192 sportsmen Parsons in Peace and War 



July 27. — ^" I am sending off to-day a skull-cap, and I want 

 two or three hundred to start with. They are for the Buffs ; 

 they go inside the steel helmet and make it quite comfortable, 

 and, to speak plainly, absorb the sweat. 



" The rats are terribly noisy again to-night." 



The dug-out in the Ypres salient is now left behind and they 

 are on the march— towards the great struggle on the Somme, but 

 Mr. Inglis does not say so ; there are merely repeated references 

 to being on the march. 



July 31. — " I think I shall probably send a bag of things 

 home, as we shall be travelling light for a time." 



August 5. — " We had another move yesterday, only about 

 six miles. I started off a little after nine with a limber and two 

 men for the canteen. I have got a small brigade canteen 

 running. My shop is set up under a tree in an orchard. It is 

 rather difficult to manage these things when you are never more 

 than forty-eight hours in the same place, but they all make it as 

 easy as possible, and it is a great boon to the men." 



August 11. — " We could do with a great many more skull- 

 caps ; the number I could do with now is one thousand five 

 hundred. We had our service right by the guns in case they 

 were ordered to fire." 



After this the letters got very hurried, as they are evidently 

 in the thick of it. One of the new trenches dug in the battlefield 

 was christened the ' Rector trench,' in honour of Mr. Inglis, 

 who Avas known amongst the officers and men as the ' Rector.' 

 Referring to this with evident satisfaction in a letter, he says, 

 " I have been shown the Rector trench on the map ; it goes right 

 up to the German lines." 



All were roughing it now, and the Padre was sleeping under 

 the stars, and learnt the useful trick of scratching a hole in the 

 ground for his hip-bone to rest in, which is familiar to every 

 soldier and most sporting folk whose journey ings carry them 

 far afield. 



September 12. — " It mercifully did not rain last night ; 

 though the ground was rather bumpy I slept very well. It's 



