We sang
the old familiar hymns, "While shepherds watched" and "Hark, the Herald
Angels sing," which took our thoughts away to distant homes and
services in England, 7,000 miles away. At the close of the service came
that hymn of prayer, "O God of peace, give peace again;" and as we
walked back to the train a sergeant said to me: "If there is a God who
will listen to prayer, my prayer for peace went straight to Him". I
think he spoke for all of us. Most people who love war for war's sake
are not soldiers.
Our Christmas dinner was a most gorgeous affair. We were determined to
do everything in the best possible style, and everybody helped. We first
rigged up a trestle table beside the train and stretched a tarpaulin
above it to shelter us from the fierce heat. Three of our number were
then despatched to secure all the green stuff they could for decorative
purposes, and as the good people of De Aar were quite ready to give us
some of their scanty flowers and allow us to dismember their shrubs, our
envoys returned with armfuls of material. The outside of the train and
the surface of the table were gaily decorated, and two photographs of
her Majesty which we had cut out of magazines were framed in leaves and
flowers and bits of coloured paper, the very best we could do! We had
secured an order for some beer and a couple of bottles of whisky, and
when these adjuncts had been duly fetched from the canteen we sat down
to our Christmas dinner.
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