258 



REV. W. H. FRAZEK, ON 



myself, " I must go and see more of this business — I nnist go 

 and see what has made these men what they are." I applied 

 to the War Ofhce to be permitted to go out, and was immedi- 

 ately sent. When it was announced to my friends at Woolwich, 

 officers said, " What a lucky fellow you are," everyone 

 appeared to wish (even though they had wives and families) to 

 get out to the war, and it was a great cause of thankfuhiess to 

 me that I had succeeded in getting out. During my services I 

 had four trips — two out and two back. I need not go into any 

 of those details with regard to sea-faring life tliat we note down 

 in our diaries — that has nothing to do with our subject. 

 There are just one or two incidents that I will touch upon. 

 One was, seeing a whale get a good thrashing from a thrastier. 

 I had travelled a good deal about the world, and I had but once 

 seen a thrasher attack a whale. 



Another one was, that those boys — those heroic souls tliat 

 belong to our country and make our hopes satisfactory and firm 

 with regard to it, sung merrily on those evenings on board, 

 when concerts were given, and I marked this, that those whom 

 we would call uncultured youths, full of ignorance, sang their 

 songs with charming beauty, that went to the heart. Our 

 officers would have a concert, too, but "Tommy" beat them 

 hollow. We went from Southampton to Queenstown, and I 

 was glad to tread the ground there, where I had been many 

 years ago, and from thence we sailed to Las Palmas and !St. 

 Helena. St. Helena especially is well worthy of notice, and 

 full of memories and history. Then we made our way to Table 

 Bay, when I beheld a sight that I was assured, and 1 believe, 

 had been until then unequalled in this world, with its J 8 or 

 20 giant troop-ships all clustered there, to carry to and fro 

 hundreds of thousands of men and weighty munitions of war. 



When I got ashore at Capetown I had to report myself to 

 some superior officer. He was very nice, but he was rough in 

 his manner, and gave it to me hot. The next day he was good 

 enough to ask me to forgive him. " It was that unfortunate 

 temper of his," he said, " that Irish temper." I said, " Nothing 

 of the sort. Irishmen have the best of tempers, especially 

 when they are educated and cultured men ; " but I was bound to 

 forgive him, and I did. 



I was next, to my great surprise and regret, ordered home in 

 charge of troops. I often think of the pleasure of those 

 journeys, and how our soldiers valued the services of religion, 

 and it was a pleasure to me to go back again even for that very 

 purpose. I had opportunities during my stay in Cape Town of 



