prayer ringing in their ears. They knew that they were going to serious work and that many of them would never return. The most careless of them were serious now, and were ready, if the impression did not pass away, to give themselves not only to their King and Country, but to the King of Kings.

And right earnestly was the work begun in the Home Church continued in the camps. These camps were established all over the country, for Aldershot and Salisbury Plain were altogether inadequate. To all such camps chaplains were appointed, and, for the first time, the Baptists, Congregationalists, Primitives and United Methodists, who, except in the great military centres, had stood out of the Army work, had their appointed chaplains—not many as yet—but sufficient to show that they also felt the need and were ready to do the work. They have since joined forces for this service, and are carrying on their united work by Free Church chaplains.

The entry of the Free Churches into the Army work is of such general interest that I asked the Rev. J.H. Shakespeare, M.A., Secretary of the Baptist Union of Great Britain and Ireland, to send me a brief account of the facts. Mr. Shakespeare replied under date of February 10, 1915.

"Up to ten years ago, the sentiment among Baptists and Congregationalists was not very sympathetic towards the Army, and there was no provision on the Attestation Sheet for the entry of men as belonging to these two denominations. I then secured a column for this purpose, which has been in use ever since, but I do not think it has been very effective.

"When the war broke out, our churches were practically unanimous in their support of the Government. At that time about three thousand troops were entered under our two denominations. I went to see the late Mr. Percy Illingworth, who interested himself very warmly in the proper recognition of Baptists and Congregationalists. Large numbers of our young men began to enlist. The Rev. R.J. Wells and I, through interviews at the War Office, secured that orders were sent out directing that men were to be entered according to their religious professions. Mr. Lloyd George brought the matter under the notice of Lord Kitchener, who strongly resented any sort of sectarian unfairness and wished our recruits to have the same facilities as those of other denominations. Meanwhile, Mr. Wells and I collected the names and regiments of Baptist and Congregational recruits, with the result that we are able to announce the following figures, though more than a third of our churches have made no reply:—