A PADRE IN FRANCE
BY
GEORGE A. BIRMINGHAM
AUTHOR OF
"THE MAJOR'S NIECE," "GENERAL JOHN REGAN," "SPANISH GOLD" "BENEDICT KAVANAGH," ETC.
HODDER AND STOUGHTON
LONDON NEW YORK TORONTO
_Printed in Great Britain by Hazell, Watson & Viney, Ld., London and Aylesbury._
_WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR_
THE MAJOR'S NIECE MINNIE'S BISHOP GENERAL JOHN REGAN HYACINTH BENEDICT KAVANAGH
LONDON: HODDER & STOUGHTON
TO
R. M. L.
FRIEND AND FELLOW-WORKER
CONTENTS
PAGE CHAPTER I THE UTTERMOST PART 15
CHAPTER II GETTING THERE 27
CHAPTER III A JOURNEY IN THE WAR ZONE 40
CHAPTER IV SETTLING DOWN 52
CHAPTER V KHAKI 63
CHAPTER VI LEISURE HOURS 78
CHAPTER VII COMING AND GOING 95
CHAPTER VIII WOODBINE HUT 115
CHAPTER IX Y.S.C. 131
CHAPTER X THE DAILY ROUND 151
CHAPTER XI ANOTHER JOURNEY 164
CHAPTER XII MADAME 177
CHAPTER XIII THE CON. CAMP 194
CHAPTER XIV A BACKWATER 214
CHAPTER XV MY THIRD CAMP 229
CHAPTER XVI LEAVE 245
CHAPTER XVII A HOLIDAY 261
CHAPTER XVIII PADRES 275
CHAPTER XIX CITIZEN SOLDIERS 289
A PADRE IN FRANCE
CHAPTER I
THE UTTERMOST PART
Table of contents (by pages)
- 1: A Padre in France by George A. Birmingham
- 2: I have always admired the sagacity of Balak
- 3: Since actual fighting was impossible
- 4: And ought to be rigorously enforced on them
- 5: I was involved in a worse than American hustle
- 6: I left my papers Punch and The Bystander on the seat
- 7: Our passage was abominably rough
- 8: We had a good look at the Gare Centrale
- 9: For the sight of a Taube they were Taubes
- 10: Waterfield put me in his lowest class
- 11: Things are much better organised now
- 12: I had been militarised for no more than four days
- 13: Every reason to be thankful to that policeman
- 14: Neither the colonel nor the adjutant was there
- 15: He could and did darn socks well
- 16: With the help of the quartermaster
- 17: And to lower vitality than khaki
- 18: Unmistakable spots of colour amid our drab surroundings
- 19: Than a tiger with its natural bright stripes
- 20: Other regimental bands in France
- 21: Football and cricket were played
- 22: The third took control of the tram
- 23: It was a most unconventional restaurant
- 24: He probably sympathised with the R
- 25: I disclaimed all knowledge of any stolen shirt
- 26: In spite of weariness and the effects of seasickness
- 27: And the biggest draft of the lot
- 28: Private Buggins was sent back to England
- 29: The draft ceases to be a draft
- 30: In the recurring drama of the departing drafts
- 31: There cannot be much unexpended at 10 o'clock at night
- 32: CHAPTER VIIIWOODBINE HUT I knew many recreation huts
- 33: Woodbine is a sheer astonishment
- 34: But the pianist is a man of genius
- 35: Choking down their giggles over nursie
- 36: Workers and the recognised army chaplains
- 37: There is less aggressive religiosity in Y
- 38: He was a typical Irishman in looks
- 39: The club was not run according to Y
- 40: After the combatants had trampled on the candle
- 41: Each lecturer delivered himself twice
- 42: A series of pictures of racing yachts under sail
- 43: There were no casualties at all
- 44: I have never gone through a Zeppelin raid
- 45: One blessing about this Zeppelin business
- 46: Suffered little inconvenience from the submarines
- 47: In the end there were no more gateaux
- 48: There were passenger coaches and horse waggons
- 49: No single carriage was labelled for B
- 50: There might be a train to morrow
- 51: By way of pudding we had bread and marmalade
- 52: Below the fountain was a square
- 53: Asserted himself and declared that the Boche was better dead
- 54: Made a fresh start at je suis
- 55: Madame explained that the pears were deliciously ripe
- 56: Gendarmes paraded the market place
- 57: The abbreviation was natural enough
- 58: After inspecting an incinerator
- 59: Somebody repeated it to the Lancashire boy
- 60: Sometimes a billiard tournament
- 61: Our cricket ground was sacrificed
- 62: I have seen men with twopence and no more
- 63: A parson probably sees the best of it
- 64: The worst of all the snubs waited me in Marlborough Camp
- 65: The salvage of the Mons retreat
- 66: There was a Coldstream Guardsman
- 67: I showed her the programme nervously
- 68: Staggering through the Somme mud with laden stretchers
- 69: But drafts consigned to their proper depots at H
- 70: Running a small independent canteen
- 71: The piano hauled over from the canteen
- 72: Hurried to the canteen for candles
- 73: Concerts can be held in it and church services
- 74: Became a duller greyness added to the greyness of the air
- 75: In a cluster round the end of the gangway
- 76: The more helpless subalterns among us
- 77: Porters have packed valises and other luggage into it
- 78: The brigadier becomes strangely silent
- 79: CHAPTER XVIIA HOLIDAY Holidays
- 80: The men are billeted in farm houses
- 81: I went to give lectures to the men
- 82: The shell of the old organisation is there still
- 83: Perhaps men never did idolise generals
- 84: There are other sketches of padres
- 85: An Englishman says Boche quite differently
- 86: Is the padre of much importance
- 87: Are not content to be just padres
- 88: Nor a mild admirer of the goody goody
- 89: It was Oscar Wilde's De Profundis
- 90: One which contained the Waldstein if possible
- 91: As a chess player while I was in that camp