HLI Chronicle 1914 - The Royal Highland Fusiliers

HIGHLAND LIGH1' INFANTRY CHRONICLE.On this occasion there was a special offertoryto pay for an organ for the church. Sincethen all the money necessary has been collected.The organ now bears on it a brass plate withthe words :-" St. Aidan's Kirk. The gift ofthe 1st Highland Light Infantry. 14/12/13."In addition to this, the Regimental KirkAccount has borne the expense of all theextra furnishings that had to be providedto make the church comfortable.Dedication service sheets, with a nice photoof the Kirk, were most kindly supplied to allthrough the kindness of Mr. Gillan.The dedication service was enjoyed byeveryone present, and it is seldom Mr. Stockeyand his band have been heard to such fineadvantage. The opening voluntary was exceedinglypleasing.ANNUAL CHRISTMAS TREAT, 19B.It was a very happy company that assembledon Saturday afternoon. December 27th, inthe Regimental theatre for the annual ChristmasTreat. For many days before the CommandingOfficer had been planning, andLieutenant Balfour using his inexhaustiblestore of capabilities, and that their effortswere entirely successful was clearly evidentwhen the curtain in front of the stage wasdrawn aside and we were transported toXmas-land.The theatre, under the careful guidance ofCol.-Sergeant Papworth and his willing bodyof workers, was nicely decorated, while Mrs.Pollok-Morris, Mrs. Walker, Mrs. Tarrant,and Mrs. Stewart put the finishing touchesto the snow scene on the stage, and withexceeding care arranged all the presents.Tea was a sumptuous feast, and, with the bandplaying, jolly as well. The crackers speciallydelighted the bairns. Then we listened tot,he sti:cring strains of the pipes while thetables were cleared, and outside friends whohad come to make merry with us enjoyedthis bit of the feast greatly. Returningindoors, Colonel Ronaldson, in a few happywords, explained to us what we would nowsee had befallen the presents. The curtainwas drawn. aside, and it was not long beforethe bairns understood. Father Xmas was inour midst-but in a sore plight. Hoshiarpursand had been too much for him, and so wesaw him sitting in a wood bemoaning hislot., He had managed to reach thus far, buthe met with a terrible mishap there. Restingamong the trees, he found a well near by,and, being weary, footsore, and terribly thirsty,he had tried to refresh himself with a draughtfrom it. 'But it was Ambala he had come to,and in the year of grace 1905 an earthquakehad visited this land and the strata of theearth had jumped a bit; and so, though hecame to a well, he found it was a waterlessone. And as he groped his way anxious tosee if there was any at all his basket ofpresents had fallen down the well. So hesat and bemoaned his fate, and alike thesorrow he knew he had thus brought. FortunatelvLieut. Balfour had come to hisrescue, • and had gallantly descended the welland sorted out the gifts, and so ColonelRonaldson begged the bairns to enter the woodwithout fear. A bucket and a rope had beenfound, and now, if the well no longer wouldgive water, at least the presents would hebrought up. So each child came in turn, and,winding up the rope, brought up its ownpresent in the bucket and went back happyin the possession of the same. And FatherXmas was made happy too, for the bairns,grieved at seeing him so distraught, and anxiousto assure him that they were grateful indeedhe had not forgotten them, ran back into thewood where he sat and kissed him and thankedhim, while they begged him not to be worried,and they hoped he would be less unfortunateanother year." The Sisters of the Regiment" was nextsung to the tune of " John Peel," and we allsaid or meant "Thank you" to those goodpeople at home who, year by year, with suchthoughtful care attend to the selection ofthe Xmas gifts. Then ~Ir. Grant and ]\fr.Henderson gave us much amusement withsome wonderful doings in sleight-of-hand art,and their exhibition of the " Two Wild Menof Borneo," who danced and moved withextraordinary agility, was capitally comical.So we spent a happy afternoon togetheranafternoon that everyone enjoyed. and wasglad to be present at.HOGMANAY NIGHT, 1913.Once again we have to thank the Rev. Mr.]\facpherson, our chaplain, for another happyHogmanay evening. Every year we passthrough together brings us more closely intotouch one with the other, and possibly thereare not many other occasions when we havethe "one-fa.ulily thought". driven home tous more than in our Hogmanay aroundthe kirk fire.