He told the Rev. Edward F. Garesche, S. J., in a letter from France, 'I have discovered, since some unforgettable experiences, that writing is not the tremendously important thing I once considered it. You will find me less a bookman when you next see me, and more, I hope, of a man.'
He won the admiration and affection of his comrades in arms; they 'speak with awe of his coolness and his nerve in scouting patrols in No-Man's-Land'; and the chaplain of his regiment, Father Duffy, says, 'He was absolutely the coolest and most indifferent man in the face of danger I have ever seen. It was not for lack of love of life, for he enjoyed his life as a soldier—his only cross was distance from home. It was partly from his inborn courage and devotion—he would not stint his sacrifice—partly his deep and real belief that what God wills is best.'
The spirit of that faith and devotion are in the 'Prayer of a Soldier in France,' one of the five poems he wrote while he was there on service:
