He told me, before the service, that his unit had to move on the following day, and also that he was accustomed to choose and read the lesson himself.

I was delighted to find a layman so full of zeal.

But in the midst of the service I was rather distressed at his choice of the lesson.

It was hard enough to get the interest of the men as it was, but the Colonel made it more difficult by choosing a long chapter from Deuteronomy narrating the wanderings of the children of Israel in the desert.

Of course the C.O.
and I knew that the A.S.C.was to move on the following day, but the congregation was not aware of the fact, and they must have been puzzled by the application of the chapter to the religious needs of the men at the front.