The intensification of our bombing coin des with Air Marshal Sir Charles Portal taking charge. Whether this Is a ease of post hhoc or proper hoe: or that we have more bombers and the nights are now longer for their work, is again a matter of guessing. But Sir Charles Portal is very much 2 fighting man and has a reputation for a certain vathlessness in his nature. Whfeh is what we want. As Crookbaek Dick " says, Stevenson's "Black Arrow." "Hark ye, Sir Richard, Y make war with steel javelins, not with peacock feathers." Meanwhile the eontroversy between confining our attacks to legitimate targets, or scattering bombs indiscriminately over the German cities, goes on animatedly. There is not, however,. the lightest sign that the RAF, will change the tactics it has hitherto pursued with such success. To take one example: the gasometer at Gelsenkirchen, which our men bombed recently, is, or was, actually considerably her than the dome of St, Paul's and its diameter greater than the cathedral's nave. it was the largest gas-container in the world ind the Germans were so proud of it that they invited a British engineer to come and seo it when it was finished.
Among historic buildings in London which have suffered recently in the raids is the carious old Netherlands church tucked away in Austin Friars behind Old Broad Street, It was originally founded for French Huguenots as well as for Protestants though little of the original church remains. It did, however, escape the Great Fire. Ils archives some which are very valuable, were in a strong room and were not injured by the bombs, but much beautiful furniture and the portraits of the pastors since the founding of the church were destroyed.
If one could credit the Huns with aiming anything in particular one might trace a. connection between their hostility Christianity and the Jarge number of reli-lous buildings in London on which their bombs have fallen, These include 32 buildings belonging to the Church of England destroyed and 47 badly damaged; 50) Methodist churches and halls destroyed and ver 172 more or loss seriously injured; 18 Congeeyationalist buildings destroyed and $0 others damaged; and over 60 Baptist build Ings. Some of the City churches destroyed were both beautiful and historic. Actually there were too many of them for the City's resident population. But that does not con= sole us for their loss, and nearly all City churches, though their Sunday eongcegat may be very small, have been in. the hal for Tony, past of having short weekeday ser:
ices inv the luncheon hour, which are largely attended, One unhappy result of the raids ix that the Dean and Chapter of Westminster Abbey have decided 10 close their choir school "for. the duration." The Chapel Royal, whose choir has been famous since the days of the Stuarts, was disbanded a year ago. "One can well understand the anxieties of those re= ponsible for the boys. But it ix noteworthy' that St. Paul's choir is still maintained. And when, last year, the choir schools of eathiedvals, in the danger zone, as then reckoned, were sent elsewhere, care was taken that their musie masters went with them and kept up the daily practising.
It may be said that as all boys' voices break sooner of later, a choir is an imper= manent thing and that there will be difficulty in starting new choirs when peace returns, But all the boys' voices donot hreuke at the same time and in great choirs there is the indefinable but invaluable me HHuenee of tradition, which once broken will be too easily re-established. The breach in the Mfe of the Chapel Royal choir is pecially regrettable. "Though much smaller than the choirs of cathedrals, their singing was, T think, the most perfect of all. They used a pointing of the Psalms not quite peculiar to themselves, because T have also heard it in Exeter Cathedral, but quite peculiar in the perfection of their manage-Ment of it, T would always sooner have heard the Chapel Royal sing the Psalms than the anthems of any choir in England.
The boys did not wear surplices but Jaco costume, with knee-breeches tied with the knee and curious old shoes silver buckles. The last hymn was.
8 4 poplar one in which the congrega~ tion were meant to sing (hitherto they had listened) and during it two of the choirboys tuk the collection, moving from block to Dock of exact time with each other and with military precision, We are all from Mr. H. G. Wells downward (or upward?) looking Forward to wonderful new worlds after the war. But one does hope that these noint old customs will be allowed to remain.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.