Image from "The Bathurts Times"
Molong
Express and Western District Advertiser NSW
13 Nov
1915
AN ECHO FROM
THE FRONT
The appended
poem was written by the late Corporal (Rev.) R. R. Pittendrigh, formerly of
Garra, while at the front, and was received by Mrs. Pittendrigh, from her late
husband, after the cable which announced his death.
It has been a great comfort
to her, and it is herewith published in the hope that it may comfort others.
It will be
noticed how beautifully the writer applies the accompanying texts to each
verse.
The poem is
based on the 7th verse of Psalm 112-" He shall not be afraid of evil
tidings. His heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord";-and each verse has a scriptural
reference, as follows:-Verse 1: Matt. XV, 26-28; verse 2.: John XIII,16-2, and
Corin. IV, 17; verse 3 :Ps. XCI, 7; verse 4: Ps. 'IVI, 3,and Lam. Ill, 56-58;
verse 5: 1 John IV, 39, and 1 Thess. IV, 13; verse 6 : Ps.XXI, 4, and J ohn VI,
39.
"Not
afraid of evil tidings," help us
Lord in Thee
to trust,
Fixed on Thy
unfailing promise,
Though
suspense our faith may test.
Shrinking
not from any lesson,
Thou, in tender
love may'st teach,
Sure, Thou
knowest how to answer
prayers for
those beyond our reach.
" Not
afraid," because Thou lovest all
our dear
ones more than we,
And the
"end from the beginning"
In their
life plan, Thou can'st see.
Troubles,
which we would have spared
them, may be
blessings in disguise
: Working
out a glorious future, though
now hidden
from our eyes.
“Not
afraid" though war or tempest,
pestilence
or fever's breath,
Threaten
those united to us by a love as
strong as
death ;
Covered in
the day of battle, shielded:
from all
evil things.
Are the
souls whom Thou has sheltered
'neath the
shadow of Thy wings.
“Not
afraid," yet Lord, Thou, knowest,
love is
strong, and faith is weak,
And our
hearts too often tremble with a
dread we
dare no speak ;
Only to
Thyself we breathe it, knowing
Thou dost
comprehend
All the
fears and sad forebodings that with
faith and
hope contend.
“Then, in
hearkening to Thy answer,
words of
comfort, peace, and rest,
Fill our
hearts with sweet assurance
"God is
Love, His will is best."
Should the
heaviest tidings reach us, can
They …….. “evil” be ...
If our loved
ones are safe anchored,
tossed no
more on life’s ……..
Shall we
doubt that Thou hast given life
beyond the
life we craved?
That our
prayers are fully answered,
Thou
eternally hast saved?
Help us
trust, then, O our Father, what
soever tidings
come,
That
re-union will be granted, here, or in
our Heavenly
Home.
***
HOW HE WAS
WOUNDED.
Two Plucky Parsons.
Writing in
the "Herald," "Trooper Bluegum" describes the gallant deed
which, resulted in Corporal Pittendrigh receiving the wound which caused his
death.
After a
brilliant charge, when the enemy were pressed back with the bayonet, a wounded
Australian was discerned lying exposed some distance behind the advanced position.
It was then
(says “Trooper Bluegum") that two fighting parsons came along a communication
trench.
From a slight
hollow they saw the wounded man, in evident agony, raise his hand, and try to
move.
Chaplain
Captain Gillison and Corpl. Pittendrigh decided to try to effect a rescue,
though they knew a machine gun was trained on the trench, and had been warned
to beware of snipers.
Mounting the
parapet, they crawled along some distance towards the wounded man.
A couple of
bullets zipped by, but they pushed on.
More bullets
flew, and both the rescuers were wounded.
They then tried
to regain the shelter of the trench, and Gillison was wounded again, but his
companion managed to scramble in and had his wound attended to, but he
subsequently died of haemorrhage.
Capt.
Gillison was rescued from the open and taken to a field hospital, where he
died, and at night, wrapped in a Union Jack, he was buried. "As with the
hero of Corunna," adds the writer, "we carved not a line, we raised
not a stone, but left him alone in his glory."
The
Bathurst Times NSW
4 Dec
1915
CORPORAL PITTENDRIGH.
Corporal R.
H, Pittendrigh, who is reported
to have died of wounds, was the son of Mr. J. R. Pittendrigh, of Garra.
He was the first Methodist minister to
enlist as a private in this State, and was a man of very fine qualities. For
three years he was an evangelist in the Central Methodist Mission, and from the
training institute of that mission entered the Methodist ministry 4½ years ago.
When he en-listed Corporal Pittendrigh was
second minister at Lithgow, and had served terms in Wilcannia and Gloucester. Just
prior to leaving for the front he was ordained to the full work of the ministry,
and married Miss Florence Ensor, who was well known as "Sister Florence"
in the Central Mission.
Corporal Pittendrigh was one of the
stretcher-bearers, and completely won the affection of his comrades.
His strong
personality marked him as a leader among men and his death is greatly to be lamented.
In a letter which appeared in one of the Brisbane newspapers, Sergeant E.J.
Kelleher, of the 13th Battalion, writes from the front:—
"All the parsons
are heroes. Corporal Pittendrigh,
who eventually joined the band, and became a stretcher-bearer, will get the D.C.M.
He is a Wesleyan parson, and he went out into the hell which exists between the
trenches only 100 yards apart, and amid an inferno of shrapnel and bullets
brought in nine wounded men."
Anyone who knew the deceased soldier
intimately would have expected this of him.
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