10 JUNE 1916, Page 13

"SOMEWHERE IN MACEDONIA."

[To THE EDITOR OF THE " ECTATOE.1

Sm,—As indicative of what is in the mind of at least some of the men in our Army, I beg to send to you the following extract from a letter written by a private in a famous Scottish regiment, a battalion of which has been serving sothowhere in Macedonia. The writer came home

from Pere to enlist. He is not Puritanical, and has no profession or calling, but roams the world to seek his fortune where it may lie, and to enjoy his life where he may be living it. The scene is on a three days' " trek," and one of the chaplains has told the men that about thirty miles from their camp was to be seen the original site of the first Christian ehurch set up by St. Philip at Philippi :- "So you see we are in a real old-world part up here. We passed an old native woman when on the march, and she was in a great state. Ehe would moan and mutter prayers, at the same time crossing herself, so I expect she thought we had come to destroy her land. These poor people seem to be living in the shadow of superstition, and they seem to have nothing noble or inspiring in their lives. Their code of honour Is there, but they seem to be a pageant of the past, living in an eternal groove, with their minds wars and a grey past, with an equally grey future before them. They are only recovering from a recent war, and to-day they do not know what the future may bring them. Let us hope our cause will triumph and help to uplift them to a higher and purer life."

Later in his letter he pulls himself up for moralizing, and apologizes In a shamefaced kind of way for having done so—I am, Sir, &c.,