But Methodism is not alone, as a Church, in this patriotic and Christian
enterprise. The Established Church has entered upon it with an
ever-increasing earnestness, having come, mainly through the advocacy of
the Chaplain-General, Rev. Dr. Edgehill, to grasp the situation, and to
realize that for the men themselves and for the empire it is of
paramount importance that this provision should be made.

The reflex result of the efforts to establish Soldiers' and Sailors'
Homes has also been most beneficent. Speaking at the anniversary of one
of these Homes, not many years ago, Lord Methuen said that they had led
the way to the improvement which is now being effected in barracks,
where the old squalor has given place to comfort, and the temperance
refreshment room, the recreation room, and the library more than hold
their own against the canteen, and the cheerful and sufficient married
quarters have replaced the scandal of the curtained corner or the
miserable one-roomed hut.

Nor must the prayer-room now attached to every barracks in India be
forgotten, nor the Army Temperance Association, of which the Rev. Gelson
Gregson was the pioneer, and the illustrious Field-Marshal, Lord
Roberts, the founder. This association has now, thanks to the sympathy
of H.R.H. the Duke of Cambridge when Commander-in-Chief, and to the
hearty and constant support of Lord Wolseley, his illustrious successor,
been established throughout the whole British army.

It will thus be seen that the great awakening of now nearly fifty years
ago has borne good fruit, and that in proportion as the nation has risen
to a higher moral level, and consequently to a juster appreciation of
its duties, the soldier and the sailor have continued to share in its