Welsh Journals

artillery rumbled by, ominous and death-dealing. Companies and platoons of men were being put through drill of various kinds. The sharp staccato words of command rang out, the glittering bayonets flashed together in the sunlight, the movements of the arm drill being repeated with weary reiteration until the vagaries of the human had given place to the precision of the automatic soldier. It all had a sense of unreality about it, especially when one remembered the home scenes in which many of these lads had been nurtured, the quiet mountains of Mer- ioneth and the sleepy farmsteads of Anglesea. Indeed, these places seemed hardly now to exist- between the present days and that past life was an impassable gulf. Never again it seemed would life be the same: never again could there be the old quiet security and content in hearing the lowing of the cows in the meadow, the twittering of the swallows in the eaves. The call of the yellow-hammer in the heatherland could never come again with the old sweetness in a world bewildered with the tramp of men and the shoutings of the captains. Once more I returned to the College Chapel. In the early morning there was no brightness, only grey clouds overhead and gusts of rain. The town was deserted and desolate, the College quadrangle echoed strangely. Only the doorkeepers were abroad. The Alma Mater seemed to have kept vigil last night and the place of prayer was more to her mood than her halls of learning. Oh, the deep quiet of the vaulted nave, the sombre stalls by candles dimly lit, the solemn altar and the Cross I In the splendour of the great windows the tinctured heraldry of nobles and kings was darkly discernible, gathering up the pride of the centuries. Now and anon one's wandering thoughts were recalled from the stillness by the rain's sharp pattering on the great windows. How many kings and prelates and statesmen for generations had brought their tributes to this fane of prayer. How chastely magnificent it was with its decent and ordered pomp, its ages of great tradition-" All that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave." Somehow the very beauty and majesty of the external distracted from the contemplation of that inward and spiritual truth which it was its sole purpose to set forth. Yet here and now in sim- CONFERENCE OF TEACHERS OF HISTORY In connection with the Summer Shakespeare Festival, to be held at Stratford-on-Avon in August, a Conference of Teachers of History is arranged, when the interests of the members will be specially con- sidered. The Committee of the Conference has the kind cooperation of the English Association, the American Historical Association, the League of the Empire, the Association of Assistant Mistresses, the Associa- plidty was the central symbol. the inner sacrament of the ages. What revelation to man in his darkness had it to give in this most bitter agony of the world ? The candle light fell on the kneeling worshippers, the wind moaned and buffeted against the great windows, the low murmuring of the priest came from the altar. What awful mystery of the spirit, what oracles of eternity, what solace of the soul was there. Only bread and wine! The sign throughout the ages of Him Who was for us both Victor and Victim, and therefore Victor because the Victim, for us both Priest and Sacrifice, and therefore Priest because the Sacrifice making us of servants sons." I turned to the page that lay open before me. Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah, he that is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save." Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that trcadeth in the winefat ? I have trodden the winepress alone and of the people there was none with me. For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come." Were we at the breaking of the phials of wrath, at the brink of an apocalypse ? Would agony alone awaken the world to a better way? Were not the deep foundations of our lives and of our old world tottering? Somewhere, eastward, the multitudes of the world were slaying and rending, falling as it were from ledge to ledge, from lower to lower fury and carnage and bestiality, towards some abyss of horror and night. In this grim business had Christ no place? But I had not read to the end. I will mention the loving-kindedness of the Lord. and the praises of the Lord, and his great goodness towards the house of Israel which he hath bestowed on them according to his mercies. And the angel of His presence saved them in his love and in his pity He redeemed them and He bare them and carried them all the days of old. For thou, 0 Lord, art Our Father, our redeemer Thy name is from everlasting. So by the altar rail beside a soldier in khaki and a gowned don, meekly kneeling, I received the bread and wine and was thankful. M.L. tion of Assistant Masters, the Irish Schoolmistresses Association, the Irish Secondary Teachers' Assoda- tion, the Teachers' Guild, and other educational associations. Members of the Conference will, by the courtesy of the Trustees, be admitted free to Shakespeare's Birthplace, the King Edward VI. Grammar School, Anne Hathaway's College, and the New Race Museum.