October 1, '15. Thanks very much for your letter. I
have ordered a Modern Churchman, but it hasn't arrived yet. Broken Hill is a mining town in Australia, and a hotbed of Labour polities. I have a number of friends there among the miners—or had, before the war. The only institution in which I have never lost faith is the Oxford and Bermondsey Mission. Its ideal has always been that Oxford men should as far as possible identify themselves with the working men of Bermondsey in order that they might earn the right to lead them. Of course so far no one has ever fully realized this ideal; though enlistment in the Army has brought some of -us nearer to it than ever before. For that reason I now bitterly regret having applied for a commission. It has undermined a-hat might have proved a valuable position. However, it is too late to remedy that. I am certain that the ;gentleman can be of use in leading the working man if he will be humble enough to learn from the working man, and will nut try to teach before he understands anything of a workman's hits. There are two gifts in which I have increasing faith, and they are humility and lore. This is all rather disjointed, and in fact I am rather busy. I am still waiting for orders from -the War Office.
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