"THE PADRE."
[To THE EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOR."1 SIR,—May I trespass upon your space with a few quotations from a letter written by my godson at the front to his
parents
From the trenches.—" There is not one of us who is ashamed to drop upon his knees and pray at any moment, for we face death all the time. . . . We have a chaplain who comes up into the front line-every day, no matter how dangerous and rough things may be ; in fact, he always makes for the most dangerous places on principle. One day during a particularly hot bombardment, instead of leaving the trenches, the padre,' as he is called, strode up and down the line cheering and helping. Wherever the bom- bardment was strongest that place became his objective, and it was noticed that it slackened off as soon as he reached the locality. Daily he comes down the line, giving away sweets and cigarettes with a cheering word. He is an elderly man, and when we ask him why ho comes into danger as he does, when there is no call, he tells us that he has no wife, his family is grown up, and so he feels he can be better spared than many. They say that he is a Leeds parson, but that he has been in the Colonies. He is always glad to give Communion to Nonconformists. All the mon worship him. I shall try to find out his name, but at present he is 'the padre '—the simplest, finest gentleman I have over met, and he has stood the test. . . . There is another man who has great influence out here. He is a priest attached to an Irish regiment. He insists upon charging every time with the men, and no one dare protest. He is absolutely the idol of the regiment."
—I am, Sir, &o., KATHARINE RADCLIFFE COOKE.
27 West Hill, Haddersileld.
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