Item 04: G. O. Hawkins letters to his family, 2 January 1915-November 1917 - Page 39
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[Page 39]
9
There are so many old customers and occupations amongst the people that one cannot help being interested and yet I find it is only the cultured who appreciate, which of course must be the case.
Australians (I mean the ordinary rank and file) see nothing but a desert here because they have only a desert mind to see with
The Chaplains are indeed men who appreciate for their minds are enriched with worthy knowledge But oh dear me what narrow men most of them are.
They dont see in between the lines of holy work nor beyond
They dont understand that bitter cry from the cross.
They dont understand the intellect of Christ. An intellect which knew what not to tell.
They dont understand that if Christ had lived to be 70 years of age there would have been no Christian religion but rather another but greater book of Ecclesiasties [Ecclesiastes]
Yet whether they understand or not they are worthy, and because of their faith being good where good would otherwise not be.
The Y.M.C.A building is just close to my tent and while I have been writing this last sentence or two the clear clean voice of a Chaplain has been reciting in a [indecipherable] forceful manner to the soldiers gathered there. Such a clear wholesome change from the rubbish and filth which generally surrounds and wearies one to death. Then while i a blessing him in my heart for