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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/18325-8.txt b/18325-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..19f7ef8 --- /dev/null +++ b/18325-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4847 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, With Our Soldiers in France, by Sherwood Eddy + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: With Our Soldiers in France + + +Author: Sherwood Eddy + + + +Release Date: May 6, 2006 [eBook #18325] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WITH OUR SOLDIERS IN FRANCE*** + + +E-text prepared by Al Haines + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 18325-h.htm or 18325-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/3/2/18325/18325-h/18325-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/3/2/18325/18325-h.zip) + + + + + +WITH OUR SOLDIERS IN FRANCE + +by + +SHERWOOD EDDY + +Author of "Suffering and the War," "The Students of Asia," etc. + + + + + + + +[Frontispiece: The American Y.M.C.A. Headquarters in Paris.] + + + + + +Association Press +New York: 124 East 28Th Street +1917 +Copyright, 1917, by +The International Committee of +Young Men's Christian Association + + + + +To M. H. E. + +AND THE REAL HEROES OF THE WAR + +THE MOTHERS WHO HAVE GIVEN THEIR SONS + +AND THE WIVES WHO HAVE GIVEN THEIR HUSBANDS + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER + + FOREWORD + + I. AT THE FRONT + II. WITH GENERAL PERSHING'S FORCE IN FRANCE + III. A DAY IN THE "BULL RING" + IV. WITH THE BRITISH ARMY + V. LIFE IN A BASE CAMP + VI. THE CAMP OF THE PRODIGALS + VII. RELIGION AT THE FRONT + VIII. THE WORLD AT WAR + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + +The American Y.M.C.A. Headquarters in Paris . . . . . . _Frontispiece_ + +The "Eagle Hut" in London + +Harry Lauder Singing at a Y.M.C.A. Meeting. The officer + seated at the extreme right is Captain "Peg" + +Wholesome and Entertaining, + Home Refreshments in London + +Three Thousand Soldiers in the Crowded Hut + + + + +FOREWORD + +The world is at war. Already more than a score of nations, +representing a population of over a thousand millions, or two-thirds of +the entire human race, are engaged in a life-and-death struggle on the +bloody battlefields of Europe, Asia, and Africa. No man can stand in +the mouth of that volcano on a battle front, or meet the trains pouring +in with their weary freight of wounded after a battle, or stand by the +operating tables and the long rows of cots in the hospitals, or share +in sympathy the hardship and suffering of the men who are fighting for +us, and remain unmoved. The man must be dead of soul to whom the war +does not present a mighty moral challenge. It arraigns our past manner +of life and our very civilization. It gives us a new angle of +observation, a new point of view, a new test of values. It furnishes a +possible moral judgment by which we can weigh our life in the balance +and see where we have been found wanting. + +These brief sketches are only fragmentary and have of necessity been +hastily written. The writer has been asked to state his impression of +the work among the men in France. He did not go there to write but to +work. He has tried simply to state what he saw and to leave the reader +to draw his own conclusions. A mere statement of the grim facts at the +front, if they are not sugar-coated or glossed over, may not be +pleasant reading, but it is unfair to those at home that they should +not know the hard truth of the reality of things as they are. + +Before the war broke out, it was the writer's privilege to make an +extended tour for work among students in Russia, Turkey, Bulgaria, +Serbia, and Greece, and to visit Germany. Since the declaration of +war, he has visited France, Italy, and Egypt, and has observed the +effect of the war throughout Asia, in tours extending over nearly the +whole of China and India. Last year he was in the British camps among +the soldiers of England, Scotland, and Wales. Since America declared +war he has been working with the various divisions of the British and +American armies in France, from the great base camps, where hundreds of +thousands of men are in training, up to the front with the men in the +trenches. + +For the sake of those who will follow with deep interest the boys who +are already in France, or who will shortly be there, brief accounts are +given of the various phases of a soldier's life in the base camps, the +training school of the "Bull Ring," at the front, and in the hospitals. + + + + +CHAPTER I + +AT THE FRONT + +In the midst of our work at a base camp, there came a sudden call to go +"up the line" to the great battle front. Leaving the railway, we took +a motor and pressed on over the solidly paved roads of France, which +are now pulsing arteries of traffic, crowded with trains of motor +transports pouring in their steady stream of supplies for the men and +munitions for the guns. Now we turn out for the rumbling tank-like +caterpillars, which slowly creep forward, drawing the big guns up to +the front; then we pass a light field-battery. Next comes a battalion +of Tommies swinging down the road, loaded like Christmas trees with +their cumbrous kits, sweating, singing, whistling, as they march by +with dogged cheer toward the trenches. + +We have crossed the Somme with its memories of blood, on across +northern France, and now we have passed the Belgian frontier and are in +the historic fields of Flanders, where the creaking windmills are still +grinding the peasants' corn, and the little church spires stand guard +over the sleeping villages. A turn of the road brings us close within +sound of the guns, which by night are heard far across France and along +the coasts of England. Soon we enter villages, which lie within range +of the enemy's "heavies," with their shattered window glass, torn +roofs, ruined houses, tottering churches, and deep shell holes in the +streets. Now we are in the danger zone and have to put on our +shrapnel-proof steel helmets, and box respirators, to be ready for a +possible attack of poison gas. + +Another turn in the road, and the great battle field rises in grim +reality before us. Far to the left stands the terrible Ypres salient, +so long swept by the tide of war, and away to the right are the blasted +woods of "Plug Street." Right before us rises the historic ridge of +Messines, won at such cost during the summer. We are standing now at +the foot of the low ridge where the British trenches were so long held +under the merciless fire of the enemy. From here to the top of the +ridge the ground has been fought over, inch by inch and foot by foot. +It is blasted and blackened, deep seamed by shot and shell. The trees +stand on the bare ridge, stiff and stark, charred and leafless, like +lonely sentinels of the dead. The ground, without a blade of grass +left, is torn and tossed as by earthquake and volcano. Trenches have +been blown into shapeless heaps of debris. Deep shell holes and mine +craters mark the advance of death. Small villages are left without one +stone or brick upon another, mere formless heaps, ground almost to +dust. Deserted in wild confusion, half buried in the churned mud, on +every hand are heaps of unused ammunition, bombs, gas shells, and +infernal machines wrecked or hurriedly left in the enemy's flight. + + +Here on June 7th, at three o'clock in the morning, following the heavy +bombardment which had been going on for days, the great attack began. +In one division alone the heavy guns had fired 46,000 shells and the +field artillery 180,000 more. The sound of the firing was heard across +France, throughout Belgium and Holland, and over the Surrey downs of +England, 130 miles away. + +The Messines ridge is a long, low hill, only about 300 feet in height, +but it commands the countryside for miles around, and had become the +heavily fortified barrier to bar the Allied advance between Ypres and +Armentiers. Since December, 1914, the Germans had seamed the western +slopes with trenches, a network of tunnels and of concrete redoubts. +Behind the ridge lay the German batteries. For months this ridge had +been mined and countermined by both sides, until the English had placed +500 tons of high explosive, that is approximately 1,000,000 pounds of +amminol, beneath nineteen strategic points which were to be taken. At +the foot of the ridge, along a front of nine miles, the British had +concentrated their batteries, heavy guns, and vast supplies of +ammunition. Day and night for a week before the battle began, the +German positions had been shelled. At times the hurricane of fire died +down, but it never ceased. By day and by night the German trenches +were raided and explored. A large fleet of tanks was ready for the +advance. Hundreds of aviators cleared the air and dropped bombs upon +the enemy, assailing his ammunition dumps, aerodromes, and bases of +supplies. The battle had to be fought simultaneously by all the forces +on the land, in the air, and in the mines underground. All the horrors +of the cyclone and the earthquake were harnessed for the conflict. + +In the early morning, a short, deathly silence followed the week's +terrific bombardment. At 2:50 a. m. the ground opened from beneath, as +nineteen great mines were exploded one by one, and fountains of fire +and earth like huge volcanoes leaped into the air. Hill 60, which had +dealt such deadly damage to the British, was rent asunder and +collapsed. It was probably the greatest explosion man ever heard on +earth up to that time. Then the guns began anew to prepare for the +attack and a carefully planned barrage dropped just in front of the +English battalions as they advanced. As the men came forward, the +barrage was lifted step by step and dropped just ahead of them, to +pulverize the enemy and protect the British troops. By five o'clock +Messines itself was captured by the fearless Australians. There was a +most desperate struggle just here where we were standing at Wytschaete. +All morning the battle raged along this line, but by midday it was in +the hands of the dashing Irish division. Seven thousand prisoners were +taken, while the British casualties, owing to the effective protection +of their terrific barrage, were far less than the German and only +one-fifth of what they had calculated as necessary to take this +strategic position. + + +We make our way up to the crest of the Messines ridge where we can look +back on the conquered territory and forward to the new lines. The +great guns are in action all about us. They are again wearing down the +enemy in preparation for the next advance. For the moment we feel only +the grand and awful throb of vast titanic forces in terrible conflict. +Day and night, in the air, on the earth, and beneath it, the war is +slowly or swiftly being waged. The fire of battle smolders or leaps +into flames or vast explosions, but never goes out. + +Above us the very air is full of conflict. Hanging several hundred +feet high are half a dozen huge fixed kite-balloons, with their +occupants busily observing, sketching, mapping, or reporting the +enemy's movements. Each of these is a target for the attacking +aeroplanes and the occupants must be ready, at a moment's notice, to +leap into a parachute when they are shot down. High above these +balloons a score of British planes are darting about or dashing over +the enemy's lines, acting as the eyes of the huge guns hidden away +behind us. We are looking at one far up seemingly soaring in peace +like a graceful bird poised in the air, when suddenly we see it +surrounded by a dozen little white patches of smoke which show that it +has come within range of the enemy's anti-aircraft guns and the clouds +of shrapnel are bursting about it. Most of them break wide of the mark +and it sails on unscathed over the enemy's lines. Just above us is +hanging a German _taube_, obviously watching us and the automobile +which we had left below in the road, while the British huge +anti-aircraft guns near by are feeling for it, shot after shot. + +We duck into our little Y M C A dugout, just under the crest of the +ridge. It is an old, deserted German pit for deadly gas shells, which +even now are lying about uncomfortably near, in heaps still unexploded. +Here the men going to and from the trenches, come in for hot tea or +coffee and refreshments night and day. A significant sign forbids more +than thirty men to congregate at once in this exposed spot, as +sometimes these Y M C A dugouts are blown to atoms by a shell. The one +down below in "Plug Street" has been blown to bits, and the man in the +one just up the line has been under such fire for several days that he +will have to abandon his dugout. + +Just in front of us over the ridge is the first line of the present +British front. There is no time to build trenches now or to dig +themselves in. They just hold the broken line of unconnected shell +holes, or swarm in the great craters which are held by rapid fire +machine guns. The men go out by night to relieve those who have been +holding the ground during the previous day. It is harder for the +enemy's artillery to locate and destroy men scattered in these +irregular holes and craters than if they were in a clear line of +trenches. The British front faces down the slope toward the bristling +German lines, dotted with hidden snipers and studded with sputtering +machine guns. As the evening falls the batteries behind and all about +us open fire. Flash after flash of spurting flame leaps out from the +great guns. Boom upon boom, deep voiced and varied, follows from the +many calibred guns in the darkness, till the night is lurid and the +ground beneath us quivers with the earthquake of bombardment. + +High above we hear the piercing shriek of the shells speeding to their +fatal mark, and below the crash of the exploding shells of the enemy, +which toss the earth in dark waves into the air in the black surf of +war. Gun after gun now joins the great chorus, swelling and falling in +a hideous symphony of discordant sounds. The whole horizon is lit up +and aflame. The sky quivers and reflects the flash of the great guns, +as with the constant vibration of heat lightning. Flares and Verey +lights of greenish yellow and white turn the night into ghastly day, +and like the lurid flames of an inferno light up the battlefield, while +the rifles crackle in the glare. Here a parachute-light like a great +star hangs suspended almost motionless above us, lighting up the whole +battlefield, and now a burning farmhouse or exploding ammunition dump +illuminates the sky as from some vast subterranean furnace flung open +upon the heavens. All the long sullen night the earth is rocked by +slow intermittent rumbling, till with the silent dawn the birds wake +and the war-giants sink for a few hours in troubled sleep. Then the +new day breaks and the war-planes climb in the clear morning air to +begin the battle afresh. + +But let us turn from the hard-won ground of Messines to some of the men +who fought over it and survived. Here is a young American, Fred R----, +a graduate of Johns Hopkins, who fought in this battle with the +Canadians, and who told us in his own words the story of those brief +hours. + + +"Our opening barrage lasted about twenty minutes, but in that short +time some two million shells were dropped on the enemy from about nine +thousand of our guns. We could hear no distinct reports, just one +steady roar of continuous explosion. The ground shook beneath us and +fragments from the trenches and dugouts caved in about us from the +shock. The air was oppressive and you felt difficulty in breathing, as +if you were in a vacuum. + +"About three o'clock in the morning the order came to 'Stand to!' and +shortly after the word rang out 'Up and over! Over the top boys, and +the best of luck!' With one foot on the fire step we climbed out of +the deep trench and with our rifles we started forward at a walk, +behind our advancing barrage. I was tense now and all of a tremble. +At a time like this every man is driven to his deepest thoughts. It is +not fear exactly, but apprehension and dread of the unknown. + +"As we started forward, one young boy fell at my side. I heard him +call, 'O, Mother!' as he fell. Another cried, 'O, God!' and sank down +on the other side. Then my partner, a boy of eighteen, fell, both legs +blown away above the knee. I bound up his wounds and carried him on my +back to the nearest dressing station. 'Fred,' he said, 'would you mind +kissing me just once? So long!' and with that he was gone. Then I got +mad and began to see red. In the first trench I ran amuck and with +rifle, bayonet, and bombs I suppose I accounted for twenty men in the +hour that followed. + +"I've been gassed three times, twice with the old gas and once with the +new, and I've had my share. Would I like to go home now? Say, I'd +rather be a lamp-post at the foot of Michigan Boulevard in Chicago than +the whole electric light system in all the rest of the universe!" + + +We turned from this young American to Sapper W---- of Western Canada, +who had just been through the same battle underground, and asked him to +tell us his own story. + + +"Well, sir, long before the battle we were digging under Hill Number +60. A chance shell exploded on the surface above us and buried us all +underground. Three of us were killed and the other two left alive. I +had one man across my chest and another across my legs, one dead and +the other wounded. We could not move hand or foot. We were buried in +there for seven hours and they finally dug us out unconscious. + +"Then we started another sap to lay a mine. My pal was listening, with +an iron rod driven in the ground and two copper wires leading from it +to a head piece, such as a wireless operator uses, so that we could +hear the approach of the enemy's sappers, who were countermining +against us. My pal asked me to come and listen. But I had hardly got +the headpiece on when I said, 'O Lord, they're on us!' and before I +could get the thing off my ears the end of our sap fell through and the +Germans were at us. There was only room to use revolvers and bayonets +in that dark hole and the Germans seemed to get nervous and could not +shoot straight in the panic. We lost only one of our men, but we +killed seven and took the rest of the twenty prisoners. Then, before +they found out what had happened, we crawled through to the German end +of the tunnel and blew up their sap. + +"You say was I a Christian? Not me! I was wild and going to the +devil. But one night I was wounded and lay in a deserted shell hole, +shot through the thigh, and unable to move for fifteen hours. I was +feeling for a cigarette in my pocket to ease the pain a bit, but all I +could find was a little pocket testament which someone had given me, +but which I had never read. I managed to get it out and, thinking it +might be my last hour, and that I might never be found, I started to +read to try and forget my wound. I read the twenty-seventh chapter of +Matthew, and sir, that little book changed my life. I have read a +chapter every day since then. I was picked up by the infantry and +carried to a hospital. One night when I could not sleep for the pain, +the nurse asked me if she could do anything for me, and I asked her to +read the Bible to me. She said she had never read it in her life, and +I said it was about time she began, if that was so. After she read it, +she said it helped her too. Yes, I say my prayers on my knees in the +tent now. Another boy has joined me this week; and the language in the +tent is getting better. I'm off to the front tomorrow to take my turn +again. But I'm no longer alone up there in the trenches. It's +different now." + + +We have heard the story of one in the infantry and of a sapper +underground. Here is the experience of a young Canadian student from +McGill University in the artillery: + + +"The past weeks have been ten thousand hells. It is nothing but death, +noise, blood, and mud. There are only two of our sergeants left now +and we have to keep up our spirits. You often feel as if your brain +would burst. I couldn't begin to describe the inferno human beings +pass through every day. 'Happy' was shot to pieces with a shell a few +nights ago while in bed, both arms and one leg off. I carried him for +over four hours to the nearest dressing station and then stayed and +watched him die. He never whimpered. Though in terrible agony, he +died game, as he always was. That is about the hardest knock I have +ever had in my life. He is only one of my many friends that have gone. +Believe me, war is Hell." + + +Here is the account of a simple Australian boy in the front trench: + + +"Fritz had a machine gun to nearly every ten yards. I don't know what +became of my friends Hugh and Bill. They were just beside me, but when +I looked around both were gone. A shell landed just at the side of me, +and I think Hugh and Bill were blown to pieces. I got my wound in the +chest and the fragment came out through my back. I thought my last day +had come. I dropped into a hole, and no sooner had I got in, than Mack +got it through the face. He was able to go back, but I was simply +helpless, as my legs refused to move. Anyhow, I pulled the shovel off +my back and dug a little ridge in the side of the trench. No sooner +had I done this than Fritz started to bombard. One shell fell in the +hole in which I was, but exploded in the opposite direction. Then +another came and landed just above my head, but it failed to go off. +Had it gone off I never would have been here now. I had prayed hard to +my God to deliver me from my enemies and when those things happened I +felt my prayer was heard and that I was going to come through. I was +there in that hole all day and the next night before anyone came near +me. At last one of the 19th Battalion chaps came along and went for a +stretcher for me." + + +Such are the varying impressions which a battle makes upon various men. +It is no romance, but a grim reality of life and death. Far into the +night we lie awake and ask ourselves, what is the meaning of it all? + +At first on the field of battle one thrills at the sound of mighty and +unearthly forces loosed, but in the din we suddenly realize that boys +are dying all about us, and that these guns bear swift death and +mangling to suffering men. Between us and the enemy are just a few +deep shell holes and a thin red line of flesh and blood, as a human +rampart, formed of men who hold their lives in their hands, ready to +make the great sacrifice. Behind us are the hidden guns and the +support trenches in the narrow strip of hard-won territory. Behind +these are the moving columns on the long roads, the pulsing arteries of +traffic, and the moving troop trains on the rails. Behind these in +turn are the plying ships, the millions of toiling workers, and the +suffering hearts of the nations in arms. Whole nations--yes, almost +the whole of humanity--are organized for war and dragged into deadly +conflict as by some devil's behest, instead of being organized for +brotherhood and the building of a better world. Oh, not for this +devil's work were men made. Surely mankind must come to its own in +these birth pangs of a new era. Never, never again must a whole +humanity of the free-born sons of God be dragged into the hell of war +to sate the pride or pomp of kings, or to glut the ambition of scheming +secret groups who have taught men that they are created as obedient +slaves. + +Far behind us, marking the slow advance up this ridge of death, are the +sheltered cemeteries of white crosses that tell the price that has +already been paid. There are five thousand crowded graves in yonder +acre alone. Great is the price, awful in its solid weight of agony. +This is no longer a war between two peoples, but between two +principles; it is as much to free the German people as to protect +ourselves. It is not for this narrow strip of hard-won soil, but for +every foot of a world that from henceforth must be free. The men who +are fighting on grounds of moral principle would rather pay any price +than lie at ease under the false shadow of militarism, materialism, and +grasping greed. These men are fighting, and many of them know that +they are fighting, for a new world. Not only military oppression, but +industrial oppression, must go. Not only German militarism, and +Russian autocracy, and Turkish cruelty must be done away; but American +materialism must be purged in the fiery furnace of this war. Its +purposes will reach far beyond our ken, and though man's sin alone has +caused the war, its issues are in the hands of God. The whole war has +been a demonstration of the result of leaving God out of His world. +The world with God left out leaves war; and life with God left out +leaves hell. + +There must be a turning to God in our own national life. We speak of +the menace of German militarism, but what is militarism but armed and +aggressive materialism, the deeper principle which lies behind it? And +what is materialism but organized selfishness? Materialism and +selfishness are the dangers of our own land as well as of Germany. And +the war is a call to set our own house in order. + +America can no longer live to herself alone. She is fighting for the +freedom of humanity. Here on the very field of battle, at the +throbbing heart of the conflict, we ask ourselves, What is the real +issue of the war? What are they fighting for? + +Away there in Austria a young crown prince, Francis Ferdinand, was +murdered. It was the spark which set off the powder mine of Europe. +But not for him are they fighting. Behind him stood the two contending +forces of the growing nationalism of Serbia and the expanding +commercialism of Austria. These two forces clashed in conflict, but +not for them are they fighting. Behind these stood two greater powers, +those of pan-Germanism and pan-Slavism, a growing Germany and a rising +Russia, which like a vast glacier for a thousand years had sought the +open sea. The ambitions of these two powers clashed in conflict at +Constantinople and elsewhere. But not for them are they fighting. + +On the western front there were two deeper principles in conflict, +those of autocracy and democracy, the question whether one man and a +sinister, hidden group of plotting militarists could drag the whole +world into war and crush its liberties and its laws beneath the iron +heel of despotism, or whether man as man should stand erect in his +God-given right of freedom and work out his own destiny in friendly +brotherhood. + +But behind even the great conflict between autocracy and democracy lay +a yet deeper issue. In the last analysis the final question in human +life is between a material and a spiritual interpretation of the +universe, whether might makes right and the strong are to rule, or +whether right makes might and the moral order is supreme. There is a +material and a spiritual side of life. On this side is the brute +struggle for life; on that, the struggle for the life of others; on the +one hand, the fight for the survival of the fittest, and on the other, +the fight to make men fit to survive. On the left hand is selfishness +and on the right service; on the one side are the red battlefields of +the enemy, and on the other is a cross red in sacrifice of a life laid +down in the serving and saving of men. There is a final issue in the +world between passion and principle, between wrong and right, between +darkness and light, between mammon and God, between self and Christ. + +This ultimate issue must be faced by individuals and by nations. It is +the challenge which confronts men in this war. Seventy years ago a +crushed Europe faced the issue in the prophetic words of Mazzini, +written in the hour of darkness and defeat: + + +"Our victory is certain; I declare it with the profoundest conviction, +here in exile, and precisely when monarchical reaction appears most +insolently secure. What matters the triumph of an hour? What matters +it that by concentrating all your means of action, availing yourselves +of every artifice, turning to your account those prejudices and +jealousies of race which yet for a while endure, and spreading +distrust, egotism, and corruption, you have repulsed our forces and +restored the former order of things? Can you restore men's faith in +it, or think you can long maintain it by brute force alone, now that +all faith in it is extinct? Threatened and undermined on every side, +can you hold all Europe forever in a stage of siege?" [1] + + +Pasteur sees the same issue looming even in his day and states it in +burning words at the close of his life: + + +"Two contrary laws seem to be wrestling with each other nowadays, the +one a law of blood and of death, ever seeking new means of destruction +and forcing nations to be constantly ready for the battlefield; the +other a law of peace, work, and health, ever evolving new means of +delivering man from the scourges which beset him. The first seeks +violent conquests, the other the relief of humanity. The latter places +one human life above any victory, while the former would sacrifice +hundreds and thousands of lives to the ambition of one. Which of these +two laws will ultimately prevail God only knows. We will have tried, +by obeying the laws of humanity, to extend the frontiers of Life." [2] + +Lincoln faced the same issue in the midst of the war weariness of our +own great conflict with words which come back to the nation now with a +prophetic call: + + +"The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it +can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, +to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here +have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here +dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from these +honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they +gave the last full measure of devotion--that we here highly resolve +that these dead shall not have died in vain--that this nation, under +God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the +people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth." + + +[1] Life and Writings of Mazzini, vol. v, pp. 269-271. + +[2] Life of Pasteur, p. 271. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +WITH GENERAL PERSHING'S FORCE IN FRANCE + +We are in the midst of an American army encampment in a French village. +For miles away over the rolling country the golden harvests of France +are ripening in the sun, broken by patches of green field, forest, and +stream. The reapers are gathering in the grain. Only old men, women, +and children are left to do the work, for the sons of France are away +at the battle front. The countryside is more beautiful than the finest +parts of New York or Pennsylvania. In almost every valley sleeps a +little French hamlet, with its red tiled roofs and its neat stone +cottages, clustered about the village church tower. It is a picture of +calm and peace and plenty under the summer sun. But the sound of +distant guns on the neighboring drill grounds, a bugle call down the +village street, the sight of the broad cowboy hats and the khaki +uniforms of the American soldiers, arouse us to the realization of a +world at war and the fact that our boys are here, fighting for the soil +of France and the world's freedom. + +We are in a typical French farming village of a thousand people, and +here a thousand American soldiers are quartered. A sergeant and a +score of men are in each shed or stable or barn loft. The Americans +are stationed in a long string of villages down this railway line. +Indeed it is hard to tell for the moment whether we are in France or in +the States. Here are Uncle Sam's uniforms, brown army tents, and new +wooden barracks. The roads are filled with American trucks, wagons, +motors, and whizzing motorcycles, American mules, ammunition wagons, +machine guns, provisions, and supplies, and American sentinels down +every street. + +These are the men of the First Division, scattered along behind the +French lines, being drilled as rapidly as possible to take their place +in the trenches for the relief of the hard-pressed French. The nucleus +is made up of the men of the old army, who have seen service in Cuba, +Porto Rico, the Philippines, Texas, or along the Mexican border. And +with them are young boys of nineteen, twenty, or twenty-one, with clear +faces, fresh from their homes, chiefly from the Middle West--from +Illinois to Texas. + +The first thing that strikes us as we look at these men is their superb +kit and outfit. From the broad cowboy hat, the neat uniform close +fitting at the waist, down to their American shoes; from the saddles, +bits, and bridles to the nose bags of the horses; from the guns, +motors, and trucks down to the last shoe lace, the equipment is +incomparably the best and most expensive of all that we have seen at +the front. The boys themselves are live, clean, strong, and +intelligent fellows, probably the best raw material of any of the +fighting forces in Europe. The officers tell us that the American +troops are natural marksmen and there are no better riflemen in the war +zone. The frequency of the sharpshooters' medals, among both the +officers and the men, shows that many of them already excel in musketry. + +The second impression that strikes us is the crudeness of the new men, +and the lack of finish in their drill, as compared with the veteran +troops of Britain and France. The progress they have made, however, in +the past few weeks under their experienced American officers of the +regular army has been truly remarkable. + +The next impression we receive is the enormous moral danger to which +these men are exposed in this far-away foreign land. During the whole +war it is the Overseas Forces, the men farthest from home influences, +who have no hope of leave or furlough, who are far removed from all +good women and the steadying influence of their own reputations, that +have fared the worst in the war. The Americans not only share this +danger with the Colonials and other Overseas Forces, but they have an +additional danger in their high pay. Here are enlisted men who tell us +that they are paid from $35 to $90 a month, from the lowest private to +the best paid sergeants. When you remember that the Russian private is +allowed only one cent a day, that the Belgian soldier receives only +four cents a day, the French private five cents, the German six cents, +and the English soldier twenty-five cents a day, most of which has to +go for supplementary food to make up for the scantiness of the rations +supplied, you realize what it means for the American soldier to be paid +from one to three dollars a day, in addition to clothing, expenses, and +the best rations of any army in Europe.[1] + +Some of these men tell us that they have just received from two to +three months' back pay in cash. Here they are with several hundred +francs in their hands, buried in a French village, with absolutely no +attraction or amusement save drink and immorality. In this little +village the only prosperous trade in evidence is that in wines and +liquors. The only large wholesale house is the center of the liquor +trade and the only freight piled up on the platform of the station +consists of wines and champagnes, pouring in to meet the demand of the +American soldiers. There are a score of drinking places in this little +hamlet. Our boys are unaccustomed to the simple and moderate drinking +of the French peasants, and they are plunged into these _estaminets_ +with their pockets full of money. Others under the influence of drink +have torn up the money or tossed it recklessly away. Prices have +doubled and trebled in the village in a few weeks, and the peasants +have come to the conclusion that every American soldier must be a +millionaire; as the boys have sometimes told them that the pile of +notes, which represents several mouths' pay, is the amount they receive +every month. Compare this with the $1.80 a month, in addition to a +small allowance for his family, which the French private gets, and you +will readily see how this false impression is formed. + +Temptation and solicitation in Europe have been in almost exact +proportion to the pay that the soldier receives. The harpies flock +around the men who have the most money. As our American boys are the +best paid, and perhaps the most generous and open-hearted and reckless +of all the troops, they have proved an easy mark in Paris and the port +cities. As soon as they were paid several months' back salary, some of +them took "French leave," went on a spree, and did not come back until +they were penniless. The officers, fully alive to the danger, are now +doing their utmost to cope with the situation; they are seeking to +reduce the cash payments to the men and are endeavoring to persuade +them to send more of their money home. Court martial and strict +punishment have been imposed for drunkenness, in the effort to grapple +with this evil. + +Will the friends of our American boys away in France try to realize +just the situation that confronts them? Imagine a thousand healthy, +happy, reckless, irrepressible American youths put down in a French +village, without a single place of amusement but a drinking hall, and +no social life save such as they can find with the French girls +standing in the doorways and on the street corners. Think of all these +men shut up, month after month, through the long winter, with nothing +to do to occupy their evenings. Then you will begin to realize the +seriousness of the situation which the Young Men's Christian +Association is trying to meet. + +Here on the village green stands a big tent, with the sign "The +American Y M C A," and the red triangle, which is already placed upon +more than seven hundred British, French, and American Association +centers in France. Inside the tent, as the evening falls, scores of +boys are sitting at the tables, writing their letters home on note +paper provided for them. Here are men playing checkers, dominoes, and +other games. Other groups are standing around the folding billiard +tables. A hundred men have taken out books from the circulating +library, while others are scanning the home papers and the latest news +from the front. + +Our secretaries have been on the ground for a week, working daily from +five o'clock in the morning until midnight. They have unpacked their +goods and are doing a driving trade over the counter, to the value of +some $200 a day. In certain cases goods are sold at a loss, as it is +very hard indeed to get supplies under present war conditions. The +steamer "Kansan" was torpedoed, and sank with the whole first shipment +of supplies and equipment for the Y M C A huts in France. + +Outside a baseball game is exciting rivalry between two companies; +while near the door of the tent a ring is formed and the men are +cheering pair after pair as they put on the boxing gloves and with good +humor are learning to take some rather heavy slugging. Poor boys, they +will have to stand much worse punishment than this before the winter is +over. Just beside the present tent there is being rushed into position +a big Y M C A hut which will accommodate temporarily a thousand men, +before it is taken to pieces and shipped to some new center. The +Association has ordered from Paris a number of permanent pine huts, 60 +by 120 feet, which will accommodate 2,000 soldiers each, and keep them +warm and well occupied during the long cold winter evenings that are to +come. On the railway siding at the moment are nine temporary huts, +packed in sections for immediate construction, and a score of permanent +buildings have been ordered to be erected as fast as the locations for +the camps are selected by the military authorities. Indeed, the aim is +to have them on the ground and ready before the boys arrive and take +the first plunge in the wrong direction. + +What is the life that our boys are living here at the front? Let us go +through a day with the battalion quartered in this village. At five +o'clock in the morning the first bugle sounds. The boys are quickly on +their feet, dressing, washing, getting ready for the day's drill. In +half an hour they are tucking away a generous breakfast provided by +Uncle Sam, of hot bacon, fried potatoes and coffee, good home made +bread, and as much of it as a man can eat. They get meat twice a day, +and we have found no soldiers in Europe who receive rations that +compare with the food that our boys receive. + +By 6:40 a. m. the men have reached the drill ground on the open fields +above the village and are ready to begin the eight or nine hours of +hard work and exercise that is before them. Half of each day is spent +with the French troops, learning more quickly with an object lesson +before them, and the remaining half day is spent in training by +themselves. The French squad goes through the drill or movement; then +the American battalion, after watching them, is put through the same +practice. They are trained in bayonet work and charges, in musketry +and machine gun practice, in the handling of grenades, and the throwing +of bombs. There is evidence of speeding up and an apparent pressure to +get them quickly into shape, in order to take their place in the +trenches before the winter sets in. A few weeks at the front with the +French troops will soon give them experience, and after a winter in the +trenches, the men of these first divisions will doubtless form the +nucleus for a large American army, and provide the drill masters +quickly to train the men for the spring offensive. + +On the day we were there, after a hard morning's drill, the Colonel +assembled three battalions and put them through the first regimental +formation and the first regimental review since landing in France. The +men of the First, Second, and Third battalions marched by, and one +could quickly contrast the disciplined movements of the veterans or old +soldiers with the crude drill of the new recruits, some of whom could +not keep step or smoothly execute the movements. + +At the noon hour, after the men had taken their midday meal and had +rested for a few minutes, the Colonel asked us if we would address the +troops. Some two thousand men were marched in close formation around +the large military wagon on which we were to stand. The mules were +unhitched and the men seated themselves on the grass, while the band +played several pieces. A great hunger of heart possesses any man with +half a soul as he looks into the faces of these boys, beset by fierce +temptations and facing a terrible winter in the trenches. At the +beginning we reminded them of the words of Lord Kitchener to his troops +before they left for France: "You are ordered abroad as a soldier. . . +Remember that the honor of the Army depends upon your individual +conduct. . . Your duty cannot be done unless your health is sound. So +keep constantly on your guard against any excesses. In this new +experience you may find temptations both in wine and women. You must +entirely resist both temptations, . . . treating all women with perfect +courtesy." [2] Kitchener's words furnish a text for the two-fold +danger which confronts these men. Here for an unhurried hour, with the +generous backing of the officers, we plead with the men on military, +medical, and moral grounds, for the sake of their own homes and +families, for the sake of conscience and country, on the grounds of +duty both to God and to man, to hold to the high ideals and the best +traditions of the homeland. Here, with no church save the great dome +of God's blue heaven above us, seated on the green grass, under the +warm summer sun, we have the priceless privilege of trying to safeguard +the life of these men in the grave danger of wartime. + +We were encouraged alike by the splendid support of the officers and +the warm-hearted and eager response of the men as they broke into +prolonged applause. The General in command attended one meeting and +pledged us his support for our whole program for the men. He had +already cooperated with us most generously on the Canal Zone, in the +Philippines, and in Mexico. Three colonels presided at three +successive meetings, and gave the work their strong moral support. +Three bands were furnished in two days. The official backing of the +authorities placed the stamp of approval on the whole moral effort for +the welfare of the men. In no other army in Europe that we have seen +have the officers taken such a keen interest in the highest welfare of +the troops, or offered such constant and efficient cooperation with +every effort to surround the men with the best moral influences. + +After the meeting, the regimental parade and the strenuous physical +drill of the morning, the Colonel called for a short break, and the men +gathered to learn some popular songs. Major Roosevelt assembled his +battalion, and Archie Roosevelt enthusiastically led the men in singing +Julia Ward Howe's "Battle Hymn of the Republic" and the modern soldier +songs of the war. + +After nine hours of hard drill, the men swung cheerfully down the +hillside into the village street. Now they have lined up, and with +ravenous appetites are waiting for the evening meal. We are almost as +hungry as they, and are glad to share the meal with them. Here on the +table are huge piles of good home-made bread. It is almost the first +white bread we have seen after months of brown war bread in England and +France. Here are heaping plates of good pork and beans, tinned salmon, +plenty of fried potatoes, and piping hot coffee. This is followed by a +delicious pudding, as good as the men would have had in their own +homes. Well fed, well clothed, well equipped, sleeping under Uncle +Sam's warm blankets, on comfortable "Gold Medal" cots, our boys are +well cared for. + +In another village, at the close of the day, the Colonel commanding two +battalions of the infantry called the men together in the open square +of the market place, and after a band concert invited us to address the +troops on the moral issues of the war. The next day almost the same +program was repeated, and at noon in an open field on a grassy hillside +the Major of another battalion marched out his men for a similar +lecture. Every commanding officer seemed eager to arrange for +meetings, to summon the men, and to back up the messages given to them. +Not only have General Pershing, General Sibert, and the Colonels +commanding the various regiments, met us half way in every plan for the +welfare of the troops; but they have taken the initiative in insisting +that every provision should be made for the physical, mental, and moral +occupation and safeguarding of the men. + +Probably more men are led astray in the war zone when they go on leave +than at any other time, in reaction from the deadly monotony of camp +life, or the inferno of the trenches. London and Paris are the chief +centers of danger. In London, just before sailing for the States, we +visited the finely equipped American "Eagle" Hut in the Strand. It +would be difficult to devise a more homelike or attractive place for +soldiers. In addition to sleeping accommodations for several hundred +men, the lounge and recreation rooms, the big fireplaces and +comfortable chairs suggested the equipment of an up-to-date club, in +marked contrast to the surroundings of a cheerless soldiers' barracks. + +[Illustration: The "Eagle Hut" in London.] + +In Paris, in addition to the permanent headquarters at 31 Avenue +Montaigne, we are hoping to provide hotels and hostels and guides for +supervised parties to see the chief points of interest, and to plan +such healthy occupation for the soldiers that the evils of the city may +be counteracted. Better still we are planning resorts in the French +Alps, where summer and winter sports, athletics, mountain climbing, and +physical and mental recreation will obviate altogether the necessity of +leave to Paris for many of the soldiers of the United States and +Canada. In the first resort we are arranging for special rates and +moderate charges at the hotels and have the pledge of the civil +authorities to keep the place wholesome and absolutely to prevent the +incoming of camp followers. The Association is planning to take over +the best hotel, which can be made into an attractive social center for +the entire camp. A score of American and as many Canadian ladies will +help to provide social recreation and amusement for the men, which will +prove a greater attraction than the dangerous leave in Paris. + +A glance at one or two typical meetings held in various camps will show +how we are trying to help our boys face the pressing problems of a +soldier's life. + +We enter a large hut filled with a thousand soldiers. Here are many +men who have been driven toward God and who are face to face with the +great realities of life, death, and the future as never before in their +lives, eager for any message which may help them. But here are several +hundred others who have fallen victims to evil habits and who are +determined you shall not force religion down their throats. How are we +to capture the attention of this mass of men and hold them? Will they +bolt or stand fire? The time has come to begin the meeting and we +plunge in. "Come on, boys, let's have a sing-song; gather round the +piano and let's sing some of the old camp songs." Out come the little +camp song books, and we start in on a few favorite choruses. A dozen +voices call for "John Brown's Body," "Tennessee," "Kentucky Home," "A +Long, Long Trail," etc. Soon we have several hundred men seated around +the piano and the chorus gathers in volume. Now we call for local +talent. A boy with blue eyes and a clear tenor voice sings of home. A +red-headed humorist climbs on the table; and at his impersonations, his +acting, and comic songs, the crowd shouts with glee. + +Our heart sinks within us as we look over this sea of faces and wonder +how we are going to hold this crowd that this man seems to have in the +hollow of his hand. Somehow these men must be gripped and held to the +last. "Boys, what was the greatest battle of the war?" we ask. "Was +it the brave stand of little Belgium at Liege? Was it the splendid +retreat of the little British army from Mons? Was it the battle of the +Marne, when the French and British struck their first offensive blow? +Was it the great stand at Ypres, or the defense of Verdun, or the drive +on the Somme? What is _your_ hardest battle? Is it not within, in the +fight with passion? Now is the time to challenge every sin that +weakens a man or the nation. How about drink? Is it a friend or foe? +How about gambling? How about impurity?" Here we mass our guns on the +greatest danger of the war. In five minutes the room is quiet, in ten +minutes we have the ear of every man in the hut, the last man has +stopped talking, and now the battle is on. They are gripped on the +moral question; how can we get them to the religious issue? These men +have the root of religion in their souls, but they do not know it. +They believe in strength, in purity, in generosity. We show that they +are often falling before temptation, but the very things that they most +admire are all found in their fulness in Jesus Christ. + +Now we make use of a simple illustration. We hold up a gold coin +hidden in our hand and offer it as a gift. "Who will take me at my +word and ask for this gift?" At last a man rises in the back of the +hall, there is a little scene, and then a burst of applause as he +receives it and goes to his seat. "Now why didn't _you_ come? Some of +you didn't believe me, some were ashamed to come up before everybody +and ask for it, some were just waiting; and so all lost your chance. +Once again I offer a gift. Here is something more valuable than all +the gold on earth--heaven to be had for the asking; the free gift of +God is eternal life. Why don't you come? For the same three reasons. +Some of you don't believe, some are afraid to show their colors, some +are just waiting. You will soon start for the front to take your place +in the trenches. Are you ready for life or death? What will you do +with Jesus Christ?" + +We have had them forty minutes now and many a man is listening as for +his life. We hold up the pledge card of the war roll. "How many of +you are willing to take your stand against drink, gambling, and +impurity, to break away from sin, and to sign the war roll, which says: +'I pledge my allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ as my Saviour and +King, by God's help to fight His battles and bring victory to His +Kingdom'? Who will take his stand for Christ and sign tonight?" Here +and there all over the house men begin to rise. A hundred come forward +to get cards and sign them. Then every head is bowed and in the +stillness we pray for these boys; for they are mere lads, with ruddy +checks, fresh from the farm or the city. + +Now the meeting breaks up and we move down into the crowd. Men come up +and ask for private talks, some to confess their sins and others to +request prayer. Here is a boy who is friendless and homeless and in +need; the next man has just lost his wife, his home, and his money, but +here in the war he has been driven to prayer and has found God. He has +lost everything, but he tells us with a brave smile that he has gained +all, and now wishes to prepare for the ministry to preach the Gospel. +Next is a young atheist, an illegitimate child, a circus actor, who has +now found God and wants to know how to relate his life to Christ. The +next man is a jockey, who in the midst of his sins enlisted in order +that he might die for others and try to atone for his past life. + +Later, we were holding evangelistic meetings among the boys of another +regiment. One Sunday evening we were in a big hut where the meeting +was about to begin. Many of the men were writing to the old folks at +home. Captain "Peg" of Canada, who was with us to lead the singing, +stepped on the platform and announced a hymn. Immediately several +hundred men flocked to the seats and began singing the Christian hymns +they knew at home. Eyes lit up and faces were aglow as they sang +"Nearer, My God, to Thee," "Lead, Kindly Light," and "Fight the Good +Fight." Gradually the numbers increased until a thousand men were +singing. Then we began the address. Here were open-hearted boys some +of whom had gone down before the temptations of the port cities and who +now have to face the dangers of a camp in France. We began on moral +themes. Within half an hour it seemed as if the better nature of every +man was with us. The Christian ideals of home, of the Church, and of +their own best selves surged up again, until we had seated and standing +nearly twelve hundred men, many of whom were ready to make the fight +for purity with the help of Jesus Christ. One can never forget that +closing hymn as the men rose to sing "God Be With You Till We Meet +Again." We saw tear-stained faces before us as nearly the whole +company joined in the song "Tell Mother I'll Be There." + +Here was one poor fellow who felt he could not sign the decision card. +He sent up this little note: "I am the worst man in the tent--a man who +robbed his old father of his life's savings. How can I hope to be any +good again without any prospect of ever being able to repay this +money?" But before he left he had accepted God's forgiveness, and the +dawn of a new eternity breaks upon his happy face. There was another +man, the worst character in the regiment. Finally, touched by the +secretary's kindness, he had read his little pocket Testament in +prison, had yielded his life to Christ, and was now witnessing among +the soldiers in the camp. Another, broken down, came up to say he had +wronged a girl at home, and to ask if there was any hope for him. The +last man, Bob A----, serving at present with a British regiment, tells +us he was a Christian in Cleveland, Ohio, before the war. He lay all +last night drunk in the fields, but, convicted of his profligate life, +he repented and turned back again to God. There was another boy who +stopped to tell us that ever since a previous meeting he had knelt in +prayer every night before all the men. + +At the close of the meeting another man stepped up and handed in a +letter, saying: "Thank you for that message tonight, sir. I will be +true to the little girl I left at home. Here is a letter I had just +written to a bad woman. God helping me I will not go. I have signed +the War Roll tonight and I am going to be true to it." Hundreds of men +filed past and shook hands in gratitude. + +We were facing an average of some five hundred men every night in the +week and a thousand or more on Sunday. One humble private who had been +a pilot out at sea, handed us a poem which he had just written, the +last lines of which are typical of the verses many of the men are +writing these days: + + "And if I fall, Lord, take an erring mortal + Into those realms of peace and joy above; + And, by-and-by, at Thy fair mansion's portal, + Let me find there the little girl I love." + + +In all our meetings our aim has been to enable men to find themselves +by coming into a personal and vital relation with God as Father, +through Jesus Christ. Our purpose is to evangelize, but not to +proselytize. We aim to make each man more loyal to his own church. +During the three years of the war, we have never known of a man +changing his church or being asked to do so. Our aim is not to change +any man's ecclesiastical position, but to make him a truer and stronger +man in the church where he is. The great outstanding issue in war time +is not between creed and creed, between sect and sect, but between God +and mammon, between right and wrong, purity and impurity. We have no +contention concerning the questions that divide us; we are fighting for +the great fundamentals upon which we are all united, for God and moral +manhood. + + +[1] According to the War Bulletin of the National Geographic Society, +issued in Washington in September 1917, a first class American private +drawing $26.60 a month receives more than a Russian colonel or a German +or Austrian lieutenant. An American lieutenant receives more than a +British lieutenant colonel, a French colonel, or a Russian general. + +[2] See Appendix IV. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +A DAY IN THE "BULL RING" + +Just before going into the trenches the British, French, and American +troops take a final course for a few weeks in a training school, where +the expert drill masters put them through a rigorous discipline, and +the finishing touches are given to each regiment. At the moment of +writing our American boys are going through such a course, "somewhere +in France." The men commonly call this training school, or specially +prepared final drill ground, the "Bull Ring." It is a thrilling +spectacle to see many thousands of men across a vast plain going +through the various maneuvers of actual warfare as it is practiced +today at the front. Perhaps a brief description of such a drill ground +may be of interest to those who are following the fortunes of our +soldiers. + +At six the bugle sounds and the whole camp is astir. Outside there is +the clatter of feet as the men fall in after a hasty breakfast. The +shrapnel-proof steel helmets are donned, the heavy seventy-pound kits +and rifles are swung to the broad backs, the band strikes up "Pack Up +Your Troubles," and our battalion is on the march for the "Bull Ring." + +First comes the ceremonial parade. A whole brigade swings into line +and must prove that it can move as one man, as a perfect machine, +without flaw or friction. One master mind directs every motion, and at +the word of command thousands of feet are moving in exact time, +wheeling, marching, maneuvering with a precision that proves the long +months of patient practice. This finish of discipline and perfection +of unity have their part to play in the winning of the battle raging at +this moment up the line. + +Next the men must pass through the deadly gas chambers, to be ready to +meet the attack of the enemy fully prepared. More fatal than the +prussic acid which the Prussian has occasionally employed, is the +deadly mixture of chlorine and phosgene, which has been most commonly +used. In a gentle favoring wind it is put over invisible in the +darkness, and if it catches the foe unprepared, can kill from ten to +fifteen miles behind the lines. The mixture is squirted as a liquid +from metal generators. It quickly forms a dense greenish yellow cloud +of poison vapor, which floats away in the darkness. Its success must +depend on the element of surprise, taking the enemy unprepared and +choking him, awake or asleep, in the first few moments before the +horns, gongs, and whistles send the alarm for miles behind the trenches. + +Recently a new so-called "mustard gas" has been used by the enemy with +deadly effect, owing to the fact that it is both invisible and +odorless. It is sent over in exploding shells, and sinks in a heavy +invisible vapor about the sleeping men, creeping into their dugouts and +trenches or enveloping them around the guns or in the shell holes. The +effects do not manifest themselves for several hours. With stinging +pain the man's eyes begin to close, and for a time he may go almost +blind. He is then taken violently sick. The surface of the lungs and +the entire body, especially where it is moist with perspiration, is +burned. The skin may blister and come off. Many cases have proved +fatal and many more suffer cruelly for weeks in hospital. With the men +we attended a lecture on the nature of the various gases used by the +enemy and the proper methods of meeting them. The lecture throughout +was unconsciously couched almost in theological language. The +instructor first disposed of what he called superstitious "heresies" +concerning the gas, in order to prevent the men from having panic and +"getting the wind up." There is a foolish rumor which says, "One +breath and you are ruptured for life, or you fall dead the next +morning," etc., etc., but he warns the men of its deadly nature and +tells them they are to be saved from its fatal effects by knowing the +truth. + +The instructor explains that if they take four deep breaths it will +prove fatal: "One breath and you catch the first spasm, two and you are +mad, three and you are unconscious, four and you are dead. If you keep +your presence of mind and hold your breath you will have six seconds to +get on your gas helmet or respirator." The attack, remember, is a +surprise in the dark; brain-splitting gas shells are dropping on all +sides, and it is hard to keep cool and hold one's breath in the moment +of sudden surprise and panic. We are told that there are fifteen +mistakes which are easily possible in getting on this complicated +helmet, or if there is one big blunder in the sudden surprise the man +is done for. + +Before going through the death chamber, helmets are inspected, to see +that they are sound and unpunctured, and the men are drilled in the +open to practice putting them on quickly. Suddenly the warning whistle +of an imaginary gas attack sounds. One backward fling of the head and +the steel helmet falls off, for there is no time to lift it off. A +dive into the bag carried on the chest and the respirator is grasped +and with one skilful swoop it is drawn over the face. Your nose is +pinched shut by a clamp, your teeth grip the rubber mouthpiece, and, +like a diver, you must now get your one safe stream of pure air through +the respirator. You draw in the air from a tube which rises from a tin +of chemical on your chest. Then you can breathe in the dense, deadly, +greenish chlorine vapor, for as it passes through the respirator filled +with chemicals, it is absorbed, neutralized, oxidized, and purified +into a stream of pure air. All about you may be choking fumes of death +which would kill you in four seconds, yet you will be completely +immune, breathing a purified atmosphere. + +The soldiers are now marched up to this chamber of horrors to walk +through the poison gas. Many have "the wind up" (i. e., they are +afraid inside, but are ashamed to show it). Reliance on the guide, the +expert who has been through it all, and the sense of companionship, the +stronger ones unconsciously strengthening the weak, have a steadying +effect upon all the men. The soldiers have had four hours' drill to +prepare them, but the "padre" and I, who are now permitted to go +through, have had but four minutes. I am trying to remember a number +of things all at once. Above all I must keep cool and assure myself +that there is no danger if only I trust and obey what the expert has +said. I fling on the helmet and we start into the death chamber, but +suddenly a string is loose--will the respirator work? There seems to +be something the matter with my nosepiece which should be clamped shut. +I would like to ask the instructor just one question to make sure, but +I can no more talk than a diver beneath the sea. It is too late, we +are moving, I can only hope and trust the helmet will hold. We have +left the sunlight and are in a long dark covered chamber, like a +trench, groping forward, and looking at a distant point of light +through the dim goggles. We are alone in these deadly fumes, the +instructor is not here, there is a tense silence, and all about us is +the poison of death. Oh, what was that fourth point that I was to +remember? Why has the guide turned back? I thought we were to go out +at the further end, where last week the poor fellow fell who lifted his +helmet a moment too soon after he got out and caught one whiff which +sent him to the hospital, but instead we seem to be turning around and +going back. But there is no time for explanations or questions now; we +just plod on through the darkness and soon we are out in the sunlight +again--safe!--in God's pure air. Oh, why did man ever want to pollute +it and poison his brother with these deadly fumes of hell! + +As a special favor, the instructor allows us, without a mask, to take +one swift look into the fumes as we hold our breath. That yellow green +chlorine will corrode the lungs and fill them with pus and blood. The +phosgene is much more deadly and will strike the man down with sudden +failure of the heart. + +We were also sent through a chamber of the invisible "tear gas," +without a mask. The object of this is to take away the fear of the gas +from the men. This particular gas has no effect upon the lungs, but +sends a stinging pain through the eyes, so that one weeps blindly for +some minutes and could not possibly see to shoot or to defend himself. + +We are now ready to return to another lecture with more understanding. +No wonder these tired boys under the heavy, hot steel helmets, which +absorb the heat of the scorching sun, are listening with all their +ears, yet one or two fall asleep for very weariness and may again be +caught napping by the enemy's poison gas up the line. The instructor +is in dead earnest, for the life of every man during the coming +conflict may depend upon his message. His words are still in my ears, +for they were strangely like a sermon: + +"Men, I am going to tell you the truth about this deadly gas and you +must believe it, for your life will depend upon it. It can kill and no +doubt about it. But for every poison of the enemy there's an antidote +and we have found it. Your helmet is perfect and you simply must +believe in it, you must trust to it. We have made full provision for +your safety. If you go under it will be your own fault from one of +four causes--unbelief, disobedience, carelessness, or fear. If you +carelessly go without your helmet it means death. During an attack, +after putting on the respirator, just stand and wait. There is nothing +you can do for yourself except to keep your helmet on. Your skill, +your strength are nothing. Now if you are caught in an attack unawares +remember if you're still alive at all, there's hope. Don't lose +courage. If your confidence goes, you lose ninety per cent of your +defense, for the sole hope of the enemy in gas is surprise and panic. +If you are gassed, don't move. Keep still, keep warm, don't worry, and +wait. To move or try to save yourself will be fatal. + +"The enemy will put over three or four waves with a break between. The +gas may come for some hours. To remove your helmet before the attack +is over will be fatal. Within a quarter of an hour after the gas has +ceased, the charge of the enemy will come and you must never let him +get past your barbed wired entanglements. After exposure to gas, all +food, water, and wells are poisonous. The heavy gas must be expelled +from the trenches by fans before the charge comes. Only remember, you +must believe what I say, keep your helmet on in time of danger and you +are perfectly safe." + +There is a vast difference between the warning and the preparatory +exposure to the gas by your guide and the deadly surprise of the enemy. +The former is a trial to prepare you, the latter is an effort to +destroy you. The whole experience was so obviously parallel to the +deadly moral dangers which surround the soldier in war time that it +needs no comment. The one and only safety in the time of temptation is +to put on the whole armor of God, especially the "helmet of salvation," +then to trust and obey and stand fast. + +The writer has just come from a ward in the hospital filled with +patients suffering from the new gas which the enemy has lately put +over. It is, as we have said, invisible and odorless, so the men +receive no warning, and consequently do not put on their masks. They +do not know that they are being gassed until hours afterwards, when +they find they are burned from head to foot. Here are twenty men lying +in this tent, suffering from this new torture. This first boy, with a +wan smile that goes right to your heart, can only whisper from his +burnt-out lungs and cannot tell us his story. The next man was taken +with vomiting five hours after the gas shells exploded. Seven of his +fourteen companions sleeping in the dugout were killed outright, the +others were gassed. He does not know where they are. He lay +unconscious for several days, and now his eyes and skin are burned as +though he had passed through a fire. The next boy is badly burned in +his eyes and chest. Half the men of his battery were killed by gas +while asleep at night. On the next cot is a boy who has been suffering +for seventeen days; the burns on his body have been improving, his +lungs also are better, but he is still blind and fears he may lose his +sight. He asks me to write a letter for him to his mother. "Only," he +says, "don't tell her about my eyes." Together we make up a cheerful +letter, and the boy rests back on his cot to pray for his returning +eyesight. The next two beds are empty. Both the men died in the +night, falling an easy prey to pneumonia in their weakened condition. +The next boy is from the infantry. Out of his squad nine were killed +by the explosion of the shell, eight wounded, and the rest badly +burned. The neck, chest, arms, and legs of this boy are burned and +blistered. The deadly gas fumes have burned right through his clothing. + +Such is the effect of this new and latest triumph of modern science, +which will shatter the hopes and happiness of thousands of homes. + +After passing through the gas chambers, we visited the bombing section +of the training school. Here each man has to throw one or more live +bombs and receive his final coaching. The bomb is about the size of a +lemon, and is made to break into small fragments. It contains enough +of the high explosive to kill a whole group of men. The boy advances +and grasps the bomb; he draws out the pin and holds down the lever. +Once this is released, it explodes in just five seconds. The man +heaves his bomb over a parapet at a dummy dressed in German uniform. +The whistle blows and we all duck. There is a terrific explosion like +a small cannon and you hear the pieces whizzing through the air. Every +man is holding in his hand and wielding a terrible power. Wrongly +used, it is death to himself and his comrades. The other day a boy's +hand was moist with perspiration and the bomb slipped, killing the +group. Another prematurely exploded as it was being thrown, carrying +away the man's own hand and killing the instructor. So it is a +dangerous business. During the morning there were only four "duds," or +bombs that would not go off. + +After the bombing section, we pass with the men to the trenches. +Bayonets are drawn and rifles loaded. After firing several rounds, +comes the command, "Advance." At a bound they are "over the top" and +off, heads down; they run very slowly and keep together. A breathless +man who outruns his comrades is useless and is soon killed by the +enemy. The drill sergeant shouts to the men "Keep together, keep +together, men, one man can't take a trench," and my friend the "padre" +notes his words to tell to his congregation when he goes home, where +the minister can't do all the work. When they are near the enemy's +trench, the final word "Charge" is shouted, the whole line leaps +forward with a wild yell, and the bayonets are driven into the stuffed +sacks which are suspended as dummies to serve in the place of men. + +For miles across the great plain the "Bull Ring" is alive with men. +Here in one section they are doing physical drill and learning to go +over all kinds of obstacles--trenches, fences, barbed wire, shell +holes, and ditches. There they are practicing musketry and advancing +under cover. In one place the artillery is in full swing, and in +another you hear the sputter of the machine guns. In one section they +are taught to dig trenches and in another to take them. + +Before a great advance where a system of trenches is to be taken, a +"rehearsal" often takes place. From a height of thousands of feet +above the lines the aircraft with powerful telescopic cameras +photograph every foot of the battlefield covered by the enemy's lines. +These photographs are developed and studied and diagrams drawn from +them of the enemy's system of trenches. These diagrams are reproduced +far behind the front in elaborately prepared earthwork and trenches +which are an exact replica of the enemy's lines. The divisions which +are to take part in the attack are sent back to rehearse their exact +duties at just the point corresponding to that which they will have to +take. Each officer knows every nook and crevice, each bay and angle of +the trenches he will have to capture. When all is ready the men are +placed in their exact positions and they execute in reality what they +have rehearsed in theory behind the lines. The lesson of preparedness +and organization is studied and mastered with infinite care. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +WITH THE BRITISH ARMY + +I + +In sheltered America we cannot realize what war means, but when we +entered the warring countries of Europe, in an instant we were in a +different atmosphere. We landed in England upon a darkened coast, we +entered a darkened train, where every blind was drawn lest it furnish a +guide to London for invading Zeppelins or aeroplanes. We passed +through gloomy towns and villages, where not a single light was showing +from a window, where every street lamp and railway station was darkened +or hidden. Automobiles with a dim spark of light groped through the +black streets of the metropolis. + +In London we saw a great Zeppelin brought down in flames. It was a +sight never to be forgotten. At half-past two in the morning we were +awakened by the roar of the anti-aircraft guns in and around the city. +After traveling all night from Germany, one Zeppelin had arrived over +London and a whole fleet of them was scattered over the coasts and +counties of England. + +We sprang to the window and found the sky swept by a score of +searchlights with their great shafts of piercing light, shooting from +the dark depths of the city high into the sky, where they all converged +on a single bright object that hung nine thousand feet above us. Long, +and shining like silver with its flashing aluminum, the Zeppelin seemed +held as if blinded by the fierce light. Bombs were dropping from it +and explosions followed in rapid succession in the city beneath. + +It was a battle to the death, high in the air with all London looking +on. The guns were in full play and the shell and shrapnel were +bursting all about the Zeppelin. Sometimes you could trace the whole +trajectory of a projectile, as a spark of light swept through the sky +toward the Zeppelin and then burst to the right or left, above or below +it. Most of the shots seemed to go wide of the mark. More than a +score of aeroplanes had been sent up to attack it, with one plane to +guide the rest and signal to the guns below by wireless or lights. The +battle finally developed into a duel to the death between the machine +guns of the Zeppelin and Lieutenant Robinson of the Flying Corps, who +was up for two hours in his aeroplane after the enemy--one man fighting +for a city of five millions. He attacked from below and bombs were +thrown at his plane; then he attacked from the side as he circled about +the monster, but he was driven off by their machine guns. At last, +mounting high in the sky, he attacked from above. The guide-plane +flashed down the signal for the guns to cease firing and give him a +chance. + +For a few moments all was silent; the battle seemed to be over. The +great airship, which had swung sharply to the left, was triumphantly +leaving for home. Then it was that Robinson dropped his incendiary +bomb. Suddenly there was an explosion. A flame of burning gas leaped +into the sky. London was lit up for ten miles round-about. Our room +was instantly as bright as though a searchlight had flashed into the +window. Far above us was the Zeppelin in flames. Now it began to +sink--first it was in a blaze of white light, then its outline turned +to a dull red, finally it crumpled to a glowing cinder, sank from +sight, and fell crashing to the earth. Then all was dark again. Death +had fallen suddenly upon the men in the Zeppelin and upon some in the +sleeping city below. + +As we drove through London we passed the draper's shop, near St. Paul's +Cathedral, where George Williams and a group of twelve young men met in +a little upper room on June 6, 1844, to organize the first Young Men's +Christian Association. A dozen young men with little wealth, +influence, or education might not seem a very formidable force, but +twelve men have upset the world and changed the course of history +before now. They had only thirteen shillings, or $3.25, in the +treasury, and were too poor even to print and send out a circular +announcing their little organization. But George Williams brought his +fist down on the table, with the confident words, "If this movement is +of God, the money will come." + +It has come. The twelve men have been multiplied now to a million and +a half, scattered in forty lands. Girded with new strength and with +the dauntless optimism of youth, the movement has risen up to minister +not only to the millions of British and American soldiers and munition +workers, but also to the men in the camps, hospitals, or prisons in +most of the nations now at war. The thirteen shillings have been +multiplied until now the permanent Y M C A buildings are worth over a +hundred million dollars. An average of two new huts or centers have +been erected and opened by the British or American Associations every +day since war was declared; while two permanent buildings in brick or +stone rise each week in some part of the world. + +Wars are the birth-pangs of new eras. A new day dawned for the Young +Men's Christian Association with the present war. At midnight on +August 4, 1914, the British Association as it had been for seventy +years was buried and forgotten, and a new movement arose on the ruins +of the old. Ninety per cent of its former workers left to join the +colors, but a new army of over thirty thousand men and women was +mustered and trained within its huts for the service of the British +soldiers. The Y M C A had suddenly to "think imperially," and to +minister to a world at war. + +Seventy years ago George Williams was the man of the hour, but a leader +of the British war work of the Y M C A was found in the present crisis +in the person of Mr. A. K. Yapp, General Secretary of the National +Council of Great Britain, who has recently been knighted by virtue of +his distinguished service for the nation. He had spent Sunday, August +second, in deep searching of heart and had caught a vision of what the +war would mean, and the opportunity that would be presented to an +organization that was interdenominational, international, readily +mobile, and adaptable enough instantly to meet a great national crisis. + +Within a fortnight the British army and the whole British navy were +mobilized for war. During that time the Y M C A was represented in +four-fifths of the camps of the territorial forces and 250 centers were +opened. In six months 500 centers were occupied; at the end of the +first year there were 1,000, and after two years of the war 1,500 such +centers were in full swing. The area of operations includes the +British Isles, Egypt, the Dardanelles, Malta, the Mediterranean ports, +India, Mesopotamia, East and South Africa, Canada, Australia, and out +to the last limits of Britain's far flung battle line. + +The Y M C A has a strong homing instinct, aiming to provide "a home +away from home." In the dugouts behind the trenches, in the deserts of +Egypt, or in the jungles of Africa, it has been forced to make a home +in every kind of shelter. It was significant that its first three +successive dwelling places seventy years ago were a little bedroom, a +coffee house, and a room in a tavern. During the present war, one may +see Associations in actual operation along the fighting line in France, +in a cowshed, a pigsty, a stable, a hop-house, dugouts under the earth; +in battered and ruined buildings in Flanders; in tents in the Sahara +and on the ancient Peninsula of Mt. Sinai; at the bases of the big +battle fleets; in the rest houses of the flying corps; on the Bourse in +Cairo; in hotels taken over in Switzerland and France, and in the great +Crystal Palace of London. In four centers it has used and transformed +a brewery, a saloon, a theater, and a museum. Its dwellings stretch +away from the tents of "Caesar's Camp," where the Roman Julius lauded +in 55 B. C., on the southern shores of Britain, to the far north, in +the new naval institute at Invergordon, erected for the sailors of the +Grand Fleet at a cost of more than $20,000. They range from the +battered dugouts at the front in France to the Shakespeare hut in +London, costing more than $30,000. They stretch from the rest huts of +the great metropolis, with sleeping and feeding accommodations for some +ten thousand men a day during the dangerous period of leave in London, +away to the hut in "Plug Street" Woods, recently blown to atoms by a +shell, where the secretary escaped by a few seconds and returned to +find literally nothing left save the rims of his spectacles and two +coins melted and fused together by the terrific heat of the explosion. +Several of the secretaries and workers have been killed by shell fire, +or in transit by torpedoes from submarines, while other Association men +have received the Victoria Cross for heroism in action. + +Let us visit a typical hut to grasp the significance of its work, in +order that we may realize what is going on in the fifteen hundred +similar centers. We are on the great Salisbury Plain, in the midst of +thirty miles square of weltering mud during the long winter months. To +realize what a hut means to the men in such a place, we must understand +the unnatural situation created by the conditions of war. Here are +multitudes of men far from home, shut out from the society of all good +women, taken away from their church and its surroundings, weary and wet +with marching and drilling, often lonely and dejected, in an atmosphere +of profanity and obscenity in the cheerless barrack rooms, and tempted +by the animal passions which are always loosed in war-time. The men +need all the help we can give them now, and need it desperately. + +Now can you measure just what a big warm hut means to these men as a +home, far away from home? The red triangle at the entrance gleams +across the whole camp and stands for the three things the soldier most +needs. + +It stands, in the first place, as a pledge for supplying the _physical +need_ of these hungry, lonely, and fiercely tempted men. A dry +shelter, a warm fire, a cheerfully lighted room, the bursts of song, +and the hum of conversation make the men forget the wind and rain and +mud outside. Supper and a hot cup of coffee satisfy their hunger. On +the notice-board is the announcement of the outdoor sports, football +tournaments, and the games, where the thirty thousand men of the +division will compete in open contest on the coming Saturday, under the +direction of the Y M C A. Whatever the soldier needs for his physical +life, whether it is to eat or to sleep, a bed in London, a cool drink +in the thirsty desert, or hot coffee in the trenches, it is furnished +for him by the Association. + +The hut also provides for the soldier's _intellectual_ and social +needs. The piano and the phonograph, the billiard tables, draughts and +chess boards, tables for games, library, and reading room keep him +busy; and the concerts, stimulating lectures, moving pictures, +educational classes, and debating societies provide him with +recreational and mental employment. + +The far deeper _moral and spiritual needs_ of the soldier are also met. +As the evening draws to a close, one sees the secretary in his military +uniform stand up on the table; hats are off and heads are bowed at the +call for evening prayers, which are held here every night. On Sunday +the parade services of the different denominations take place in turn +in the Association hut. Weekly voluntary religious meetings are also +held. At one end of the building is the "quiet room," where groups of +Christian soldiers can meet for Bible classes or for prayer. At +regular intervals evangelistic meetings are held. On our last night at +this hut, on a Sunday evening, twelve hundred men gathered to listen to +the Christian message. + +Of the three bars of the triangle, it is this which stands at the top, +which unites the other two and which is the dominating factor of the +whole. And yet nowhere is religion forced down the throats of the men. +Rather it is the aim to make it the unconscious atmosphere of the whole +hut. It is a striking fact, to which every soldier will testify, that +while the language of the barrack room and beer canteen is often +reeking with the profane and the obscene, the whole tone of the +Association hut is entirely different. As one soldier says: "You don't +realize the enormous difference of atmosphere between this and any +other place where soldiers congregate. A man simply does not talk bad +language and filth here; he learns to control himself." Thus the +threefold work of the Association stands for the whole man and for the +whole manhood of the nation. + +In many ways the Y M C A hut seeks to meet the soldier's every need. + +1. It is his _club_, where he meets his comrades and in the freedom and +friendship of the place forgets the irksome drill, the endless +restraints, and the stern discipline of military life. + +2. As we have already seen, it is his _home_, the place where he writes +his letters and keeps in touch with his family and distant friends. +Nearly twenty million pieces of stationery are sent out free for the +soldiers each month from the London central office, and the sign of the +red triangle on the letter head brings weekly joy and cheer to the +broken circle in the distant home. It is here that the lad is helped +to "keep the home fires burning" in his heart and to hold true to those +high ideals. One little girl when visiting the Crystal Palace, upon +seeing the sign of the red triangle, said: "My daddy always makes that +mark on his letters when he writes to us at home." + +3. It is his _church_, for out on the desert, or in the jungle, or at +the front, there is usually no other church building for religious +services. The following is taken from a typical Sunday program in one +of the huts: "6:30 a. m., Roman Catholic Mass; 7:30 Nonconformist +service; 9:00 Anglican service; 2-3 p. m., Bible class; 6:4:5-8 United +Song Service." Thus each denomination is allowed to have its own +service in its own way on Sunday morning, while the evening meeting is +interdenominational and open to all. + +In one place where the young Hebrews were being sadly neglected and +were falling away from their former moral standards, the secretary +arranged with the Jewish rabbi to have a weekly service in the Y M C A +tent for his men. It has been held ever since. The Jews of the +neighboring city were so grateful that they started a campaign to raise +a fund of $10,000 for Y M C A huts. The Rev. Michael Adler, the head +Jewish rabbi with the forces in France, has time and again expressed +his cordial appreciation of the help rendered to the men of his faith. +The doors of the Association will always remain open for men of all +creeds. As wide as the needs of men, as broad as democracy, as unified +as humanity, and as tolerant as its Lord and Master, the movement will +ever aim to be. + +4. The Association hut is the soldier's _school_. Here his classes are +held. A program taken at random from a single hut will show the scope +of a week's work: "Bible classes; religious services; lecture on The +Town Where We Are; lecture on South America; lantern lecture on Russia; +debating society; impromptu speeches; history class." + +5. The Association hut is also his place of _rest_, and the shop where +he buys his supplies. Here he can procure almost anything he needs +that is decent, and read anything that is wholesome. Usually this hut +is the only clean place of recreation in the camp, and without it he is +left to choose between the cheerless tent and the beer canteen. + +6. The Y M C A is the center of his _recreation_, and his entertainment +bureau. Under the leadership of Miss Lena Ashwell and scores of +others, concerts and entertainment parties have been organized and have +toured continuously in France, Great Britain, Egypt, and the more +distant camps. The six artists of each party are received with +tremendous enthusiasm and become the fast friends of Tommy Atkins. One +writes: "Last time the party came here the press of men waiting on the +verandah to go into the second performance was so great that our brand +new verandah collapsed with the sound of a bomb explosion! Luckily the +mass was so tightly packed that they fell through in a solid heap; no +one was hurt, and all were able to enjoy the concert thoroughly." + +7. It is the soldier's _bank_, and his _postoffice_. We were in one +hut alone where more than fifteen thousand dollars were on deposit in +the savings bank. The sale of stamps in this hut amounts to fifteen +hundred dollars a month, and of postal orders for the remittance of +money home to more than four thousand dollars. Every week an average +of 28,000 letters are written and posted in this one room, while +thousands more are received and handed to the men. + +8. The Association is the soldier's _friend_ and tourist guide, while +he is visiting London, Paris, or the other great cities. In some +places one table is set apart where a chaplain or secretary is always +on duty to help the soldiers make their wills, find out their trains to +London, answer their questions, or give them the friendly help they +need. + +The Y M C A stands by the soldier to the last and even after he falls. +After the boy has fought his last fight and lies wounded or crippled or +dying in the hospital in France, it meets his parents and relatives and +provides for their entire stay in the country. Each relative of the +wounded proceeding to France receives printed instructions from the War +Office that the Y M C A will meet all the boats and provide +transportation and accommodations for all who need it while at the +front. Our friend, Mr. Geddes, broke down as he tried to tell us how +he and his wife had been met on the lonely shores of France by the Y M +C A secretary and motored quickly to the bedside of their dying son, +only to find that they were just too late. The funeral was arranged, +even to the providing of flowers. The last ministry was performed for +the young man away from home and for the loved ones left behind, under +the triangle that will forevermore be red. + +Thus the Association is at once the soldier's club, his home, his +church, his school, his place of rest, his entertainment bureau, his +bank and postoffice, his tourist guide, and the friend that stands by +him and his bereaved parents at the last. Fifteen hundred just such +huts and centers stretch away from Scotland to East Africa, from France +to Mesopotamia, from Egypt to India. Could any other single +organization have met all these needs of the men under arms, mobilized +so quickly, united all denominations, entered all lands, and embraced +all forms of work secular and religious? + +We conducted meetings for several months throughout the camps in the +British Isles. At our last parade service with the brigade out in the +open field there were several thousand seated on the grass, with their +eight bands drawn up in front. In every service the battle was on +between good and evil, between God and mammon, between sacrifice and +sin. + +One night we visited the sailors' training camp. It was a great +meeting, with two thousand of the sailor boys crowded in a big theater. +The concert was going on when we arrived and the jeers and yells of the +crowd drowned some of the voices of the performers; it was evident that +we were going to have a hard time to hold the audience. Captain "Peg" +stepped to the stage and soon had them singing, "We'll Never Let the +Old Flag Fall." Roars of applause followed and they clamored for more. +Out in the glare of the footlights and looking into that sea of faces, +we began to fight for that audience. There were two thousand tempted +men whom we should never see again. In five minutes the whole theater +was hushed--you could hear a pin drop. After half an hour the meeting +was interrupted by the noise of the band outside. Surely the men will +bolt and leave the meeting. We said to them: "Boys, there is the band. +Let everybody go now who wants to go! We are going on. Every man that +wants to make the fight for character, the fight for purity with the +help of Jesus Christ, stay with us here." There was a shout from the +audience, and not a man left the theater. The band thundered on, but +the crowd was with us now, and the hopes of hundreds of hearts for the +things that are eternal surged to the surface. Several hundred men +signed the War Roll, pledging their allegiance to the Lord Jesus +Christ. One sailor boy came up to thank us, saying that he had all but +fallen the week before; and simply for the lack of a sixpence he had +been saved from sin. With God's help he would now live for Christ. +Another came up who had been drinking heavily and had quarreled with +his wife. He did not have the price of a postage stamp to write to +her. He wanted to know how he could be saved from drink. Man after +man came forward, hungry for human help and longing for a better life. + +[Illustration: Harry Lauder Singing at a Y. M. C. A. Meeting. The +Officer seated at the extreme right is Captain "Peg."] + +On another occasion we were with the army of Australian and New Zealand +troops, as they were marching by the King at their last review before +going to the front. Fortunately, we had secured standing room near the +King's side, where we could watch every smile and action as he saluted +each passing battalion, and we could even hear him speak a kind word +now and then to some officer. There were generals to the right of us +and to the left of us, colonels, majors, captains, officers of every +rank, and prominent civilians; but the greatest man on that field was +the soldier himself. With what a swing those clean-cut young +Australian boys marched past; every man was a volunteer and part of +that great first army of over four millions of men who came forward for +the defense of the Empire without conscription. + +Hundreds were playing in the massed bands, as the long file of men +marched by. But time and again the firm columns seemed to fade before +us, and we could not see them for tears, as we realized that many of +these brave boys were going forward to die for us. Above, a great +aeroplane was looping the loop and warplanes were darting to and fro. + +Away on the horizon stood the great boulders of Stonehenge, erected +long before the time of the Saxons, the Britons, or even the ancient +Druids, by the sun-worshippers, who offered their human sacrifices on +the ancient altar there nearly forty centuries before. We looked at +those stones, where through a mistaken conception of God and an +inadequate conception of man, human sacrifices were offered long ago. +Suddenly we heard the crack of the rifles of a body of troops at +practice, moving forward in open line of battle. Today, through a +mistaken conception of God and a low conception of man, over 5,000,000 +of men have already been killed, offered in human sacrifice; while many +millions in lands devastated are homeless, starving, or ruined in body +or soul--these are part of the offering, forced upon humanity by a +godless materialism, while a divided Christian Church stands by +impotent. + + +II + +Let us now visit Egypt where we shall witness very different scenes. +Away on the distant horizon are the two triangular points, which grow +as we approach into the outlines of the great pyramids. Beyond are the +fifty-eight centers which have risen along the banks of the Nile, in +the metropolis of Cairo, and in the harbors of Port Said and +Alexandria, and which line the Suez Canal and dot the desert even out +into the peninsula of Mt. Sinai. The sun is setting as we climb the +great pyramid, which stands a silent witness to forty centuries of +history which have ebbed and flowed at its base, but surely no stranger +sight has it ever seen than these armed camps about it, engaged in this +titanic struggle of the world. Away to the south towards far Khartoum, +like a green ribbon in the yellow desert, stretches the irrigated basin +of the Nile. Beyond it is the bottomless burning sand of the Sahara. + +Here on the site of Napoleon's ancient battlefield is the largest +concentration camp in Egypt. The white tents of the Australasians +shelter a population as numerous as many a city, with three Association +buildings for the men. From out the great pyramid there is a constant +stream of soldiers passing to and fro. And there under the shadow of +the Sphinx are two more Y M C A huts. Jessop, the former secretary at +Washington, has been in charge here, with a large staff of secretaries +from Australia and New Zealand. General Sir Archibald Murray, in +command of the Egyptian Expeditionary Forces, says: "First of all, the +men must have mess huts; then we want the Y M C A." + +Cairo is the throbbing center of Egypt's life, where vice does not lurk +in secret, but flaunts itself in open effrontery. Our secretaries have +been at work there in the long lines of men that stand outside the +places of vice, handing them Testaments and urging them to come away. +The Y M C A has taken over a large amusement center in the Ezbekieh +Gardens in the very heart of Cairo; and in spite of the public saloon +nearby, with its attraction of music and wine, from two hundred to two +thousand men are constantly thronging the Association rooms. The +attractive equipment of a garden, an open-air theater, a skating rink, +baths, supper counters, and a meeting place, but most of all the +personal touch of the two earnest secretaries, make the whole work +effective. The Association has also rented the spacious Bourse, where +it houses several hundred men who are in the city on short leave, while +its lobby is used for concerts and entertainments. During the last +action five of the Y M C A huts on the Canal Zone were under fire. But +there is no day passes but that the men under canvas in this hot land +of Egypt are under fire from temptations more deadly than Turkish +bullets. + +Leaving Egypt, we passed over the hot and stifling Red Sea, across the +Indian Ocean, toward the sunny plains of India. Away from the snowy +ridge of the Himalayas, down across the bare plains of the north and +the rice fields and cocoa-nut palms of the tropic south, India lies +like a vast continent, embracing one-fifth of the human race. It was +held before the war by some 75,000 British and twice as many Indian +troops. The numbers are completely altered now. Almost the whole +regular force, both Indian and British, are away fighting in +Mesopotamia, East Africa, France, and Egypt, while a new territorial +force of Kitchener's army of London clerks and English civilians has +taken its place. + +One hundred and fifty secretaries in India were ready upon the outbreak +of the war. All across India the Y M C A has opened huts, buildings, +or tents for the territorial and other forces.[1] A writer in the +Journal of the Royal Sussex Regiment, at Bangalore, said: "Somehow the +very letters, Y M C A have gathered to themselves an implication of +comfort, pleasure, and welcome; we instinctively feel among friends." + +We visited one night the great tent generously given by the Viceroy for +the work of the territorials in Delhi. General Sir Percy Lake took the +chair and the men gathered in the large marquee for the meeting. +Sherwood Day, of Yale, had been in charge of this work during the +winter, providing a home for the men of the territorials in this +ancient Indian capital. A series of lectures by leading Indians served +to interpret Indian life and thought to these soldiers, who were seeing +at once the needs and greatness of the Indian Empire at first hand, +while leading Indian Christians of the type of Mr. K. T. Paul, Dr. +Datta, and Bishop Azariah told them the fascinating story of Indian +missions and the history of Christianity in Asia. A new sense of race +brotherhood is taking the place of the old antagonism and prejudice, +and Indian secretaries stationed with English Tommies have become +exceedingly popular with them. + +From India as a base, the Association has gone forward with the +advancing columns into Mesopotamia and East Africa. As we cross the +Persian Gulf and follow the winding courses of the Tigris and the +Euphrates up into the heart of Mesopotamia, we find a group of +Princeton men and some sixty secretaries stationed here with the +troops, under Leonard Dixon of Canada. The men affectionately call him +the "padre"; anyone who has ever boxed with Dixon and felt the force of +his right, knows that he is a man who has both drive and "punch." The +troops in Mesopotamia have been fighting often under terrible +conditions, marching through ooze and slime, drinking the yellow +unfiltered water, decimated by the attacks both of sickness and of the +enemy. In summer the alkali dust lies four inches deep on the floors +of their tents, and the thermometer stands at 120 degrees in the sultry +shade. Dixon racked his brain to provide recreation and helpful +entertainment for these hard fighting men. A bioscope, competitive +concerts, a Christmas tree, a New Year's treat, football and hockey +tournaments, and entertainments of various kinds have been improvised +to make the men forget the awful hardship of the march and of the +battle. On Sunday the writing tables are full from dawn till dark and +tons of stationery have been used to keep these men in touch with their +distant homes. + +The secretaries have been kept busy handling the big convoys of wounded +as they come down the rivers in the boats from the fighting at the +front. One colonel got up from his sick bed to give his testimony +unasked as to what the work of the Association had meant to these +wounded men. He said that it was not only the big kettles of hot +coffee and the caldrons of soup which the secretaries brought aboard +the boats, not only the warm blankets, beef tea, and other comforts +which had helped the men so much, but the fact that when those men +entered that barge with its weight of human suffering and misery, it +seemed that the touch of Another hand unseen was resting on the hot +brow and feverish pulse of those wounded soldiers. + +Bovia McLain, an American secretary, gives us a glimpse of a night on a +hospital barge, with a cold wind and rain-storm sweeping down the +river. The canvas tarpaulin began to leak like a sieve and most of the +wounded were cold and drenched to the skin. Soon the men were lying +not only under wet blankets, but actually in two or three inches of +water on the undrained decks. They were packed in like sardines, +without pillows or comforts. "The whole thing was ghastly and +terrible. Men wanted to change their position or have a broken limb +slightly moved, and a dozen other wants seemed to demand attention all +at once. At times I felt the strain so that it seemed to me I could +not control myself longer, but must break down and weep, it was so +appalling." After the men had been made comfortable, the workers were +ready in the morning with supplies of chocolate and tobacco and other +luxuries. It is no wonder that up at the front when the secretary +invites the men to remain for evening prayers sometimes nearly the +whole battalion stays, and one can understand the new interpretation +given by some soldiers to the letters Y. M. C. A.--"You Make +Christianity Attractive." + +When the war broke out the Association was ready to enter Africa also. +With the first contingent of 60,000 South African troops a number of Y +M C A secretaries were sent. They erected large marquees in local +training camps, and there prepared the way for the even greater +opportunity which was to follow in the East African campaign under the +Northern Army. The military authorities cabled the Association +headquarters at Calcutta, offering to hand over the army canteens of +East Africa to the Y M C A and to cut out liquor if the Association +would take them over and be responsible for the welfare work among the +troops, looking after their physical, social, and moral needs. +Instantly, Mr. E. C. Carter, the National Secretary of India, cabled +back accepting the offer. + +The first score of men were sent over to open up nineteen centers with +the advancing column in the jungles of Africa. The 20,000 troops were +then occupying Swakopmund, a desolate little town surrounded by a sea +of burning sand. There were no trees, not a blade of grass, nor even +the song of a solitary bird to relieve the monotony. The men called it +"the land of sin, sand, sorrow, and sore eyes." Soon, however, the +large hall of the Faber Hotel was procured, with accommodations for a +thousand men. It became the social center of the whole camp. So +popular was the place that the men fairly fought and struggled to get +into the building. Every night at 7:30 the war telegrams were read, +and as it was the only way to hear the news from the front, each tent +appointed one man to be at the Y M C A at that hour. On the occasion +of the opening of the work, one man wrote home: "Two great events have +happened today--the Y M C A has commenced and I have had a bath." The +story will never be written as to what the Association meant in the +hearts of those men who laid down their lives fighting in East Africa. +On the cross at the head of every grave in one section of the dark +continent is the sentence: "Tell England, ye that pass by, that we who +lie here, rest content." Thus, from Cairo in the north, from +Swakopmund in the east, clear to Cape Town in the south, the red +triangle has followed the army to its last outposts. Space will not +permit us to describe the huts which have been opened at Salonica, the +twelve centers at Malta, and others dotted along the ports of the +Mediterranean. + + +III + +A new development has now been undertaken by the Association among the +thousands in the munition works in Great Britain. With the whole +nation organized for war, there are millions of workers busily engaged +on ten and twelve hour shifts, turning out that steady stream of +munitions which must ever flow up to the guns at the front, to supply +the army fighting there. Here are men and women without the excitement +and the adventure of the front, toiling all day under a strain, far +removed from home, congested in unattractive surroundings, and it is of +the utmost importance that these workers be kept healthful and happy. + +We motored down one afternoon to see the work that is going on in the +great arsenal at Woolwich. Outside, where a year ago were orchards and +pastures, are long rows of permanent buildings which have sprung up on +every side. To meet this situation the Y M C A has within recent +months erected more than a hundred huts in the different munition +centers, which can provide meals for thousands of tired workers. These +huts have already placed the Association in touch with half a million +workers. In the first hut we visited, three thousand of them were +seated at meals in two relays, while two thousand soldiers were +accommodated in the hut during the afternoon and evening. A platform +at one end had been put up for musical concerts and entertainments. +The price of meals varies from twelve to twenty-five cents. Lady Henry +Grosvenor and other leaders have marshalled a force of fifteen hundred +voluntary workers in this group of huts. + +So appreciative has the government been of this new development, that +in addition to providing their own government welfare workers to look +after the women and girls, they are permitting the munitions +manufacturers to build new Y M C A huts at government expense for the +accommodation of the men. We passed down long rows of dormitories, +erected almost in a night, where thousands of weary workers were +sleeping during the day, preparing for their night shift. It was +almost a sad sight to see whole huts filled with hundreds of boys from +fourteen to sixteen years of age, all sound asleep at midday. The +secretaries look after these boys in their rest and play and provide +healthful surroundings, a clean moral atmosphere, and attractive +religious influences. + +The Young Women's Christian Association has entered the open door for +work among the women. In one place where a young girl from the country +had been led astray by the temptations of this new and monotonous life +and had committed suicide, the Young Women's Christian Association has +erected a large hut to provide for the moral welfare of thousands of +other girls faced by the same temptations. Oh, the dreary drudgery +that faces these tired women! + + "Rattle and clatter and clank and whirr, + And thousands of wheels a-spinning-- + Oh, it's dreary work and it's weary work, + But none of us all will fail or shirk; + Not women's work--that should make, not mar, + But the Devil drives when the world's at war; + And it's long and long the day is." + +The Y W C A has adopted the sign of the blue triangle, to distinguish +it from the red triangle of the Y M C A. The huts bore the touch of +deft women's hands in the decorations, flowers, and signs of cheer and +comfort which the ladies have provided for these hard worked girls. +Before the huts were erected some girls had to sleep in the streets all +night in the unsanitary communities about the works. + +Both the government authorities and the Association workers have seen a +large open door for social service among these millions of munition +workers. For the work here is permanent. These great buildings will +remain as manufacturing centers of some kind after the war. The huts +will still be occupied. Already a new and growing body of legislation +is being introduced to improve the conditions of the toilers of old +England. + +It is little wonder that the whole nation has responded to this work so +boldly undertaken on such a large scale. From the first gifts have +been pouring in unsolicited. His Majesty the King, patron of the Young +Men's Christian Association in Britain, has inspected many of the +buildings, and sent in his contribution, with the following note: "His +Majesty congratulates the Association on the successful results of its +War work, which has done everything conducive to the comfort and +well-being of the armies, supplying the special and peculiar needs of +men drawn from countries so different and so distant. It has worked in +a practical, economical, and unostentatious manner, with consummate +knowledge of those with whom it has to deal. At the same time the +Association, by its spirit of discipline, has earned the respect and +approbation of the Military Authorities." + +The Queen Mother donated the Alexandra Hut in London, which makes +provision for the accommodation of soldiers on leave in the city. She +was seen recently serving tea behind the counter in the Association hut +to the happy Tommies who had come back strained and tired from the +front to "Blighty" once more. The Princess Victoria has been most +tireless in opening Y M C A huts, and has given unsparingly of her time +and effort for the men. + +No one has been more appreciative than the military authorities +themselves. Lord Roberts, four days before his death, wrote expressing +his appreciation of the work being accomplished. His secretary adds: +"He hears on all sides nothing but praise for what the Y M C A is doing +at the camps." Lord Kitchener, who had inspected the huts of the +Association in England, France, and Egypt, wrote: "From the first the Y +M C A gained my confidence, and now I find they have earned my +admiration and gratitude." Mr. Asquith, when Prime Minister, after +visiting the Association huts and attending the religious meetings +said: "The Y M C A is the greatest thing in Europe." Lloyd George, the +present Premier, said recently: "I congratulate the Y M C A. Wherever +I go I hear nothing but good of the work they are doing throughout the +country, and we owe them a very deep debt of gratitude." + + +[1] In addition to the existing work at Bangalore, Maymyo, and Poona, +Association privileges have been provided for soldiers in Lahore, +Delhi, Multan, Forozepore, Jhansi, Lucknow, Mhow, Trimulgherry, +Jubbulpore, Calcutta, Bombay, Madras, Ahmednagar, Rangoon, Dalhousie, +Naini Tal, Karachi, Allahabad, and Jutogh. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +LIFE IN A BASE CAMP + +The man who inaugurated Y M C A army work in France was Joseph Callan. +In 1903 he became a secretary of the International Committee in +Allahabad, North India, and later in Colombo. Ten years ago in +Bangalore he began his wonderful work for soldiers, which, in time, was +to set the pace and furnish the standard for the Association work of +the present war. + +When the British troops were out in camp, Callan opened his big Y M C A +tent and beat the army canteen in open competition, so that at the end +of the maneuvers the contractors had to haul back much of the liquor +unsold. While the canteen was being drained of men, Callan was running +a full show almost every evening. He had powerful arc lights placed +over the athletic field, and night after night tournaments were played +off, company against company, regiment against regiment, until the +closing hour of the canteen had passed. Lectures, moving pictures, and +concerts were followed by straight religious meetings, with lasting +results. The cooperation of the Bishop, clergy, and chaplains, helped +to relate permanently these results to the Church. + +As soon as the commanding officers saw the value of this work, they +began to cooperate and insisted upon its being carried on in every +camp. In the great maneuvers at Dacca, Callan was invited to Bengal to +run the institutional work for the troops at the expense of the +government, which he did with striking results. Each success made the +work known to a widening circle of officers and men. + +When the war broke out, Callan and Carter approached the Viceroy and +Commander-in-Chief to ask if they could serve the Indian Army as it was +to start as an expeditionary force to France. Since the Mutiny of +1857, with its religious superstition and prejudice about the greased +cartridges, etc., no Christian work had been permitted in the Indian +Army. Finally, however, permission was given to the Association to +begin work with the troops before embarkation. Upon arrival in Bombay, +our secretaries called upon the Commanding Officer, who had wired to +the General at Headquarters to know what he could do to hold his +discontented troops together in the flooded and crowded quarters about +the docks. The general had just wired, "Consult the Y M C A and ask +them to send for their army department." He had known of Callan's work +at Bangalore, Dacca, and other centers, and believed it would supply +just the missing link with the dissatisfied men. When our secretaries +called, the Colonel had just received the telegram and was prepared to +give them a chance to see what they could do for the troops. + +Within twenty-four hours a work was organized which kept the sepoys +occupied for all their leisure time. Football and hockey and outdoor +athletics, excursions down the harbor, sea bathing, lectures, and +entertainments were soon in full swing. This was the first work of the +kind ever done for the Indian Army. So instantly and obviously +invaluable did it become that the Commanding Officer insisted that the +secretaries should accompany the troops on the long and much dreaded +trip to France, which was a bold and untried venture for Indian +soldiers. + +It was a historic event when that great fleet of some seventy-five +ships, the largest assembled since the Spanish Armada, freighted with +about 25,000 troops bound for France, East Africa, and Persia, weighed +anchor, and sailed out of Bombay harbor with the first twelve Y M C A +secretaries on board. Arrived in France, permission was finally +obtained from the Commander-in-Chief to land and begin work on French +soil. + +Here the moral problem made the work of the Association a crying +necessity. Soon there were some 25,000 Indian troops concentrated +around Marseilles. These men could neither safely be let out of bounds +nor kept contented within bounds. A cordon of troops around the camp +could not keep vice out. The Y M C A was needed as a counter +attraction. Upon an outbreak of drinking and immorality on the part of +a group of Sikh soldiers, the whole garrison was called out to witness +these men stripped and flogged in exemplary punishment. The Sikhs felt +this to be such a public disgrace that they asked for the use of the Y +M C A hut in which to hold a council meeting. They finally decided to +ask one of the secretaries to address the whole body of Sikhs on the +subject of intemperance and impurity, for the Association was already +tacitly recognized by all as the dominant moral force in the camp. + +One of the Indian secretaries, Mr. Roy, addressed the soldiers at their +own request for an hour and a half, and a remarkable scene of +repentance was witnessed. Men arose on all hands, confessing their +sins in respect to these two special failings and requested that +penalties be imposed upon them by their own priest in accordance with +the custom of their religion, as a punishment for the past and as a +guarantee for the future. For nearly two hours the men filed by their +priest receiving penalties. Later on they held a service of their own +in the Y M C A hut on Christmas day and took up a large collection of +copper coins as a thank-offering to the Association. They felt that it +had been their one friend in a strange land. + +It should be clearly understood, however, that of necessity, in the +very nature of the case, the Government of India imposed upon the +secretaries the strict obligation of silence regarding the propagation +of Christianity. They entered the work on the understanding that the +men could live out the spirit of Christ and express it in silent +ministry under the motive of Christian love. + +It was striking to see how much real Christianity could be packed into +_life_ when speech was forbidden. The pent-up prayer and love and +sympathy of the workers was forced into the single channel of silent +service. It reminded one of those thirty years in our Lord's life, in +simple secular toil, which could only minister to the needs of men over +a carpenter's bench. + +It is no small task to undertake to occupy all the leisure time of +25,000 men far from home, shut up in irksome camps, easily aroused by +rumor or superstition. The numbers increased until there were finally +some 50,000 men to be cared for. Athletic fields were secured and +games were started. Football and hockey were more played by the +Indians than by the British troops. Badminton and volley ball, races +and track events, were also useful. Indoor games, the gramophone, +cinemas and concerts, and especially Indian dramas, were popular in the +evening. Lectures on geography, history, and moral subjects were well +attended, and French classes were of practical benefit. + +An incalculable service has also been rendered in writing letters for +the great mass of ignorant soldiers to their families in the far-off +Indian villages, miles away from a railway. Illiteracy, superstition, +and false rumors existed at both ends of the line. Here is a man who +has had no word from home since he left a year or more ago. He hears a +baseless rumor or heeds some inborn fear that his child is sick, or his +wife unfaithful, or that he has been cheated out of his property. +Hundreds of homesick men whose whole lives have been bound up in the +family circle pour in upon the secretaries, begging that they will +write letters home for them. Here you may see six or eight secretaries +writing for hours each day, as fast as the men can dictate their +messages and tell their stories. + +Then there arose the problem of how to keep these men in touch with +their households in isolated and illiterate villages in India. Mr. +Hume, one of the secretaries in Lahore, devised a far-reaching plan +whereby every letter was forwarded through missionaries or Christian +workers or officials to the distant home of the soldier. The whole +community gathers to hear the news from the Indian regiment on the +other side of the world, and a shout goes up from the village street +when they learn that their brave Sepoy is not dead, as rumor had +whispered. A message is sent back in eager gratitude from the wife, +children, and neighbors, and from the united heart of the little +village to the distant soldier and his fighting comrades. The Red +Triangle has spanned the gulf from the winter cold and the dreary +trenches in France to the little village on the plains of sunny India, +and the grateful hearts at both ends somehow dimly know that all this +silent ministry is in the name of the White Comrade who is the Friend +of man. + +Here in France the hut must stand as the friendly home that gathers up +all the best traditions of Indian life. It takes the place of the +banyan tree in the heat of the day, the village well, and the meeting +place for the men in the cool of the evening. Even beyond all hopes it +has proved a potent factor for unity, harmony, and peace in a time of +unrest. It draws the British officers and the Indian men closer +together, and the Indian secretaries have served time and again as the +mediators between the two, who could so easily have misunderstood each +other. It provides a common meeting place between the caste-ridden and +divided Indians themselves, who had no other ground of unity. + +Here are men of different languages and races and traditions, from the +Gurkhas, the brave little hill men, to the stalwart Pathans, who come +as fighting men from far beyond the borders of India for the sheer joy +of battle. The chances for supposed loot in the fabled wealth of the +West and the accumulation of merit by slaying the "unbelievers" of the +enemy, prove an added attraction to men born and bred in border +warfare. Here also are men of three separate creeds, who have often +fought with one another over the issues of their faiths--the big +bearded Sikhs, with a soldier's religion, the warlike Mohammedans, who +fight according to their Koran, and the caste-ridden Hindus. + +As you walk among the tents the smoke of the fires hangs heavy over the +camp; there is the familiar sound of the bubbling rice pots, the smell +of pungent curry, the babel of many oriental tongues, and you seem to +be back in the very heart of India itself. We gather with the reverent +Sikhs for their religious worship. They meet morning and evening for +their prayer service, and turn out almost in a body for the weekly +Sunday meeting. The service consists principally of singing and the +reading of their sacred scripture, the Granth. Seated on the ground, +the men show deep reverence, and seem to have a sense of the presence +of God in their midst. Their religion has a real restraining influence +and there is at present little immorality amongst them. + +A little further on in the camp one comes upon an improvised Mohammedan +mosque. Five times a day a devout soldier calls the faithful to +prayer, and on Friday about three-fourths of them come out to their +voluntary service. The Hindus, on the other hand, dependent upon +ceremonial rites, without their temple or priest and with no organized +public worship, have not a religion which holds them in such a vital +grip in this distant land. + +As you pass down the camp, the band is playing for the draft that is +marching off to take its place in the trenches. The last good-bys are +being said and little groups are round the secretaries. The stalwart +Sikhs are wringing their hands or kneeling down to wipe the dust from +their shoes, or thanking them with tears of gratitude. They are great +child-like men, simple of heart, affectionate, but lonely and homesick +in a distant land. Here is a man who was once a hard drinker, living +an immoral life, but today he is keeping straight. Here is another who +has resolved to go back to India to lead a different life. There were +tears in the eyes of the secretaries themselves as they came back after +bidding good-by to the draft, and there was compensation after long +months of service in the gratitude of the men and in that inner voice +which says, "I was a stranger and ye took me in." + +After Callan had launched the work among the Indian troops, he was +called upon to open up the work at a large British base camp behind the +lines in France. Here, beside the vast drill ground where Napoleon +used to marshal his troops, is a white city of tents, and between +100,000 and 200,000 men are always encamped there for training. + +Life in the trenches for the moment drives men to God, but the life in +a base camp is one of fierce and insidious temptation. To hold the men +in the face of such temptations, Callan has erected his buildings in +the thirty principal centers of this base. Here is a typical hut +before us, built of plain pine boards, 120 feet long and 60 feet broad. +It accommodates from 2,000 to 3,000 men a day and is used by +three-fourths of the men in the camp, by practically all, in fact, +except those who are confined to their hospital beds. These thirty +huts will be filled all winter with an average of 60,000 men a day. +Each night at least 15,000 men will be gathered in meetings, lectures, +and healthy entertainments. Twice each week there are 12,000 men in +attendance at religious meetings, and not a week passes without +hundreds of decisions being made for the Christian life. In the course +of the year a million men will pass through these camps, or one-sixth +of the manhood of the nation now marshalled under arms. These are the +men who are to be made or marred by life in the army, and who will go +back to build the new empire in the great era of reconstruction that is +to follow the war. + +[Illustrations: Wholesome and Entertaining; Home Refreshments in +London.] + +To minister to these 60,000 men who daily crowd these thirty huts, +there are 167 workers sent over from England, 100 of them men and 67 of +them women. The latter are nearly all self-supporting and not only +receive no salary but pay all their own expenses. The self-sacrificing +toil of these helpers, who form part of a vast army of 30,000 heroic +women who are voluntarily serving without compensation in the +Associations of England and France, is beyond all praise. Their very +presence in the camps is the greatest single moral factor for the +creation of that indefinable atmosphere which pervades every hut. Even +rude and coarse men never think of swearing or speaking an indecent +word within these walls. Nor do they forget to be grateful for the +tireless service of these women, who stand for hours day and night +serving them and providing for their physical necessities. The women +workers are under the direction of Lady Rodney, who has had four sons +fighting at the front, one of whom has already fallen in action. The +men have been thrilled and moved to the depths as Lady Rodney has +addressed them on "What Are We Fighting For?" and by her message to the +men from the women at home. Several hundred of the choicest women of +America will be needed for service among our own troops. They should +be women who can stand for the whole principle of the red triangle. +They must be ready for tireless and exhausting physical service, able +to work with others without friction, prepared to meet the social needs +of the men and to give a sympathetic hearing to the tales that will be +poured into their ears, but above all they must be able to give a +definite Christian message to men fiercely tempted and beset by doubts +and difficulties. The soldier cannot live by bread alone, nor by the +tea and coffee of a Y M C A counter; he needs God, and the friendship +of good women, and the spirit of home which they carry with them. + +The hundred men who are working in these thirty British huts are worthy +of note. A score of them are clergymen, who have resigned their +churches for the period of the war. Many others are well-known +ministers, laymen, or professors who have come over for a period of +several months of service. The list of the men who have been serving +here contains many distinguished names. There is Professor Burkett, +the New Testament scholar of Cambridge, in charge of one of the huts; +Professor Bateson, the great biologist of Cambridge, who has been +lecturing on his subject, and who was swept off his feet by the +response which he received from the troops. He stated that he was able +to learn more from these men than in months of research in his +laboratory, where he had been shut up for most of his life. Professor +Holland Rose, also of Cambridge, has been lecturing to the troops on +European history, interpreting the war to the soldier. Professor Oman, +of the same university, has been dealing in his lectures with the +historical problems of the war. Rev. E. A. Burroughs, of Oxford, has +been giving religious lectures. Principal D. S. Cairns, of Aberdeen, +has had crowded meetings night after night for his apologetic lectures, +and the questions raised in the open discussions would make one think +he was in a theological seminary. Principal Kitchie, of Nottingham, +has been lecturing on European history and the Balkan situation. +Bishop Knight is giving his time seven days a week to looking after the +spiritual and ecclesiastical needs of the men, as many seek +confirmation and partake of the Holy Communion before going up to the +front. Here are Scotch ministers, Anglican clergymen, and laymen, +working side by side in a great ministry of service. + +A series of missionary lectures has helped to give the men a new world +view of Christianity. It has lifted the simple villager, and the man +who has never known anything save the narrow ruts of his own +denomination, above the petty interests and divisions of his former +life to face world problems and the wide extension of the Kingdom of +God. Four lecturers have followed each other to present a great world +view to the men in these thirty huts: Butcher of New Guinea showed the +effect of the impact of the Gospel upon primitive native races; +Farquhar of India showed the power of Christianity over the great +ethnic religions of India; Lord Wm. Gascoyne Cecil came next on the +transformation of China, and was followed by Dennis of Madagascar and +Dr. Datta, a living witness of the power of Christianity in the great +Indian empire. John McNeill and Gipsy Smith, the well-known +evangelists, have spoken to thousands and have brought the challenge of +the Christian Gospel to the men, calling upon them for decisions and a +change of life in harmony with the teachings of Christ. + +Here are some of the finest spirits of England, some of its +intellectual and spiritual leaders, brought into daily contact with the +manhood of the nation in this formative period and epoch-making crisis. +Before us hangs the program for the week. It looks like the schedule +of classes and lectures for some great university. It is drawn up in +seven columns for the seven days of the week, and includes a score of +centers, with an average of three events for each hut per day. It +would cover several closely printed pages. Here are some of the events +scheduled for a single night: + +Hut No. 1, lecture on "The Meaning of Christianity," by Mr. A. D. Mann; +choir rehearsal; devotional meeting. No. 2, Rev. Butcher of New +Guinea, lecture on "The Failure of Civilization"; French class; Clean +Talk League. No. 3, lecture by Lord Wm. Cecil on China; French class; +hobby class. No. 4, cavalry band orchestra; Communion Service; evening +prayers. No. 5, Lena Ashwell Concert Party from London. No. 6, Rev. +N. H. M. Aitken, Bible lecture and discussion; orchestral band. No. 7, +concert party; general hospital show. No. 8, lecture on Napoleon by +Mr. Perkins; Mrs. Luard's concert party. No. 9, concert given by the +men of the auxiliary park camp; draughts tournament. No. 10, religious +discussion class; Lord Wm. Cecil; service conducted by Chaplain Berry. +No. 11, Professor Thos. Welsh's Bible class; mid-week rally. No. 12, +fretwork and carpentry class; games; letter writing. No. 13, mid-week +service; Bible class; letter writing. No. 14, cinema show; indoor +games. No. 15, lantern lecture on "India in the Trenches." No. 16, +ladies' concert party; Hindi and Urdu classes; letter writing; games. +All of this covers only the program for half of the huts on a single +night! + +Principal Fraser, of Ceylon and Uganda, but equally conversant with +present-day problems in Britain, has been conducting a weekly +parliament in different camps on the great questions of reconstruction +after the war. For here are men away from home, lifted above the toil +and narrow drudgery of their former cramped lives, and they have +learned to think. + +There is evidence of wide industrial and social unrest. The men are +conscious not only of world wrongs which threaten their country from +without, but of wrongs within as well, and they are going to demand +that these wrongs shall be righted. A deep tide of feeling runs +through the audience, as these men, blunt of speech but clear of brain, +openly and frankly discuss the future, and they hang eagerly upon the +words of Principal Fraser as he guides their thought to higher ideals +for the period of reconstruction that is to follow. + +One night they are discussing the present social order, and what is +wrong with it; they are dealing with bad housing, employment, low +wages, the cleavage between the rich and the poor, industrial +oppression, and social injustice. The next night they consider the +dangers of demobilization. What will be the effect upon hundreds of +thousands of women workers? Here are more than five million soldiers +in the army, and a large number of men and women, boys and girls, +working on government orders. What steps must be taken to minimize the +dislocation of industry and to prevent unemployment? On the night +following, they discuss the question of industrial reorganization. +They resolve that "the time has come, as the only means of averting +social disaster, to grant a constitution to the factory, and quite +frankly to recognize and insist that the conditions of employment are +not matters to be settled by the employer alone, any more than by the +workmen alone, but in joint conference between them; and not even for +each establishment alone, but subject to the National Common Rules +arrived at for the whole industry by the organized employers and +employed, in consultation with the representatives of the community as +a whole." + +At the next parliament they discuss the future of education in England. +What should be its aim, how far should it be technical, and how far +should it aim at the development of personality? Should the +school-leaving age be raised to fifteen, or half-time education be +given up to the age of eighteen? One night in the parliament they +discuss the problem of drink and the war; on another night, gambling; +and on another, the social evil. The men who attend the lectures and +parliaments of these camps will almost get a liberal education during +the three years. + +We have spoken of the vast work going on in the thirty huts conducted +by 167 workers in this single base camp. Let us now pass into a +typical center and observe the work a little more in detail. For our +first illustration, let us take the Y M C A hut in the Convalescent +Camp. We select this because it is the model of the new huts for the +American army which are now being constructed. It is a moving sight +simply to step inside its doors. Here are two parallel structures of +simple pine boards, each 120 by 30 feet. They may be used separately, +in eight different departments, including the lecture hall which will +seat 500, or with the partitions raised they may be thrown into one +large audience hall, holding 1,200 men. + +A glance at the crowd within, or at the great city of white tents +without, shows that even this building is utterly inadequate for this +convalescent camp holding 4,000 men. It is a center for a dozen +surrounding hospitals, each containing from 1,000 to 4,000 patients. +As the men are cured in these hospitals they are sent up to the +Convalescent Camp to be made fit to return to the trenches. It is +worth remembering that every one of these 4,000 patients is a wounded +man, all of whom have seen service and suffering. + +Let us enter first of all the large social hall. Several hundred men +are seated at the tables, playing games or chatting over a cup of tea. +At one end is the counter, where three women and five men take their +turn serving during the day and evening. Two or three thousand of +these men will pour in every day this winter. They will stand in a +long queue filing by the counter for more than two hours. Here are +large urns, each holding ten gallons of tea. Cup after cup is rapidly +pushed across the counter without turning off the tap; as 160 men are +served in ten minutes, and there is no stop save to place a fresh urn +full of tea. As fast as the workers can move, not only hot tea and +coffee, but bread and biscuits, cake and chocolate, tobacco, matches, +candles, soap, bachelor buttons are furnished, and every other need of +the soldier is supplied. The aim is to meet his every demand, so that +he will not have to go into the city to places of temptation and evil +resorts. + +While these men are being served or are seated in the social room, +meetings and lectures are conducted at the same time on the other side +of the partition in the audience hall, which is occupied several times +a day, and is used for social purposes between the meetings. We now +pass into the lounge, which is filled with men, busy at their games. +Next is the Quiet Room, where no talking or writing is allowed. Men +come into this room for quiet meetings or private prayer, and here +small group prayer meetings and Bible classes are held. + +Just outside the hut is a wide wooden platform which accommodates +several hundred men. There nearly a dozen different games are in full +swing, all at the same time. Each one is designed to help the patient +recover his health. Here are badminton, tennis, volley ball, indoor +baseball, quoits, deck billiards, bagatelle, ping-pong, and other +games. The front of this platform forms a grandstand for the cricket +field beyond. + +Here for three nights we conducted meetings, with five or six hundred +men in attendance. More than a hundred men signed the decision cards +each night, and when asked it was found that one-third of them had made +the decision for the first time, about one-third of them were +back-sliders who had been living as Christians before the war but who +had gone down before temptation, while the remaining third had been +maintaining a consistent Christian life during the war. + +In a second after-meeting in the Quiet Room one night, men from almost +every quarter of the globe spoke and gave testimony. Here was one poor +fellow who had come over after several years in the States. He had had +delirium tremens three times, and showed the effects of it on his face. +He had formerly been the center of the foul talk and vulgar language of +his tent. He had now come straight out for Christ and had boldly +witnessed for Him before the men. The second boy, the son of a +prominent officer in South Africa, arose under deep emotion. He had +been living a wild and reckless life and was known as the "Red Light +King." After his conversion, he went out and brought in another +comrade who openly decided for Christ. There were boys from Canada, +Australia, and England who followed, many of them with tragedies in +their past lives. + +It is impossible to calculate the vast influences for good that have +been flowing from this hut to the thousands of men who pass through it. +The aim of the young Scotch minister who is the leader has been to make +it for all the men "a home away from home." The life in the army, with +its irksome toil, daily drill, cold and wet and mud, the horror of +battle and the pain of wounds, is all for the moment forgotten as the +men enter the place. + +We tell the leader that we are taking this building as the model for +our new American camps. He says: "Large as this hut is, it is not +large enough or good enough for the men. Daily we have need for better +equipment. This hut as it stands will serve from two thousand to three +thousand men in a day, but nothing is too good for these boys who are +coming here to suffer and die in this faraway land. You will send your +sons over from America to spend this cold winter on the bleak plains of +France in open bell tents. They will be fed on canned goods and corned +beef, and they will be housed in the most unattractive towns of France, +where there is absolutely no interest or diversion apart from drink and +women. You can hardly realize what it means to sit down in a homelike +place, to get a hot cup of tea served on a white tablecloth. This is +the only home these boys will see in France, and they will either come +here or go to the red light resorts. I wish I could tell the men of +America what their boys will face here, what they will suffer, what +temptations will assail them. The best equipment you can give them is +not good enough, for the people at home little realize to what a life +their boys are coming, and what hardships will face them here in +France." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE CAMP OF THE PRODIGALS + +We are in a natural amphitheater of the forest, near a big base +hospital, about seventy miles behind the lines in France. Always in +the stillness of the woods, even at this distance, one can hear the +intermittent boom of the big guns at the front, and the air is vibrant +on this summer evening. Beyond the wood lies the old drill ground of +Napoleon, which is used today as a field for final training for the +reenforcements for the front line. + +In this wide open space in the woods at sundown the patients of the +hospital in their blue uniforms are gathering for the meeting. It is a +picturesque sight to see about eight hundred of them seated on the +grass, while an orchestra composed of their own men is playing before +the opening of the meeting. Who are these men before us? They are not +the wounded who have fallen on the field of honor, but the sick, and, +quite frankly, they all have venereal disease. The war has dragged +this moral menace so into the light of day that the times of prudish +silence and of fatal ignorance should have passed for all who are truly +concerned for the welfare of the soldier and who want to know his +actual conditions. We shall, therefore, in this chapter call a spade a +spade. + +The eight hundred men gathered here are a small part of some thousands +of similar cases in France. The _London Daily Mail_ of April 25th, +1917, referring to the report of the military authorities to the House +of Commons, stated that there had been some two hundred thousand cases +of venereal disease in the British Army in France alone. This does not +include England or the men on the other fronts. The British Army is +not worse than others. Professor Finger, at a meeting of the Medical +Society in Vienna early in the war, estimated that over 700,000, or +some ten per cent of the Austrian troops, had contracted venereal +disease. More ominous still is the fact that in almost every place yet +investigated the majority of the men were confessedly living in +immorality amid the temptations of the base camps in France. + +As we visit the hospitals in France, we are saddened by the fact that +for one of the two venereal diseases no cure has yet been found, that a +large proportion of these cases suffer a relapse, and that over seventy +per cent will develop complications. As one Commanding Medical Officer +said, "There is enough venereal disease in these military camps now to +curse Europe for three generations to come." + +One young major said: "Every day I am losing my boys. I've lost more +men through these forces of immorality than through the enemy's shot +and shell." The recent report of the Royal Commission shows the grave +menace of the disease to Britain, where twenty per cent of the urban +population has been infected. Flexner's terrible indictment in his +"Prostitution in Europe" proves how particularly dangerous and +pernicious is the system of inspection and regulation which legalizes +and standardizes vice as a "necessary evil" and spreads disease through +the false sense of security which it vainly promises. Even if the +inspection and regulation of vice were physically perfectly successful, +it might still lead to national degeneration, but instead of being a +success it has proved, especially in France, a miserable failure. We +cannot place all the blame upon local conditions, for the presence of +an army in a foreign land in wartime creates its own danger. + +Among the men in the venereal hospitals of France are musicians, +artists, teachers, educated and refined boys from some of the best +homes, and in another camp we find several hundred officers and several +members of the nobility. What was the cause of their downfall? A +questionnaire replied to by several hundred of them revealed the fact +that six per cent attributed their downfall to curiosity, ten per cent +to ignorance, claiming that they had never been adequately warned by +the medical authorities, thirteen per cent to loss of home influences +and lack of leave, thirty-three per cent to drink and the loss of +self-control due to intoxication, while the largest number of all, or +thirty-eight per cent, attributed it to uncontrolled passion when they +were unconverted or had no higher power in their lives to enable them +to withstand temptation. But perhaps the chief cause of the spread of +immorality is the unnatural conditions under which the men are +compelled to live in a foreign land in war time. + +Donald Hankey, the brilliant young author of "A Student in Arms," who +fell at the front, speaks thus of the moral problem in the soldier's +life: + + +"Let us be frank about this. What a doctor might call the 'appetites' +and a padre the 'lusts' of the body, hold dominion over the average +man, whether civilian or soldier, unless they are counteracted by a +stronger power. The only men who are pure are those who are absorbed +in some pursuit, or possessed by a great love; be it the love of clean, +wholesome life which is religion, or the love of a noble man which is +hero-worship, or the love of a true woman. These are the four powers +which are stronger than 'the flesh'--the zest of a quest, religion, +hero-worship, and the love of a good woman. If a man is not possessed +by one of these he will be immoral. . . . Fifteen months ago I was a +private quartered in a camp near A----. . . . The tent was damp, +gloomy, and cold. The Y M C A tent and the Canteen tent were crowded. +One wandered off to the town. . . . And if a fellow ran up against 'a +bit of skirt' he was generally just in the mood to follow it wherever +it might lead. The moral of this is, double your subscriptions to the +Y M C A, Church huts, soldiers' clubs, or whatever organization you +fancy! You will be helping to combat vice in the only sensible way." + + +We agree with Donald Hankey that the appetites hold dominion over the +average man, whether civilian or soldier. We do not wish to make any +sweeping generalizations or accusations. We have no means of knowing +how many men are immoral in peace time, as we have in war time. We +only know that conditions of ordinary times are intensified, +aggravated, and multiplied; and they are revealed in war time as never +before, and thrown upon the screen of the public gaze. The writer also +desires to guard against any possible impression that the British army +is worse than our own or any other. It is too early to know what +record our men will make, but we find it difficult to believe that they +could have maintained a higher standard if placed in equal numbers in +the same circumstances. + +But to return to our meeting. Every one of these eight hundred men in +this audience has a history. Tired or hardened or haggard faces are +relaxed as they join in singing the hymns on this Sunday evening, +"Nearer, My God, to Thee," "Lead, Kindly Light," "Tell Me the Old, Old +Story," and "Where is my Wandering Boy Tonight?" There is a tragedy in +every heart, and each man has experienced the bitterness of sin and +bears its scars branded in his body. Look into the faces of some of +these men. Here in front, this very first one, is an American cowboy +from Texas, Frank B----. As a "broncho-buster" he became the star +rider in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show and was finally adopted as his +son. At the age of fifteen he started to go wrong in New Orleans. At +an early age he joined the American army, and later, at the outbreak of +the war, he served in the Flying Corps of the British army. Here he +broke a leg and was smashed up in action. After that he joined an +infantry division. In one of the meetings this week he accepted +Christ. He has since been standing firm and goes out tomorrow to begin +a new life. Near him is a young theological student with a sad look on +his face, who has learned here in bitterness the deepest lesson of his +life. Next to him is a heartbroken married man with a wife and +children at home. + +After the crowd has assembled, we speak to them of Christ as the Maker +of Men. We tell them of the transformation of others like themselves, +of Augustine, Francis of Assisi, Loyola and the saints of old, of John +B. Gough, Jerry McAuley, Hadley, and the men of Water Street whom God +raised out of the depths, and of men right in their midst who have come +out for Christ in the meetings this week. After speaking for an hour, +we go into the Y M C A for an after-meeting. + +We had a wonderful time with them here one Saturday night. Five +hundred of them crowded the hall and listened for an hour as we spoke +on the good news of the free offer of life. When the invitation was +given, over two hundred stayed to the after-meeting as desiring to +follow Christ. After we had spoken one of the men came forward and +asked if he could say a word. He had been an earnest Christian before +the war, and as he began to speak of his fall and of his trusting wife +and children at home, the poor fellow broke down in utter wretchedness. +It seemed to strike a responsive chord in the hearts of the married men +all over the room. Many a one buried his head in his hands and wept +bitterly. A second after-meeting was held and God seemed to be moving +in the heart of every man present. Man after man rose to tell of his +fall, or of his repentance, or of his new acceptance of Christ. The +feeling was deep but controlled. It was one of the saddest and yet one +of the gladdest meetings I have ever attended. One minister present +said he had seen nothing like it all through the Welsh revival. + +During their stay in this hospital great changes have taken place in +many of these men. Here is Dan, a young chauffeur, a strong-willed, +self-sufficient young fellow who thought he needed no help and no +religion. He has a Christian wife at home to whom he has been untrue, +for the temptations of the war swept him off his feet like a flood. In +the meetings this week he turned to Christ and has been working right +and left bringing in others ever since. Beside him is a poor fellow +whom he has just brought to the meetings. He went on leave to England, +only to find his three children deserted by his wife, who had run away, +untrue to him. At last he found her, and brought her home. On his +return to the army, he finds that now he has to bear here in the +hospital the vicarious result of her fall. He came to me as a +non-Christian struggling with the problem of forgiveness. Could he +forgive her all this and his broken home? At last in Christ he found +the power to forgive and took up his heavy cross. He knelt at the +altar of the little chapel and yielded up his life to God. Tomorrow he +leaves the hospital to begin a new life. + +Here is a young Australian who was untrue to his wife. When we first +saw him he was hardened by sin. That night he yielded to Christ. The +next Sunday we knelt beside him at the Lord's Supper. He was a new +man; his very face was changed. He said, "I have read of miracles in +the past, but there was never a greater miracle than the change which +has taken place in my heart and life. I am a new man. I can look any +one in the face today!" + +Beside him at that communion table knelt a young gunner, "Joe," of the +Royal Field Artillery. He was a strong, red-cheeked six-footer, +winsome and good to look upon, the most popular man in his battery. +Away from home among bad companions he was swept off his feet and fell. +He has found Christ here among the prodigals in a far country. Before +leaving he came up to bid us good-by, saying, "I'm going out to warn +other men and to witness for Christ to the end of my days." + +Here is M----, a young sergeant, who came up after the meeting, with +tears in his eyes. "Sir," he said, "I was never drunk but once in my +life, when my pals were home on leave, and that once, under the +influence of drink, I fell. Here I am in the hospital, yet I am +engaged to a little girl at home who is as white as snow. What is my +duty in the matter?" He has accepted Christ and is a changed man. + +Oh, it is a wonderful sight to see men transformed by this inward moral +miracle, wrought by the touch of the living God. Here in the very +center of this venereal camp stands the Y M C A, endeavoring to meet +their every need, and even here the red triangle shines with the hope +of a new manhood for body, mind, and spirit. Every day at the hour of +opening there is a scurry of feet as the men rush in to the one center +in the whole camp where they can congregate. Martin Harvey has just +been here to cheer them up, and they were enthusiastic over a fine +lecture and recital last night on Chopin. The Colonel in command takes +particular pride in the Y M C A for his men, and states that crime +among them has been reduced ninety per cent since it started. + +But even greater than the privilege which the Association has in +ministering to the fallen, is its work of prevention in the other +camps. Just up the road is a swearing old major in command of a unit +which has always had the worst record for immorality and disease of any +camp on the plain. He finally came in and demanded a Y M C A hut for +his men. A few weeks later he came to the Association headquarters and +said, in punctuated language which could not be printed, "For a year +and a half my camp has led all the rest as the worst in venereal +disease, with some twenty-five fresh cases every week. The first week +after the Y M C A was opened we had only ten cases, the next week six, +the third week only two, and it has not risen above that since. Your +Association is the ---- best cure for this evil." + +Nothing less than reaching the whole man can meet this gigantic +problem. You must take physical precautions and build up a strong, +clean, athletic body. Better than all repressive rules and +regulations, you must provide healthy and happy occupation for the +minds of the men. But beyond the reach of medical and military +restrictions you have got to grip and strengthen their spiritual and +moral nature. Otherwise, in the artificial and unnatural conditions +consequent upon a vast concentration of men in a foreign land, away +from all home influences, and in the poisonous atmosphere of a land of +"regulated" immorality, where the government still regards it as a +"necessary evil," you must see your men fall in ranks before the +machine guns of commercialized vice, controlled by the vested +interests, or fall a prey to the harpies who walk the streets. In the +face of all this we must lay bold claim to the whole of manhood for God +and for the high ends for which it was created. + +The writer recently walked through a French street of licensed vice, +where strong young fellows were tossing away their birthright for a +mess of pottage. He passed on the main street of the city two young +Americans from a medical unit who were reeling along in the possession +of two harpies. They were shouting to all the passers by, trying to +hold up the carriages, and widely advertising their uniform and their +nation. We recognize the difficulty of maintaining a high moral +standard in a foreign land in war time, but we believe it can be done. +A plan has recently been suggested by the Association for dealing with +this menace. + +First of all, it is proposed to conduct a campaign of education on the +highest moral grounds by a select group of lecturers, capable of +presenting wisely the danger of immorality from both the medical and +moral standpoints. This will involve the preparation of lectures, +charts, lantern slides, films, and everything needed for the effective +presentation both to the ear and eye. It is hoped that these lecturers +will be able to instruct chaplains, Y M C A secretaries, and all who +are responsible for the moral leadership of the troops, in order that +they may be better able to cope with the situation. It is proposed +that these lecturers conduct meetings for three days in each center, +with a parade lecture for each battalion and voluntary meetings in the +evening, which will include addresses on hygiene, lantern lectures, and +moral talks. Healthy literature will be prepared and distributed to +the men, and similar campaigns will be conducted in the camps in the +United States and on shipboard before the troops reach France. + +Second, a positive program for the occupation and amusement of the men +will be provided. Athletic sports, games, tournaments, track meets, +and other events will offer adequate physical facilities. Amusements, +entertainments, concerts, classes, and lectures will be arranged for +the mental occupation of the men. Meetings, personal interviews, and +services will be planned to keep before them the moral and spiritual +challenge and the call for clean living. Special campaigns will be +carried on in all Y M C A huts from time to time. + +Third, we would favor strict regulations and penalties to cope with +immorality. We are glad that the selection of camp sites for the +American troops in France is being made at places as far removed from +the temptations of the cities as possible, where the men will be kept +under closer supervision than could be done if the troops were located +near large centers of population. Other means are being provided which +cannot here be mentioned. + +In the fourth place, we favor adequate medical provisions, coupled with +the highest moral restraints. We will take our stand against any +league with vice, against any recognition of immorality as a "necessary +evil." We will stand against all notices, lectures, or medical talks +such as are given in some quarters, which practically serve as an +invitation or solicitation to immorality. We would oppose any +provision on the part of the authorities to provide in advance for +immorality, to standardize it, accept it, and attempt to render it +safe, and we would oppose any mention of it which tends to advertise +and increase the evil. We would strenuously oppose the running of +supervised houses of prostitution by our own military authorities, as +was done by some of them on the Mexican border. Conceivably a system +of inspected government houses and of prophylactic measures might be +devised which would eliminate disease altogether, and yet demoralize +the young manhood of our nation by a cynical scientific materialism +such as we are fighting against in the powers that dragged the world +into this war. We are more opposed to immorality than to disease, +which is its penalty. We fear not only the impairment of the physical +fitness of the men as a fighting force, but much more the menace of the +moral degradation of the manhood of the nation, under the unnatural +conditions of wartime. + +We believe that the hearty cooperation of the medical and moral +agencies and of the military and voluntary forces which have to do with +the men, can greatly reduce both immorality and disease. We feel sure, +moreover, that the solid backing of public opinion in America will +support every effort to surround our camps with a zone of safety and to +keep the men clean and strong in the multiplied dangers of a foreign +land, as well as in the military camps of our own country. It is +reassuring to know that our military authorities abroad have taken a +strong stand and that in no army in Europe are drunkenness and the +contraction of venereal disease more instantly court-martialled or more +severely punished. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +RELIGION AT THE FRONT + +The war, like a great searchlight thrown across our individual and +national lives, has revealed men and nations to themselves. It has shown +us the nation's manhood suddenly stripped of the conventionalities, the +restraints, and the outward respectability of civil life, subjected to +the trial and testing of a prodigious strain. It has shown us the real +stuff of which men are made. It is like the X-ray photographs now +constantly used in all the military hospitals, and placed in the windows +of the operating rooms, to guide the surgeon in discovering the hidden +pieces of shrapnel or shattered bones which must be removed in order to +save the patient. + +The war has been a great revelation of things both good and bad. In the +light of this terrible conflict, we may well ask what it shows us of the +present virtues and vices of the men, and of our past failure or success +in dealing with them, and to what future course of action it should +summon us? In other words, what lessons has the war to teach us? Large +numbers of young clergymen and laymen of the churches of England and +Scotland have gone to the war zone with the men as chaplains, Y M C A +workers, or in the army itself, and have learned to know men as they +never knew them before. We would covet this opportunity for every young +minister or Christian worker in America. Mr. Moody once stated that the +Civil War was his university. It was there he learned to understand the +human heart and to know and win men. + +During the summer of 1917 a questionnaire was sent out to representative +religious workers throughout the armies in France and Great Britain by a +committee under the chairmanship of the Bishop of Winchester and +Professor D. S. Cairns, with Mr. E. C. Carter of the Y M C A, and the +Rev. Tissington Tatlow of the Student Christian Movement, as secretaries. +Although the results and findings of this committee are not yet +published, the writer has before him the reports of numbers of workers in +France. In the base camp where he was last working, the questions were +taken up by more than a hundred of the workers and discussed in +conferences with groups of the soldiers and officers of the various +regiments. These were summarized in findings and the reports were +compared with the returns made from other centers. The writer has had +the privilege of talking with hundreds of the soldiers regarding their +own religious lives and difficulties. In this chapter he will try to +form a composite photograph of all these impressions and to state +impartially the results of his own experience and those of others. + +We shall confine ourselves to three outstanding questions: I. What are +the moral standards and actions of the men in war time? II. What is +their attitude to religion and what is their religious life at the front? +III. What is their attitude to the churches, and what lessons may the +Church learn from the men at the front? + +The questionnaire has been answered mainly by men of the British army, +but the writer could observe no radical difference between the British +and American forces as regards their religious life. As in other things +connected with the war, we in America may learn much from the experience +of Britain and other nations. + + +I + +_What are the moral standards and actions of the men in war time_? At +the very beginning, we must recognize the difficulty and danger of +generalizations. No two men in the army are precisely alike. All +sweeping generalizations are likely to be misleading. Regiments differ +from one another and workers receive differing impressions of the front. +Most of all we must distinguish between the different classes in the army. + +It has been repeatedly affirmed that not more than 20 per cent of the men +now under arms among the British troops were connected with the churches +in any vital way before the war, or were regular in attendance at their +services. Of this minority perhaps a half--those who were weak or +nominal Christians before the war or have lost the higher standards of +peace time or have hidden whatever religion they may have had--would not +now be classed as definitely Christian men. But the remaining half, or +one-tenth of the total number in the army, would probably be out-and-out +Christians, strengthened by the severe discipline of the war and living +under distinctly Christian standards. + +At the other or lower extreme, there are perhaps one-tenth who are +so-called "rotters," the men who set the evil standards of the camp and +whose conduct is almost altogether selfish and materialistic. Between +these two extremes are the great majority, or four-fifths, whom it is so +difficult to classify. It is our conviction that these men "are not +saved, but are salvable." + +What are the moral standards of this majority? They are not definitely +Christian. Rather, they have a military, material standard of the type +of a somewhat primitive social group. Their expressions unconsciously +reveal their judgments. Their constant demand of one another is "to play +the game," that is, to play fair and to do one's part in order to win the +game for the good of all. Anything which harms, hinders, or endangers +another, which brings suffering to one's fellows or defeat to one's side, +is not playing the game. They condemn unmanly actions which bring +defeat, and praise the practical and virile virtues. As one chaplain +writes: "I believe nearly all live partly by faith in a good God. I have +never found men afraid to die, even though they were afraid before +battle. As to the standards by which they live, I should say they are +the sanctions of group morality. They have very lax ideas about +drunkenness and sexual irregularity, but they have very strict ideas +about the sacredness of social obligations within the groups to which +they belong. I would mention sheer fear of public opinion as one of the +great weaknesses of the men. They would rather be in the fashion than be +right. And most of them have been hardened--though not necessarily in a +bad sense." + +As we ask ourselves what are the virtues which the majority admire in +others and practice themselves to a greater or lesser degree, we would +say that they are chiefly five: + +1. _Courage_ or bravery, the first virtue of the ancients and always at a +natural premium in war time, is admired by all. In countless instances +in the camps or on the battlefield this rises to heroism or +self-sacrifice. Cowardice is scathingly condemned, and the man who +starts to run away on the battlefield is unhesitatingly shot down by his +comrades to preserve the morale of the fighting body. + +2. _Brotherliness_, or comradeship, shows itself in unselfish service and +cooperation with others. + +3. _Generosity_ and tender-heartedness show themselves in the men's +willingness to help a comrade, to share their last rations, and to insist +that others be attended to on the battlefield before themselves when they +lie wounded. These are among the most beautiful virtues which the war +has revealed. + +4. _Straightforwardness_ and genuine honesty are demanded; and all cant, +hypocrisy, double dealing, shirking, and unreality are scathingly +condemned. + +5. _Persistent cheerfulness_ in the midst of monotony, drudgery, +suffering, danger, or death, is admired and maintained by the majority. +This is not incompatible with the "grousing" or grumbling which the +Englishman regards as his prerogative. This good cheer shows itself in +the inveterate singing and whistling of the men on the march.[1] + +Commenting upon the virtues of the soldiers, especially the wounded, a +hospital nurse writes: "I was struck by the amount of real goodness among +the men--their generosity, kindness, chivalry, patience, and +self-sacrifice. The sins which they dislike are those sins of the spirit +which Christ denounced most bitterly--hypocrisy, pride, meanness. They +love giving, they bear pain patiently, they honor true womanhood, they +reverence goodness." + +Probably no one in the present war has given a better description of the +unconscious virtues of the soldiers than has Donald Hankey, in his +chapter on "The Religion of the Inarticulate," fragments of which we here +quote: + +"We never got a chance to sit down and think things out. Praying was +almost an impossibility. . . . Above all, we were not going to turn +religious at the last minute because we were afraid. . . . The soldier, +and in this case the soldier means the workingman, does not in the least +connect the things that he really believes in with Christianity. . . . +Here were men who believed absolutely in the Christian virtues of +unselfishness, generosity, charity, and humility, without ever connecting +them in their minds with Christ; and at the same time what they did +associate with Christianity was just on a par with the formalism and smug +self-righteousness which Christ spent His whole life in trying to +destroy. . . . The men really had deep-seated beliefs in goodness. . . . +They never connected the goodness in which they believed with the God in +Whom the chaplains said they ought to believe. . . . They have a dim +sort of idea that He is misrepresented by Christianity. . . . If the +chaplain wants to be understood and to win their sympathy he must begin +by showing them that Christianity is the explanation and the +justification and the triumph of all that they do now really believe in. +He must start by making their religion articulate in a way which they +will recognize." + +As we turn from the virtues to the vices or moral weaknesses of the +soldier in war time, we find that they also fall chiefly under five +headings: + +1. _Impurity_ must certainly take the first place. Investigation seemed +to show that the majority of these men were immoral in peace time, but +the war has intensified this evil. This would be accounted for to a +large extent by the unnatural conditions under which the men are forced +to live, and the policy of the military authorities, who are often +concerned merely with the fighting fitness of the men, rather than with +the moral issues. However this may be, in nearly every camp or battalion +or regiment or body of men questioned, whether among officers or men, the +majority were confessedly living in immorality. This in itself is a +staggering fact. It could be supported here by numerous statements or +authorities and by much evidence. + +2. _Obscene and profane language_ is sweeping like an epidemic through +the camps. It is infectious, and the worst men, who are the loudest +talkers, tend to set the standard, so that evil is rapidly and +unconsciously propagated until the very atmosphere becomes saturated. It +is some comfort to know that frequently words are used unthinkingly and +without a full realization of their original meaning. It is also +comforting to be assured that there is not much deliberate telling of +obscene stories. As one man puts it, "There are few essentially rotten +minds." When, however, the name of our Lord is used not only profanely, +but dragged into the most obscene and horrible connections, unheard of in +peace times, no possible excuse can be offered and the habit cannot but +prove deadening and baneful in its influence. Men who never before +thought of swearing find themselves driven to strong language and to +reckless, heightened, or intensified expression in the trying and +persistent strain of war time. + +3. _Drunkenness_ has always proved the danger of the soldier. The +discipline of the army has lessened this evil within the camps. +Certainly it is being sternly suppressed and severely punished by the +authorities among the newly arrived American troops. The rum which is +given to the soldiers of the British army before a charge, or in the +extreme cold of the trenches, has taught some men to drink who had not +contracted the habit before. It is also a fact that the drink bill of +England has increased during the war. Lloyd George said: "We are +fighting against Germany, Austria, and Drink; but the greatest of these +three deadly foes is Drink." The drink trade of England is maintained on +the one hand by the powerful vested interests and the respectable +moderate drinkers at the top of society, who are not willing to sacrifice +their selfish comfort for the weaker brother, and on the other hand by +the demand of the laboring classes who will have their beer, and whom the +government does not dare oppose in the present crisis. Drink has been a +curse to Britain during the war. + +4. _Gambling_ is a danger to the soldier. It is strictly forbidden in +most of its forms by the military authorities. The game of "House" is +tolerated as a mild form of gambling, where the men play for hours for +very small stakes in order to kill time. The game of "Crown and Anchor" +is also popular. + +5. _A lack of moral courage_, of independence, and of individual +initiative are particular evils of the present. All the men have to act +together. They are taught to obey under rigid discipline. Individual +initiative is crushed or left undeveloped. The sense of personal +responsibility and of personal ownership is often weakened. This lack of +the sense of private property may partly account for the pilfering which +goes on. The men find it exceedingly difficult to take an open stand on +moral or religious questions before their comrades. A soldier will +ordinarily hide his religion and is afraid to be seen praying or doing +anything that makes him peculiar, although the most immoral and obscene +man is not ashamed of his actions. + +A lieutenant of the Royal Irish Rifles says: "Taken singly they are +afraid to face public opposition, anxious to avoid bother and exertion, +slack, and easily overcome by temptations. There is a fairly general +chaotic unrest, but little or no serious thought. There is a greater +tolerance towards vice. Many more men practice sexual vice than before +and most refuse to condemn it. It might be said that the men are more +open to religion, but less religious. They are also more open on the +question of sacrifice, the need for living or dying for others." + +An army chaplain who himself served in the ranks writes of the soldier: +"He lives an animal life in which the thinking is done for him. Indeed +his relative comfort depends upon the extent to which he can abstain from +thinking. In France the number who take drink increases greatly. It is +wicked, damnably wicked that our lads through ignorance should be allowed +to slip into sins which in themselves are deadly, but which also open the +door to deadlier sins. . . . There are many indications that when the +Army returns there will be a great social upheaval. Men feel that they +are out to fight Prussianism, but they are becoming growingly conscious +of Prussianism in our own national life. They are very conscious of it +in military life." + +If we were to sum up our impressions we would be compelled to say that +there has been an increase of immorality, drinking, and bad language +during the period of the war. + + +II + +Let us now ask, _What is the attitude of the men to religion, and what +are the characteristics of their religious life in war time_? The war +seems to have intensified all the tendencies of peace time. It makes a +man a greater sinner or a greater saint. He is either driven to God or +away from Him. It would be impossible for any single human mind +adequately to sum up the good and evil of war, and strike a balance +between the two. Most Christians cannot believe that war is in itself +good. To those who have seen its hideous reality it is unquestionably a +dire evil. Even the best results of war might have been better attained +by other means. The good is often revealed rather than caused by it. A +moral equivalent for war might have been found. Certainly no Christian +could defend war save as a last resort, forced upon a nation in defense +of its life or for the lives of others, when all more rational or +judicial methods had failed. + +Among the obvious _evil results of war_ we would be compelled to name at +least ten: The wanton destruction of human life; the maiming and +suffering inflicted upon the wounded; the breaking up of homes and the +terrible suffering caused to women and children; the loss of wealth and +property, with the subsequent hardship for the poor which it entails, and +the destruction of art, architecture, and the higher material +accomplishments of civilization; the outbreak of immorality and +drunkenness, which always accompanies war; the hardening of the finer +sensibilities of men through the cruelty and barbarity of modern warfare; +the increase of hatred and suspicion; the dividing of humanity and the +destruction of its sense of unity, brotherhood, and cooperation; the +breakdown of international law and respect for law and order; and the +loss of reverence for human life and the sense of its priceless value. + +An equal number of possible _good effects_ may be mentioned which war may +at times call out: The development of courage and heroism; the call to +sacrifice in the sinking of selfish individual interests for the sake of +a cause; the discipline of obedience and the development of corporate +action; the bringing of men out of selfish and careless lives to the +facing of the great realities of God, life, death, and immortality; the +awful object lesson of the results of sin, both personal and national, +and the teaching of the terrible lesson that "the wages of sin is death"; +the widening of men's horizons, the breaking of old molds, ruts, and +restrictions and the opening of men's minds to new ideas; the chastening +and mellowing influence of suffering, with its possible development of +sympathy, tenderness, and unselfishness; the deepening of the sense of +brotherhood within a single nation with the sinking of the false or +artificial social distinctions of peace time; the strengthening of +religious unity by the stripping off of nonessentials and the laying bare +of the great simple fundamentals; and the new contact with the practical +ministry of religion in hours of deepest need in camps, in hospitals, and +on the battlefields, with the resultant strengthening hold on the great +verities of the love of God, the cross of Christ, and the service of men. + +It will depend upon the individual and his theories of life how he will +strike the balance between these two sides of the good and evil of war. +While the good effects of a war are seen more clearly after it is over, +certainly during the war the vast majority of men at the front would +almost unanimously agree that the preponderating influence and effect for +the time being is evil. + +At the beginning of the war in 1914 there was talk of a religious revival +in the various countries. The churches for a time were filled. The +opening of the war drove men to God. With the passing months, which have +now dragged into years, many of the high ideals have gradually been +lowered or lost. Men are certainly ready to listen to a living message +and are probably more open than ever before in their lives to religious +influences, because of their desperate need. They are between the nether +and upper millstones of sin and death. On the one hand they meet the +pressure of terrible temptations, and on the other they have to face the +awful fact of death, unready and unprepared. But although the men are +open to a religious message and to the Christian challenge presented by +one who has a real message, it could hardly be maintained by anyone that +there is a revival of religion at the front today. Rather the opposite +is true. + +A friend of the present writer, a chaplain in charge of the religious +work in one of the five armies at the front, well says: + + +"On the whole, I venture to say, there is not a great revival of the +Christian religion at the front. Deep in their hearts is a great trust +and faith in God. It is an inarticulate faith expressed in deeds. The +top levels, as it were, of their consciousness, are much filled with +grumbling and foul language and physical occupations; but beneath lie +deep spiritual springs, whence issue their cheerfulness, stubbornness, +patience, generosity, humility, and willingness to suffer and to die. +There is religion about; only, very often it is not the Christian +religion. Rather it is natural religion. It is the expression of a +craving for security. Literally it is a looking for salvation." + + +It may be asked, To what extent are the men thinking of religion and +discussing its problems? One friend of the writer, a young Anglican +chaplain, says: "The men are not thinking at all. They are 'carrying +on.' They spend hours in playing a game like House because it requires +no thought." However, it would probably be fairer to say that at times +all of them think about religion, although they do not talk very much +about it. It is not, however, consistent thought leading to action. +Rather they have moments of deep impressions, vague longings, intuitions, +and hunger of heart. But the minute anyone starts a discussion or begins +to attack religion, men show that they have been thinking, or that they +have ideas of their own in private. + +Most of them believe in God, although they do not know Him in a personal +way. They believe in religion, but have not made it vital and dominant +in their lives. They have a vague sense or intuition that there is a God +and that He is a good God, round about and above them. He is looked +upon, however, not as One whom they are to seek first, but rather as a +last resort; not as a present Father and constant Friend, but as One to +whom they can turn in time of need. They have a vague feeling of +unworthiness, although no clear sense of sin. Yet they also have an +inarticulate belief or intuition that they have tried, however brokenly +or unsuccessfully, to live up to such light as they had or to some +standard of their own. They feel that somehow, though they have often +failed, at bottom they are not so very bad, and that God is very, very +good. Their vague feeling would probably find its most accurate +expression in Faber's hymn, "There's a wideness in God's mercy, like the +wideness of the sea." + +They revere God from afar off and in one compartment of their being, but +they have never opened their lives to Him. They have a reverence for Him +in the face of death, in the hour of need, and in the great crises of +life. Most of them like to sing the Christian hymns on Sunday evening +and have thoughts of home and of loved ones that are sacred. They do not +feel that they have come into close personal relations with God, but +neither do they consciously feel that they are out of relation with Him. +They do not think they are altogether right with Him, but neither do they +feel in the bottom of their hearts that they are wholly wrong with Him. +The vast majority of them in the hour of death do not feel that they have +either consciously accepted or rejected Him. They have not loved +darkness rather than light, nor have they wholly chosen the light and +rejected the darkness. + +It will depend upon the individual how he classifies these men. Some +will believe that the great love of the Good Shepherd, who laid down His +life for the sheep, will somehow in the end not be thwarted in His +seeking to save the lost. Not only will men differ in their judgment, +but it is exceedingly difficult to pass judgment upon an individual +soldier. He seems to be a different man under different circumstances. +In the temptations at the base camp, he would perhaps appear to be +utterly irreligious and profane. He can hardly be recognized as the same +man as he prays in the hour of battle, or as he lies wounded, chastened, +and sobered, in the hospital. Which situation reveals the true man? + +Before us as we write lies the photograph of a young sergeant. Before +the war he was an atheist, an illegitimate child, a member of the +criminal class. But in the trenches he found God. Blown up by a mine, +for sixteen days he lost the power of speech and of memory. He returned +from the front with a deep sense of God, but with no personal, vital +relationship to Christ. He eagerly welcomed the first real message that +went straight to his heart, and the personal word of loving sympathy +which led him to relate his deep experience of the trenches to the +presence of the living Christ. All this man needed was someone to +interpret to him his own experience, and bring him into the relationship +with God which his own heart craved and longed for. + +Beside this photograph is the card of a strong-willed, self-righteous +young Pharisee, who had no use for religion in peace time, but who was +driven to God by his awful conflict with sin in this war. Next comes the +card of a young man who formerly had lived a proper conventional life +without bad habits. The war taught him to drink and he finally became a +drunkard, but in his extremity he found Christ as a personal Saviour. +Next comes the card of a man who had been in a public house for +thirty-two years--twenty-seven years as a bar tender and five years as a +saloon keeper. He said, "I have sent men to hell with drink. I have +seen women who would sell the clothes off the backs of their children or +pawn their husband's clothing to get drink." Yet this man has been +brought to God during the war. Many a man has found God on the field of +battle, or like the thief has turned to him in the hour of death.[2] + +[Illustration: Three Thousand Soldiers in the Crowboro Hut.] + +One young soldier thus describes his experience which is typical of many +another: There had been a charge, a hopeless affair from the start. He +lay in the long grass between the lines, unable to move, and with an +unceasing throbbing pain in his left leg and arm. A whizz-bang had +caught him in both places. He just lay there, feeling strangely +peaceful. Above him he could see the stars. All this bloodshed--what +was the good of it? He suddenly felt terribly small and lonely, and he +was so very, very weak. "God!" he whispered softly. "God everywhere!" +Then into his tired brain came a new phrase--"Underneath are the +everlasting arms." He sighed contentedly, as a tired child. They +fetched him in at last. He will never again be sound of limb; but there +is in his memory and in his heart that which may make him a staunch +fighter in other fields. He has learned a new way of prayer, and the +courage that is born of faith well-founded. + +The idea has been widely preached by many British chaplains that death in +battle saves. This may be good Mohammedanism, but it is surely not the +Christian message that is given to Christ's ministers to preach. The +verse most often quoted in support of this theory is: "Greater love hath +no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." But such +a passage cannot be taken out of its context either in Christ's teaching +or in the man's own life. Our Lord had said that we were to love even as +He loved, that is, out of a pure and surrendered heart to lay down our +life for our friends; and He added, "Ye are my friends if ye do the +things which I command you." It is going far beyond the province of the +Christian minister to offer any hope other than that which is offered by +our Lord Himself. It is not death or a bullet or battle that saves. +Christ only saves, and there is no other name given under heaven. This +offer is made to all men and at all times. + +But although one may not preach so dangerous and misleading a doctrine, +it is nevertheless possible to realize that many a man is unconsciously +more of a Christian than he knows, and that in the last day he may say +with surprise: "When saw I Thee an hungered and fed Thee?" + +We may turn to "A Student in Arms" for his interpretation of the feeling +of the common soldier in this crisis: + + +"Then at last we 'got out.' We were confronted with dearth, danger, and +death. . . . They, who had formerly been our despair, were now our +glory. Their spirits effervesced. Their wit sparkled. Hunger and +thirst could not depress them. Rain could not damp them. Cold could not +chill them. Every hardship became a joke. . . . Never was such a +triumph of spirit over matter. . . . If it was another fellow that was +hit, it was an occasion for tenderness and grief. But if one of them was +hit, O Death, where is thy sting? O Grave, where is thy victory? . . . +Life? They did not value life! They had never been able to make much of +a fist of it. But if they lived amiss they died gloriously, with a smile +for the pain and the dread of it. What else had they been born for? It +was their chance. With a gay heart they gave their greatest gift, and +with a smile to think that after all they had anything to give which was +of value. One by one Death challenged them. One by one they smiled in +his grim visage, and refused to be dismayed. They had been lost, but +they had found the path that led them home; and when at last they laid +their lives at the feet of the Good Shepherd, what could they do but +smile?" + + +It has been well said that there is much natural religion in the +trenches, but that much of this religion is not Christian. What is the +attitude of the men to Christ Himself? Most of them associate Him with +all that is highest and noblest in life. They link Him with God in their +thought, and with themselves in their time of deepest need. Although His +name with that of God is sometimes taken on their lips in profanity, +there is often a deep reverence for Him. Thousands have seen the cross +of Christ standing among the ruins in the villages of Belgium and +Northern France, when all about seems to be battered and wrecked. The +old skeptical theories and captious criticisms of pre-war days are little +heard during this awful time. Generally speaking, the facts of the +gospel narrative are not disputed. They believe in Christ as the +revelation of God. They have no difficulty with the doctrine of the +divinity of Christ and do not doubt that He is a living reality and has +power to save. Their only difficulty is with their own sin. They do not +know how to break from it or are unwilling to give it up. + +The great need of the hour is for interpretation. On the one hand, men +have had in their hours of great need a deep experience of God which they +do not understand; yet on the other hand, they are gripped by the power +of temptation which alone they cannot overcome. They admire the virtues +of courage, generosity, and purity, but for the most part they see no +connection between these and the presentation of Christ in the lives and +words of those about them who profess to be Christians. What is needed +is personally to relate the man to the God and Father of Jesus Christ, +with Whom he has been brought face to face at the battle front. There is +urgent and imperative need of the giving of that message, both in public +presentation and in the channels of personal friendship. + +One chaplain says of the men: "I am sure the soldier has got religion: I +am sure he has got Christianity; but he does not know he has got +Christianity. I am convinced that of the hundreds of men who go into +action the majority come out affected towards good rather than coarsened. +They come out realizing that there are times when they cannot get on +without God; they are not frightened of Him, they flee to Him with their +simple cries for strength." + +While another, a student who laid down his life at the front, makes this +valuable suggestion as to the presentation of Christ: "When I was talking +to them at these services, I always used to try to make them feel that +Christ was the fulfilment of all the best things that they admired, that +He was their natural hero. I would tell them some story of heroism and +meanness contrasted, of courage and cowardice, of noble forgiveness and +vile cruelty, and so get them on the side of the angels. Then I would +try and spring it upon them that Christ was the Lord of the heroes and +the brave men and the noble men, and that He was fighting against all +that was mean and cruel and cowardly, and that it was up to them to take +their stand by His side if they wanted to make the world a little better +instead of a little worse." + + +III + +The third question discussed with the men was, _What is the attitude of +the soldier to the churches, and what lesson has the Church to learn from +the present war_? Let it be said at the very outset that the writer +speaks as a member of the Church and in deep sympathy with it. As the +divinely constituted organization which stands for the highest human +ideals, and for the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth, we all +are, or ought to be, members of the Church. "With charity for all and +with malice toward none," we see no ground for self-complacence on the +part of any branch of the Church, and no part of it which deserves +sweeping condemnation from the rest. Doubtless it will seem to many that +it is unwise to confess our faults, but the men at the front are not +silent, however much we may desire to be. We would do well to face the +facts which this war is forcing upon our attention, however much we may +dislike the searching glare of the present conflict. Obviously something +is wrong. Had the Church fulfilled her divine mission, the present war +between so-called "Christian" nations would have been impossible. + +As was stated in the preceding chapter, according to the opinion of the +majority, less than 20 per cent or one-fifth of the men are vitally +related to any of the Christian communions. A series of conferences held +with individuals and carefully selected groups of men and officers +brought out by a general consensus of opinion the following points as +representing the attitude of the men toward the churches: + +1. _Indifference to the Church_. As one typical young sergeant, a member +of the student movement, puts it: "The men simply have no time for it. +They do not care for the Church because it did not care for them." There +is a general feeling that the churches do not understand them or +sympathize with the social and industrial disabilities of the men. They +feel that the ideals of life for which the Church stands are dull, dim, +and altogether unnatural; its standard of comfort and complacent +respectability makes no appeal to them and they have no part or lot in +it. They feel that this respectability of the Church is quite in keeping +with flagrant selfishness in social and industrial relationships, that +the Church is largely in the possession of the privileged classes, who +monopolize it, and who have neither sought nor welcomed them within its +doors. + +As one representative chaplain in a most influential position in France +says: "There is the plain fact that the great mass of men are out with +the Christian Church, and do not look to it as being in any vital +relation to life as they know it, either in peace or war. There is the +deeper and sadder fact that to a very large proportion of them God +Himself means little or nothing, or means something that is very +unchristian. Where there is a living presentation of religion men are +responsive--extraordinarily so. Put it how you will, men must be +summoned to a new thought, a new outlook on life, a new attitude towards +the unseen and eternal." + +2. An attitude of _separation and alienation_ from the Church. For the +most part the men are largely ignorant of what the Church really is, and +for this the churches are largely responsible. They believe that its +message and presentation of truth are often too feminine and impractical +and that its fellowship is too cold and exclusive. They do not +understand the vocabulary and tone adopted frequently by preachers in +speaking of religious things, and they feel that the churches are almost +complete strangers to the real facts of life with which they have to deal. + +It is true that the practical work of the churches in their helpful +ministry through the various organizations working in the camps has +brought many of the men into vital contact with religion for the first +time. But the war has revealed the lack of the churches' hold upon the +men in pre-war times. + +3. _Criticism of its worldliness_. The men have an unuttered belief in +God, and they reverence Jesus Christ as the friend and brother and +comrade of man, as the embodiment of the highest ideal they can conceive. +But they feel that somehow the churches do not adequately represent +Christ, that they have become merely the adjunct of the State to second +its schemes and aims. Many feel that the Church has lowered its colors +in the present war, that in some countries it has been little more than a +recruiting station for enlistment and that its message cannot be +reconciled with the Sermon on the Mount. + +One sergeant thus states his convictions: "Perhaps it would be well if we +out here could get up a committee of inquiry on 'Civilians and Religion' +and arrive at some decision as to what is the matter with you at home. +Are we to return home where the spiritual fires have been kept burning +brightly, or to the blackened ashes of those great ideals of the early +days of August, 1914, which have burned themselves out? Are we to return +to a country in which, in spite of all the community of suffering and +sorrow, the Christian churches have still their differences simmering +instead of being regiments in one common Army?" + +Another soldier writes: "What could not the churches do for the world if +they could only connect the symbols Christ gave us with the knowledge +that is within the hearts of men? There must be more known about +suffering and sacrifice now in the hearts of men than at any past time. +I thought once, on the Somme, that the two races facing each other in +such agony were as the two thieves on their crosses reviling each other, +and that somewhere between us, if we could but see Him, was Christ on His +Cross." + +4. The men are _bewildered and repelled by the Church's divisions_. +There is a widespread feeling among them that there is something wrong +here, that instead of representing Christ or losing themselves in the +wide interests of His Kingdom, instead of concern for the winning of the +world and humanity as a whole, the aims of many of the churches are +petty, narrow, exclusive, and sectarian. There is a feeling among the +men that far too many Christians are working for themselves or for their +own particular branch of the Church, or are, as one of them puts it, "out +for their own show." + +In the last hospital we visited, the young American Episcopal chaplain +working with one of our own units asked the writer to accompany him one +morning to help him in cheering up the patients, giving them Testaments, +meeting their needs, and answering their doubts and difficulties. While +we were proceeding through one of the wards, the Nonconformist chaplain +came by. The writer was speaking to a poor boy who was dying. The +chaplain seemed shocked and surprised that we were speaking to one of his +patients without his permission. The young Episcopal chaplain explained +that he felt sure that the chaplain would not mind if we tried to help +the men. Although he followed him out of the ward and tried his best to +make his peace with him, the chaplain reported the matter, and we were +prevented from doing personal Christian work in neighboring hospitals. + +The Roman Catholic chaplain in the next hospital, a most consecrated and +earnest man, has managed to get a military rule passed that no services +can be held in any ward of the hospital unless every Roman Catholic +patient is bodily carried out. This has successfully prevented the +holding of any Christian services whatsoever, Catholic or Protestant. +Throughout the entire war we have never known of a single instance of any +man trying to proselytize or to divert a soldier from allegiance to his +own church. We have known of men leaving the churches altogether during +the war, but not one instance of a man's changing his church or being +asked to do so. Yet the jealousy and suspicion of the bare possibility +of men's doing so has blocked and excluded much genuine Christian work. + +To give another instance--a personal friend of the writer, a young +Anglican clergyman, a widely known college principal, was serving in one +of the huts of a Convalescent Camp. He had made the acquaintance of the +patients in some twelve wards and was going the rounds every morning +telling the war news, giving oranges to the fevered, and cheering up the +depressed. The Commandant came with apologies and told him that although +he was doing the best Christian work in the hospital it must be +discontinued, as the chaplain objected. Our friend, who was a clergyman +of the same communion as the chaplain, called upon him and asked if he +had any objection to the distribution of fruit. He replied that if our +friend did this it would give an unfair advantage to his work as his +particular organization would get the credit, and that he, as the +chaplain, must "push his own show." To continue in the words of our +friend: "Then I asked him if I could send the fruit through the lady +workers or the hut orderlies, or the 'Tommies' who were friends of the +wounded. But he refused all. So I asked him if he would distribute them +if I gave them. This he agreed to, and I have sent them to him since +then. But he is too busy." The oranges were not distributed, and our +friend concludes: "I am out against the whole principle on which he acts. +I don't think he is much to be blamed. He is one of the best; a keen, +hard-working, pleasant man, zealous for his 'own show,' and in its +interests doing much for the men. And in his principle of action he is +not an exception, but a common type of the Anglican _padre_ as I have met +them in many lands. They are trained and encouraged to 'push their own +show.' But this keenness on one's 'own show' rather than on men, is the +very essence of the sin of schism, and the very root of Pharisaism. Now, +as a rule, all the sects stand for their 'own show' first, and men know +it. I am ashamed to be a parson today. Men were not made for any +Church, but the Church for them." Here again, which of us is without +sin, and who can throw the first stone at his brother, or at other +branches of the sadly divided Church of Christ? + +Facing the vast common need in war time with four thousand wounded +patients, whom no one chaplain could visit, the whole story is obviously +pathetic and sad. The writer also recalls visiting a Y M C A hut of +another nationality, where the secretary was so obviously "out for his +own show," and had become so engrossed in the counter of his dry canteen +and his work as a money-changer, that he had forgotten all the higher +interests of the men, and the high purpose for which he was there. He +had become a mere secularized machine, a kind of automatic cash register, +mistaking in his work the means for the end. He was just as much "out +for his own show" as the three mentioned above, and it was an infinitely +smaller "show." + +Here we have four instances of men, each conscientious, well meaning, and +earnest; each zealous for his own work and his own organization; yet each +earning the pity or contempt of the great body of men outside the +churches today who are out of sympathy with sectarian zeal. The saddest +religious spectacle the writer ever witnessed was in the Church of the +Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, where five chapels divide that sacred spot +where our Lord is supposed to have been crucified, occupied by five +bodies, each claiming to be _the_ church. The blood of their fellow +Christians has been shed by the followers of these churches on this very +spot, and it is a humiliating sight to see them kept apart even to this +day by the Turkish bayonet alone. How many of us are working for "our +own show," rather than for the Kingdom of God? + +The war work of the Y M C A in America, in England, in France, and +elsewhere has been made possible only by churchmen sacrificing their +individual interests and losing themselves in service for the Kingdom. +The Association represents the churches at work on behalf of the +suffering men in the war zone. If it should claim the credit for itself +as though it were a wholly independent organization, rather than the +united work of the churches which have sunk their own differences to make +possible this common work, this would be only a manifestation of the same +spirit and more inexcusable. But such a claim it could never truly make. +As a matter of fact, this united work has proved how truly Christians of +various bodies can get together on a great practical issue. If, as at +present, all can unite in a great lay organization, what may not the +churches themselves do in the future? + +Should we not in this war repent, in bitterness and deep humiliation, for +our unhappy divisions and each resolve that he will work for nothing less +than the whole Kingdom of God, and that no member of that Kingdom, even +one of these least, shall be excluded from the love and fellowship which +make us one in Him? One of the chaplains in France who has himself been +in the ranks says: "I feel that in the past churches have been more +anxious to get men into the Kingdom of the Church than into the Kingdom +of God, with the result that very many are Pillars of the Church who are +not near to the Kingdom. Out of the two battalions which I have known as +a private soldier, I should say that not more than five per cent were +vitally related to any of the Christian communions. It is useless making +plans for the time when the boys come home, unless the Church rediscovers +her Lord and Master. The Spirit-filled Church is more necessary than any +modifications of organization." + +Is not the whole war a call to deep humiliation to the Church of Christ +and should we not all stand convicted of sin before it? So far as our +saving the world is concerned and our bringing in the Kingdom of love and +peace, which Christ came to establish, does not the war write in flaming +judgment against us, "Thou art weighed in the balances and found +wanting"? Are we not all, like the Pharisees of old, too ready to throw +the first stone at someone else who we may think caused the war, instead +of admitting our own guilt? + +As Arnold Freeman, in his lectures at Sheffield University, says: + + +"We persuade one another that it was the Kaiser, through his lust for +self-glorification, who made this war. Would it be possible for one man +to transform all Europe into a slaughter-house unless that same +Kaiser-spirit found its response in human nature in every corner of this +continent? It is the 'Kaiser' in each one of us that makes wars +possible. It is because we have in every nation, and in every class, +multitudes of men and women who neglect the service of their +fellow-creatures in a desire for self-indulgence and self-aggrandizement, +that this catastrophe has fallen upon us all. It is a case of +devil-possession, and our only hope is to exorcise ourselves of the evil +spirit. Our avowed intention is to cast out 'Kaiserism' in Germany by +brute force. We must be no less resolute to cast it out of this country." + + +The Bishop of Carlisle has well said that if we were really Christians +this war would not have happened. If the defense of its citizens is the +work of the State, and the redemption of the world is the task of the +Church, no one can deny that the State has done its work far better than +the Church. In the face of this, the most pathetic spectacle that the +Christian world ever witnessed, must we not wring our hands with shame +and cry, "Why could we not cast it out?" The divisions, the impotence, +the worldliness, the coldness, the sin and failure of the Church stand +revealed in the lurid light of this war. + +What a self-righteous spirit the war has bred in many of us, and what a +hatred of our enemies! One has but to read the secular and religious +press on both sides of the present conflict to see our sin writ large +before us. Since we have such a keen vision for the mote in our +brother's eye and such an eager perception of every flaw in our enemy, we +can recognize this spirit most readily if we look for it first in +Germany, but in doing so let us clearly recognize that every quotation +can be paralleled by the press both secular and religious on our own side +of the conflict. In all fairness let us state that a large proportion of +the sermons which have been preached in the churches of Germany, England, +and America have had a recognition of the sins of their own people. But +there have been many preachers on both sides who have praised their own +nation to the skies with Pharisaic self-righteousness, and have seen the +enemy only with the distorted eyes of prejudice and hate. + +It will not be necessary to quote here the notorious "Hymn of Hate," by +Ernst Lissauer, which was distributed by the Crown Prince of Bavaria to +his army. Rather let us quote from some of the sermons and poems of +German pastors and the religious press. In a collection of poems +published by a German pastor, Konsistorialrat Dietrich Vorwerk, there +occurred the following paraphrase of the Lord's Prayer: "Though the +warrior's bread be scanty, do Thou work daily death and tenfold woe unto +the enemy. Forgive in merciful long-suffering each bullet and each blow +which misses its mark! Lead us not into the temptation of letting our +wrath be too tame in carrying out Thy divine judgment! Deliver us and +our Ally from the infernal Enemy and his servants on earth. Thine is the +kingdom, the German land; may we, by aid of Thy steel-clad hand, achieve +the power and the glory." Fortunately, this was deleted in the later +editions of this book. + +The published sermons of Pastor H. Francke are also typical: + + +"As Jesus was treated, so also have the German people been treated. From +the East the Russian threatens us. Injustice and bloody deeds of +violence are his life-element, agreements and constitutions, solemnly +sworn to, have no significance for him; he is stained with blood from top +to toe. Germany is precisely--who would venture to deny it?--the +representative of the highest morality, of the purest humanity, of the +most chastened Christianity. They envy us our freedom, our power to do +our work in peace. To heal the world by the German nature is to become a +blessing to the people of the earth. Wherever the German spirit obtains +supremacy, there freedom prevails. Here we come upon the old intimate +kinship between the essence of Christianity and of Germanism. Because of +their close spiritual relationship, therefore, Christianity must find its +fairest flower in the German mind. Therefore we have a right to say: +'Our German Christianity--the most perfect, the most pure.' Thus the +Germans are the very nearest to the Lord. Is He the God of those others? +No, they serve at best Satan, the father of lies." + + +The Rev. J. Rump writes in the same strain: + + +"Against us stands the world's greatest sham of a nation, the 'English +cousin,' the Judas among the nations, who betrays Germanism for thirty +pieces of silver. Against us stands sensual France, the harlot amongst +the peoples. Against us stands Russia, inwardly rotten, mouldering, +masking its disease under outbursts of brutality. Germany shall be the +Israel of the future. The Germans are guiltless, and from all sides +testimonies are flowing in as to the noble manner in which our troops +conduct the war. We fight--thanks and praise be to God--for the cause of +Jesus within mankind. Verily the Bible is our book. It was given and +assigned to us, which proclaims to mankind salvation or +disaster--according as we will it." [3] + + +Such quotations could be multiplied not only from German war sermons, but +from some that have been preached in England and America as well.[4] The +Archbishop of Canterbury says: "I get letters in which I am urged to see +to it that we insist upon 'reprisals, swift, bloody and unrelenting. Let +gutters run with German blood. Let us smash to pulp the German old men, +women and children,' and so on." [5] + +Here is Henri de Regnier's song of hate from France: + + "I swear to cherish in my heart this hate + Till my last heart-throb wanes; + So may the sacred venom of my blood + Mingle and charge my veins! + + May there pass never from my darkened brow + The furrows hate has worn! + May they plough deeper in my flesh, to mark + The outrage I have borne! + + By towns in flames, by my fair fields laid waste, + By hostages undone, + By cries of murdered women and of babes, + By each dead warrior son, . . . + + I take my oath of hatred and of wrath + Before God, and before + The holy waters of the Marne and Aisne, + Still ruddy with French gore; + + And fix my eyes upon immortal Rheims, + Burning from nave to porch, + Lest I forget, lest I forget who lit + The sacrilegious torch!" + + +A poem recently written by an "Unbeliever" represents all the churches, +Catholic and Protestant, Lutheran and Reformed, of the enemy and of the +Allies, at last united in one message, which furnishes the recurring +refrain of the poem, "In Jesus' Name go forth and slay." + +With two-thirds of the world, representing more than twenty nations, +already dragged into the widening vortex of the present war; with more +than five millions of the finest youth of Europe already slaughtered on +the battlefield, with twenty millions who have already been wounded, +nearly forty millions under arms, and whole nations organized for war and +the manufacture of munitions; with the flood tide of impurity and +immorality which war has brought in its train; with the barbarism and +cruelty, poison gas, flaming oil, and organized destruction used at +present on the battlefields of Europe, is it not time for the Church to +set her own house in order, to humble herself with shame in the very dust +for her criminal impotence and worldliness and sin, and to return to her +crucified Lord and Master? Is it not time that we seek a new vision of +His face, to renew our consecration before Him, and to seek a vital and +life-giving message first for ourselves and then for the world about us? +Not for "our country right or wrong," not for a Pharisaic +self-righteousness, but for Christ and His suffering world, for a whole +Kingdom, and a whole Church, must we reconsecrate ourselves. + +As Fosdick says, "The issue was drawn: _Christianity would be a failure +if it did not stop slavery_. And from the day that this issue was drawn, +the result was assured. It was not Christianity that failed, it was +slavery. . . . This, too, is a climactic day in history. For so long +time the Gospel and war have lived together in ignoble amity! If at last +disharmony between the spirit of Jesus and the spirit of war is becoming +evident, then a great hope has dawned for the race. . . . The main issue +is clear. _Christianity will indeed have failed if it does not stop +war_." [6] + +Is it not time that we turn to God in humiliation and prayer for an +outpouring of His spirit and a deeply needed revival of religion? In the +words of Admiral Sir David Beatty, the Commander of the British Fleet, +"England still remains to be taken out of her stupor of self-satisfaction +and complacency and until she be stirred out of this condition, until +religious revival takes place at home, just so long will the war +continue." + +If at the call of nationalism the manhood of the nation has poured forth +in boundless heroism and self-sacrifice, at the call of Christ cannot His +Church rise again to its high vocation? If half of the zeal and passion, +half of the outpouring of life and treasure, of organization and +efficiency, that the State has put into this war could be thrown into the +cause of the Kingdom and of the eternal verities, the world would soon be +won. If Christians would but follow Christ, war, as an unbelievably +brutal and barbarous anachronism, like its former savage contemporaries +of slavery, the burning of witches, and the torture of the Inquisition, +would be forever done away. The message with which our Lord challenges +the whole Church today is that with which He began His ministry when He +faced His apostate nation, "Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand." + + +[1] The songs of the men which are most popular in war time bear evidence +of this unconscious virtue. They fall into three classes. There are the +songs of cheer so popular in the camps today: "Pack Up Your Troubles in +Your Own Kit Bag and Smile, Smile, Smile," "Are We Down-hearted, No," +"Though Your Heart May Ache Awhile Never Mind," etc. Then there are the +songs of home: "Keep the Home Fires Burning," "Tipperary," "Take Me Back +to Dear Old Blighty," "Put Me on the Train to London Town," "Back Home in +Tennessee," "In My Old Kentucky Home," "There's a Long, Long Trail +Awinding," "Give Me Your Smile," "If You Were the Only Girl in The +World," "Mother McCrae," etc. Then there are the songs of nationality; +The "Marseillaise," "John Brown's Body," "When Irish Eyes are Smiling," +"Come Back to Erin," "Annie Laurie," etc. + +[2] See Appendix III for a typical expression of a soldier's new +experience of religion at the front. + +[3] Quoted in "Hurrah and Hallelujah," pp. 116-119. + +[4] It is interesting to note in this connection some words of Immanuel +Kant. See Appendix I. + +[5] _London Times_, June 22, 1917. + +[6] "The Challenge of the Present Crisis," Association Press. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE WORLD AT WAR + +Let us try to grasp the colossal facts of the present war. Since the +beginning of the conflict there has been a daily attrition of more than +25,000 in killed, wounded, or prisoners every twenty-four hours. At +the opening of the fourth year of the war the number killed was over +5,000,000. This does not include those who have perished in the +devastated nations. Not less than 6,000,000 men are now in the +military prisons of Europe, some of whom have undergone great +suffering, both physical and mental. More than 6,000,000 lie wounded +today in the military hospitals, not to speak of several times that +number who have been patched up and sent back into the line to face +death again, or have been rejected as unfit for further service, often +left crippled or maimed, blinded, or deformed for life. + +Mere numbers or statistics cannot measure the sacrifice and suffering +of these lives. If we could know the infinite value of the unit of +personality, or compute the preciousness and potentiality of a single +life destroyed, we might then hope to multiply it by the million. If +human scales could weigh the sorrow of a widow's heart, could compute +the anguish of a mother's loss, could prophesy the deprivation of an +orphan's lot, or know the good which might have been done by even one +man who has now been killed, we would then be in a position to begin to +estimate the casualty list. + +There are today nearly 40,000,000 men with the colors. If we add to +these the 5,000,000 already killed, the 6,000,000 prisoners and the +large number discharged as unfit for further service, we have a total +of far more than 50,000,000 who have been with the colors in the first +three years of the war. We can better realize the significance of this +statement if we remember that in no previous war have more than +3,000,000 men faced each other in conflict. According to Gibbon, +Rome's great standing army was not over 400,000 men. Napoleon's grand +army did not exceed 700,000, and in the Battle of Waterloo less than +200,000 men were engaged. In the American Civil War less than +3,000,000, and in the Russo-Japanese War only 2,500,000 men were +employed. Indeed, if we sum up the twenty greatest wars of the last +one hundred and twenty-five years, from the Napoleonic Wars to the +present time, less than 20,000,000 men were engaged, while in this war +nearly twice that number are now under arms. Britain alone has +enrolled over 5,000,000 for the army, with 1,000,000 more from the +overseas dominions, and about 500,000 for the navy. Germany has called +some 12,000,000 and Russia more than 12,000,000 to the colors. + +By the end of 1917 nearly 6,000,000 men will have been killed. Less +than 5,500,000 were killed in the twenty greatest wars of the last +century and a quarter, all combined. In the Battle of Gettysburg only +3,000 were killed. England's casualty list during a vigorous offensive +averages over 3,000 every day. In the first ten days alone of the +battle of the Somme, the British lost 200,000 in killed or wounded. +France as a whole has lost even more heavily, while Germany's casualty +list during the great battles of the Somme and in Flanders has averaged +200,000 a month. When our own relatives are at the front, and our own +boys are in the line, we realize what these statistics mean. In +Germany alone the number of men killed now totals far over 1,000,000. +Think of the many millions of mothers and wives in the nations of +Europe scanning that crowded page of the newspaper, with several +thousand names on the casualty list every day, each looking to see if +her boy's name is there. + +During that fateful day of July 1st when the great drive on the Somme +began, when the English along a front of twenty-five miles and the +French on a front of ten miles leaped out of the trenches and sprang +forward in that terrible charge, men were mowed down like ripened +grain. Regiments on both sides were cut to pieces. The writer's +brother-in-law, a young colonel, went in with 1,100 men of his +battalion--only 130 came out. Only one officer was unscathed and he +has since been killed. The young colonel was shot within an inch of +the heart and fell into a shellhole. Two of his men fell dead on top +of him. There he lay under a terrible fire for sixteen hours, and +finally at midnight gained strength to struggle from under the two +bodies that lay upon him, and crawled on his hands and knees for over a +mile back to the nearest dressing station. In the first year of the +war he lost nearly half his men with trench foot, the men's feet being +frost-bitten or frozen in the muddy trenches. In the second year he +was wounded in seven places by shrapnel, and later, after recovery, was +almost killed. He has now again returned to the service. + +Another red-cheeked boy told the writer that his battalion had gone in +with 960 men and had come out with only eighty. In another battalion +all the officers were killed or wounded and the remaining handful was +left with a lance-corporal in command: the colonel, the majors, +captains, lieutenants, sergeants, and corporals had all been killed or +wounded. At Bradford the writer was told that their favorite sons in +the "Bradford Pals" had to be sacrificed, and every man that went into +action in this battalion was either killed or wounded within a few +hours. An unusual proportion of British officers have fallen. The +university students and the flower of the land who have gone into the +officers' training corps have oftentimes been among the first to fall. + +Let us now turn from the numbers of killed, wounded, and prisoners and +estimate if we can the cost of the conflict. The present war, more +than any in previous history, has been a warfare of attrition, that is, +by the killing and maiming of men and the destruction of resources to +attempt to wear out the enemy. + +Already the cost of the war has mounted to over $130,000,000 a day, or +more than $100,000 every minute of the twelve hours that the sun shines +upon us. Contrast, for instance, the total cost, the lives lost, and +the numbers of men called to the colors in the twenty principal wars +during the last century and a quarter, from the Napoleonic Wars of +1793, with the figures for the present war to August 4, 1917, at the +end of the third year of the conflict.[1] + + Twenty previous wars Present War + Total cost $26,123,546,240 $75,000,000,000 + Total killed 6,498,097 5,000,000 + Called to the colors 18,562,200 40,000,000 + + +We have said that the cost of the war has now risen to the almost +unbelievable total of over $130,000,000 a day.[2] That is more than +the total cost of the whole war between Russia and Turkey in 1828. In +a single great day in the battles on the Somme, or in Belgium, the +British have used as much ammunition as they were able to manufacture +in the entire first ten months of the war in 1914. + +Even before the end of 1915 the five great powers had more than doubled +their national debts. When will these debts be paid? Great Britain, +the wealthiest of the nations of Europe, after one hundred years of +peace still owes much of the debt incurred in the American Revolution +and all of the debt incurred in the Napoleonic Wars. The whole cost of +the American Civil War was only $5,000,000,000, and of the Napoleonic +Wars $6,000,000,000, while this war will cost over six times the amount +of either during this single year. + +Great Britain's war debt at the end of the third year has reached the +enormous total of more than $20,000,000,000, or twenty times the +national debt of the United States at the beginning of the war, yet +even this does not begin to exhaust her resources. At the close of the +Napoleonic Wars Great Britain's debt was one-third of her national +resources. She can almost double her present enormous war debt before +utilizing a third of her wealth. + +We have not in this calculation reckoned on the economic value of the +lives destroyed. That would average about $3,000 for each man. Five +million men killed means an economic loss to the countries concerned of +$15,000,000,000. But the economic value of the lives destroyed +represents only a small fraction of their potentiality--socially, +morally, and spiritually. No human brain can calculate, no heart can +fathom the cost or loss of this terrible conflict. + +The cost of less than one month of the present war would equal that of +the entire Franco-Prussian War of 1870. Another month would pay for +the whole Russo-Japanese War; twelve days would pay for the Boer War, +while the cost for three days would dig the Panama Canal. At the +beginning of 1918 the war debts of the warring countries will exceed +$90,000,000,000, or more than one-fifth the wealth of all the warring +nations of Europe. The daily cost of the war is equal to half the +earning power of these European nations, and the interest on their war +debts will be equal to one-half their budgets as they stood at the +beginning of the war. The wealth of more than twenty nations is being +rapidly drained, and the world's financial reserves are being consumed +in this vicious and sinful struggle which an autocratic militarism has +forced upon the world. + +Although late in entering the war, America's expenditure has been out +of all proportion to that of any other nation. Upon arrival in this +country the writer finds the statement in our press that the nation +will have spent or sanctioned before the end of 1917, the enormous +total of $19,000,000,000. That is more than twenty per cent of the +entire cost of the war to date for all the European nations. That sum +is as great as Germany spent on land and sea for the conduct of the +first three years of the war. It represents more than twice our total +wealth in 1850, and one-twelfth of our present national wealth of +$328,000,000,000. + +In order to estimate further the cost and realize the suffering of the +war, let us turn for a moment to the nations devastated in Europe. In +Belgium and Northern France 9,500,000 were being fed by the Commission +for Relief in Belgium until Germany forbade it. Of 7,000,000 +inhabitants of Belgium, 3,000,000 were early left destitute by the war +and were drawing daily one meal consisting of the equivalent of three +thick slices of bread and a pint of soup. Mr. F. C. Wolcott writes: + + +"I have seen thousands of people lined up in snow or rain, soaked and +chilly, waiting for bread and soup. I have returned to the +distributing stations at the end of the day and have found men, women, +and children sometimes still standing in line, but later compelled to +go back to their pitiful homes, cold, wet, and miserable. It was not +until eighteen weary hours afterward that they got the meal they +missed. The need will continue to be great for many months after peace +is declared. Factories have been stripped of their machinery. There +is a complete stagnation of industry. It will take months to +rehabilitate these industries and to start the wheels again." + + +In Serbia more than 4,000,000 people were deprived of their living by +the war. In Poland the suffering has been more terrible than in either +Belgium or Serbia. The population fleeing behind the retreating +Russians were not able to keep up because of the women and children, +the aged and the sick. They were overtaken by the German army and left +in the charred remains of their burned dwellings. Some 200 cities and +15,000 towns and villages were destroyed in Poland. Already 2,000,000 +have died of starvation there. In some districts all the children +under six years of age have perished. + +Armenia has suffered relatively more than any of the other nations. +Mr. Henry Morgenthau, the American Ambassador to Turkey, said: "One +million of these people have either been massacred or deported and +unless succor reaches them shortly, those remaining will be lost." In +all history there is no record more sad than that of the persecution +and extermination of the Armenians. University professors educated in +the United States have had their hair and nails torn out by the roots +and have been slowly tortured to death. Women and girls were outraged +and brutally killed. Little children perished of hunger. It is said +that probably 1,000,000 of the 2,000,000 Armenians in Turkey have been +slain, or have been driven into the country to starve, or have been +forced to accept Islam. + +The American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief reports: + + +"Men in the army were the first to be brutally put to death. These and +civilians, after being subjected to horrible tortures, were shot. Even +priests were made victims of brutal murder. Women, children, the sick +and aged, were forced at a moment's notice to start on foot on a +journey of exile. Mothers, torn from their children, were compelled to +leave the little ones behind. Women giving birth to children on the +road were forbidden to delay, but, under the whiplash, were made to +continue their march until they dropped from exhaustion to die. A +United States Consul reported that he saw helpless people brained with +clubs, while children were killed by beating their brains out against +the rocks. Other children were thrown into rivers and those who could +swim were shot down as they struggled in the water. Crimes that have +been, and are being, practiced upon Armenian women are too cruel and +horrible for words. The mutilated corpses of hundreds bear testimony +to this inhuman reign." [3] + +Who was responsible for these outrages, and how long will the world +permit them to continue? + +Whichever way we turn, whether we survey the number of killed, wounded, +or prisoners, the cost of the conflict, or the suffering of the +devastated nations, we realize that _the war means sacrifice_. It is +difficult for us at home in America to appreciate the spirit in which +the men in this great struggle in Europe are fighting, and the +sacrifices they are making. In all these months in many lands, the +writer has not heard from the lips of a single soldier who had actually +seen service at the front, words of hatred or of boasting. Quietly and +often with sadness most of these men are going forward to face death. + +Here is a letter from a young officer who fell on that fatal first day +of July on the Somme. + + +"I never felt more confident or cheerful in my life before, and would +not miss the attack for anything on earth. Every officer and man is +more happy and cheerful than I have ever seen them. My idea in writing +this letter is in case I am one of the 'costs' and get killed. I have +been looking at the stars, and thinking what an immense distance they +are away. What an insignificant thing the loss of, say, forty years of +life is compared with them! It seems scarcely worth talking about. +Well, good-bye, you darlings. Try not to worry about it, and remember +that we shall meet again really quite soon. This letter is going to be +posted if . . ." + + +A friend of the writer, a young chaplain whom he met recently at the +front, went out to find his brother's mangled body on the battlefield. +The boy who fell was the son of the Bishop of Winchester, and one of +the finest spirits in Oxford. Canon Scott Holland writes: + + +"The attack had failed. There was never any hope of its succeeding, +for the machine guns of the Germans were still in full play, with their +fire unimpaired. The body had to lie where it had fallen. Only, his +brother could not endure to let it lie unhonoured. He found some +shattered Somersets, who begged him to go no further. But he heard a +voice within him bidding him risk it, and the call of the blood drove +him on. Creeping out of the far end of the trench, as dusk fell, he +crawled through the grass on hands and knees, in spite of shells and +snipers, dropping flat on the ground as the flares shot up from the +German trenches. At last he found what he sought. He could stroke +with his hand the fair young head that he knew so well; he could feel +for the pocket-book and prayer-book, the badge and the whistle. He +could breathe a prayer of benediction and then crawl back on his +perilous way in the night." + + +The writer has just come from visiting a group of a dozen British and +American military hospitals in one French town, with from one to four +thousand patients in each, where at this moment the trains are arriving +in almost a steady stream, bearing the wounded from the front in the +great drive in Flanders. He has stood by the operating tables and +passed down those long, unending rows of cots. Some of these tragic +hospital wards are filled with men, every one of whom is blinded for +life by poison gas or shrapnel. They, like all the other wounded, are +brave and cheerful, but it will take great courage to maintain this +cheer, groping a long lifetime in the dark. One man counted 151 trains +of twenty cars each, or 3,000 carriages, filled with German wounded +passing back in a steady stream through Belgium. Behind all the active +fronts these train loads of wounded are daily bearing their burden of +suffering humanity. The cities and towns of Europe are filled with +limping or crippled or wounded men today. + +Opposite the writer at the ship's table sat a young man with the lower +part of his face carried away. His chin and jaw were gone, yet he must +live on for a lifetime deformed. Another young fellow had spent seven +long weary months in training. The moment his regiment reached the +front it was ordered immediately into action. He sprang to the top of +the trench, but never got over it. He fell back wounded. Within three +days he was back in England again, but with only one leg. Seven months +of training, five minutes in action, then crippled for life! The +writer saw one young fellow whose face was left contorted by shrapnel, +which had carried away one eye and the bridge of his nose. He was a +quiet, earnest Christian. He said, "Of course, they cannot send me +back again into the line or compel me to go with only one eye, but I am +going just the same. I am going to give all that I have left to the +country and the cause." [4] + +Hear that young soldier of France, Alfred Casalis, a brilliant student +of philosophy and theology, a Student Volunteer for the African mission +field, as he writes home to his father and mother at the age of +nineteen: "I volunteered of course. I know with an unalterable +knowledge and with an unconquerable confidence that the foundation of +my faith is unshakeable, it rests upon the Rock. I shall fight with a +good conscience and without fear (I hope), certainly without hate. I +feel myself filled with an illimitable hope. You can have no idea of +the peace in which I live. On the march I sing inwardly. I listen to +the music that is slumbering inside me. The Master's call is always +ringing loudly in my ears. I am not afraid of death. I have made the +sacrifice of my life. I know that to die is to begin to live." And +the last sentence of the unfinished letter written before the charge in +which he fell, "The attack cannot but succeed. There will be some +wounded, some killed, but we shall _go forward_ and far--" In the +other pocket of his coat, at the end of his will were the words, "'I +have fought the good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the +faith.' And I would that all my friends, all those who are every +moment with me, and whose hearts beat with mine, should repeat the word +of our hope, 'Because I live, ye shall live also.'" [5] + +Professor Gilbert Murray, of Oxford, writes thus of the sacrifice of +the men for us: "As for me personally, there is one thought that is +always with me--the thought that other men are dying for me, better +men, younger, with more hope in their lives, many of whom I have taught +and loved. The orthodox Christian will be familiar with the thought of +One who loved you dying for you. I would like to say that now I seem +to be familiar with the feeling that something innocent, something +great, something that loved me, is dying, and is dying daily for me. +That is the sort of community we now are--a community in which one man +dies for his brother." + +Yes, these boys are making the great sacrifice for us. With 5,000,000 +who have already been killed, with 10,000,000 of our own sons enrolled. +as subject to their call to the colors when needed, with hundreds of +American army camps at home and in France already crowded with men, +what sacrifice can we make for them? How can we surround their lives +with the best influences of home, that they may come back to us even +better men than when they went away? + +We have seen the terrible ordeal to which they will be subjected at the +front, the temptations to which they are exposed in France, in the +training schools, and the base camps; we have seen something of the +havoc which demoralizing forces have already wrought in other armies in +the camps of the prodigals, and we have seen the deadly dangers and +perils, both physical and moral, which the soldier must face. We have +spoken of the enormous sums voted to carry on a great war of +destruction. Is there not a yet more urgent need that we should supply +the great constructive forces for fortifying the physical and moral +manhood of our nation? Two organizations have been recognized by our +own and the other allied governments in the war zone--the one bearing +the symbol of _the red cross_ for the wounded, and the other _the red +triangle_ for the fighting men. + +The nation has already generously responded to the needs of the wounded +even before the first battle was fought, giving more in one week than +any other nation in a year for the same purpose. And not a dollar too +much has been given for this great cause. But we shall soon have +several millions of fighting men under arms. What are we to do for +these men? We have already seen that they present a threefold need. +There is the physical need of these millions who will soon be training, +fighting, and suffering. Only the men at the front know what it really +is. There are the mental and social requirements of men who must have +recreation, healthy amusement and occupation. There is also the moral +and spiritual need of men who will face the greatest temptations of +their lives, when they will be farthest from the help of home and +friends, while old standards seem to be submerged or swept away "for +the period of the war." + +We have already seen that the building that bears the red triangle of +the Y M C A at the front is at once the soldier's club, his home, his +church where his own denomination holds its services, his school, his +place of rest, his recreation center, his bank and postoffice where he +writes his letters, his friend in need that stands by him at the last +and meets his relatives who are called to his bedside in the hospital. +If there is anything which safeguards the physical, social, and moral +health of the men who are dying for us, can we do less than provide it +for them? While billions are being spent for destruction, must we not +at least invest an infinitesimal fraction of one per cent of our +expenditure, in construction, in that which is the greatest asset of +any nation--its moral manhood? Can we not provide a home away from +home for our own sons and the other boys with them whose parents may be +too poor to do so? + +Here is a unique contribution which America can also make to her hard +pressed allies who have been exhausted by three terrible years of +fighting. Britain has already set us a wonderful example and will not +need our help. But there is France to which we owe so much and whose +war weary soldiers sorely need just such centers for recreation and +rebuilding. General Petain, the Commander in Chief, and the French +authorities have asked for the help of our Movement in their camps. +General Pershing, after surveying the field, has declared that the +greatest service which America can _immediately_ render France, even +before our own men can reach the trenches in large numbers, is to +extend the welfare work of the Y M C A to the entire French Army. Can +we do less than this for the nation that gave all that Washington asked +in our own hour of crisis? Then there is Italy, with all her deep need +and great possibilities. What can we do to minister to the wants of +her great army? + +But let us turn to Russia, which represents the deepest need of +all--the nation which has undergone the greatest suffering, both within +and without its borders, of any of the belligerents. Think of its vast +area, greater than all North America, or one seventh of the land area +of the entire globe. Think of its population, almost twice our own, +and more than one tenth of the entire world. Think of these people, +who have the greatest capacity for suffering of any nation on earth, +suddenly released, like their own prisoners, with steps unsteady and +eyes unaccustomed to the blinding light of freedom. Think of what such +a movement of hope and cheer and re-creation may mean to troops hard +pressed or demoralized, facing another winter in the trenches. + +Add to all these the suffering prisoners of war, and we have over +24,000,000 men who deeply need the ministry of this Movement, and need +it now. Here are millions who have already suffered or who are going +forward ready to make the great sacrifice for us. What sacrifice shall +we make for them? + + +[1] See World Almanac 1916, p. 488. + +[2] The cost of the war has been calculated by various writers on both +sides of the Atlantic. Mr. Wm. Rossiter writes on "The Statistical +Side of the Economic Costs of the War," in the _American Economic +Review_ for March, 1916. Mr. Edmund Crammond's paper in _The Journal +of the Royal Statistical Society_, Sir George Paish in the various +issues of the _London Statist_, and others, have given careful +estimates of the direct cost of the war to nations and individuals. +During the first and cheapest year, according to Mr. Rossiter, the +total cost of the war, not including the economic value of the lives +lost, rose to forty billion dollars. That is equal to all the national +debts of the world. + +[3] See Appendix II on "The Treatment of Armenians," by Viscount Bryce. + +[4] Publishers' Note: The whole problem of the meaning of suffering and +its relation to the present war, especially for those who have suffered +bereavement, is dealt with by the author in his book, "Suffering and +the War." + +[5] "For France and the Faith," Letters of Alfred Eugène Casalis, +Association Press. + + + + +APPENDIX I + + +EXTRACTS FROM "ETERNAL PEACE" + +BY + +IMMANUEL KANT + +"No conclusion of peace shall be held to be valid as such when it has +been made with the secret reservation of the material for a future war. +No State having an existence by itself--whether it be small or +large--shall be acquired by another State through inheritance, +exchange, purchase, or donation. A State is not to be regarded as +property or patrimony, like the soil on which it may be settled. +Standing armies shall be entirely abolished in the course of time. For +they threaten other States incessantly with war by their appearing to +be always equipped to enter upon it. No State shall intermeddle by +force with the constitution or government of another State. + +"No State at war with another shall adopt such modes of hostility as +would necessarily render mutual confidence impossible in a future +peace--such as the employment of assassins or poisoners, the violation +of a capitulation, the instigation of treason, and such like. These +are dishonorable stratagems. For there must be some trust in the habit +and disposition even of an enemy in war. + +"The civil constitution in every State shall be republican. The law of +nations shall be founded on a federation of free States. People or +nations regarded as States may be judged like individual men. If it is +a duty to realize a state of public law, and if at the same time there +is a well-grounded hope of its being realized--although it may be only +by approximation to it that advances ad infinitum--then perpetual peace +is a fact that is destined historically to follow the falsely so-called +treaties of peace which have been but cessations of hostilities. +Perpetual peace is, therefore, no empty idea, but a practical thing +which, through its gradual solution, is coming always nearer its final +realization; and it may well be hoped that progress toward it will be +made at more rapid rates of advance in the times to come." [1] + + +[1] English Edition--Pages 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 76, 81, 127. + + + + +APPENDIX II + + +EXTRACTS FROM "THE TREATMENT OF ARMENIANS" + +BY + +VISCOUNT BRYCE + +From Four Members of the German Missions Staff in Turkey to the +Imperial German Ministry of Foreign Affairs at Berlin: "Out of 2,000 to +3,000 peasant women from the Armenian Plateau who were brought here in +good health, only forty or fifty skeletons are left. The prettier ones +are the victims of their gaolers' lust; the plain ones succumb to +blows, hunger, and thirst. Every day more than a hundred corpses are +carried out of Aleppo. All this happened under the eyes of high +Turkish officials. The German scutcheon is in danger of being smirched +for ever in the memory of the Near Eastern peoples." + +Events in Armenia, published in the _Sonnenaufgang_, and in the +_Allgemeine Missions-Zeitschrift_, November, 1915: "Twelve hundred of +the most prominent Armenians and other Christians were arrested; 674 of +them were embarked on thirteen Tigris barges, the prisoners were +stripped of all their money and then of their clothes; after that they +were thrown into the river. Five or six priests were stripped naked +one day, smeared with tar, and dragged through the streets. For a +whole month corpses were observed floating down the River Euphrates, +hideously mutilated. The prisons at Biredjik are filled regularly +every day and emptied every night--into the Euphrates." . . . + +From a German eye-witness: "In Moush there are 25,000 Armenians; in the +neighborhood there are 300 villages, each containing about 500 houses. +In all these not a single male Armenian is now to be seen, and hardly a +woman. Every officer boasted of the number he had personally +massacred. In Harpout the people have had to endure terrible tortures. +They have had their eyebrows plucked out, their breasts cut off, their +nails torn off. Their torturers hew off their feet or else hammer +nails into them just as they do in shoeing horses. When they die, the +soldiers cry: 'Now let your Christ help you.'" + +Memorandum forwarded by a foreign resident at H.: "On the 1st of June, +3,000 people (mostly women, girls, and children) left H. accompanied by +seventy policemen. The policemen many times violated the women openly. +Another convoy of exiles joined the party, 18,000 in all. The journey +began, and on the way the pretty girls were carried off one by one, +while the stragglers from the convoy were invariably killed. On the +fortieth day the convoy came in sight of the Euphrates. Here they saw +the bodies of more than 200 men floating in the river. Here the Kurds +took from them everything they had, so that for five days the whole +convoy marched completely naked under the scorching sun. For another +five days they did not have a morsel of bread, nor even a drop of +water. They were scorched to death by thirst. Hundreds upon hundreds +fell dead on the way, their tongues were turned to charcoal, and when, +at the end of five days, they reached a fountain, the whole convoy +naturally rushed towards it. But here the policemen barred the way and +forbade them to take a single drop of water. At another place where +there were wells, some women threw themselves into them, as there was +no rope or pail to draw up the water. These women were drowned, the +dead bodies still remaining there stinking in the water, and yet the +rest of the people later drank from that well. On the sixty-fourth +day, they gathered together all the men and sick women and children and +burned and killed them all. On the seventieth day, when they reached +Aleppo, there were left 150 women and children altogether out of the +whole convoy of 18,000." + + + + +APPENDIX III + + +LINES WRITTEN BY A SOLDIER IN THE + +ENGLISH ARMY ABOUT MARCH, 1916. + + + _Christ in Flanders_ + + "We had forgotten You or very nearly, + You did not seem to touch us very nearly. + Of course we thought about You now and then + Especially in any time of trouble, + We know that You were good in time of trouble + But we are very ordinary men. + + And there were always other things to think of, + There's lots of things a man has got to think of, + His work, his home, his pleasure and his wife + And so we only thought of You on Sunday; + Sometimes perhaps not even on a Sunday + Because there's always lots to fill one's life. + + And all the while, in street or lane or byway + In country lane in city street or byway + You walked among us, and we did not see. + Your feet were bleeding, as You walked our pavements + How did we miss Your foot-prints on our pavements; + Can there be other folk as blind as we? + + Now we remember over here in Flanders + (It isn't strange to think of You in Flanders) + This hideous warfare seems to make things clear, + We never thought about You much in England + But now that we are far away from England + We have no doubts--we know that You are here. + + You helped us pass the jest along the trenches + Where, in cold blood, we waited in the trenches, + You touched its ribaldry and made it fine. + You stood beside us in our pain and weakness. + We're glad to think You understand our weakness. + Somehow it seems to help us not to whine. + + We think about You kneeling in the Garden + Ah! God, the agony of that dread Garden; + We know you prayed for us upon the Cross. + If anything could make us glad to bear it + 'Twould be the knowledge, that You willed to bear it + Pain, death, the uttermost of human loss. + + Tho' we forgot You, You will not forget us. + We feel so sure that You will not forget us. + But stay with us until this dream is past-- + And so we ask for courage, strength, and pardon, + Especially I think, we ask for pardon, + And that You'll stand beside us to the last." + + + + +APPENDIX IV + + +LETTER FROM LORD KITCHENER TO HIS MEN + +"You are ordered abroad as a soldier of the King to help our French +comrades against the invasion of a common enemy. You have to perform a +task which will need your courage, your energy, your patience. +Remember that the honor of the British Army depends upon your +individual conduct. It will be your duty not only to set an example of +discipline and perfect steadiness under fire, but also to maintain the +most friendly relations with those whom you are helping in this +struggle. The operations in which you are engaged will, for the most +part, take place in a friendly country, and you can do your own country +no better service than in showing yourself, in France and Belgium, in +the true character of a British soldier. + +Be invariably courteous, considerate, and kind. Never do anything +likely to injure or destroy property, and always look upon looting as a +disgraceful act. You are sure to meet with a welcome and to be +trusted; and your conduct must justify that welcome and that trust. +Your duty cannot be done unless your health is sound. So keep +constantly on your guard against any excesses. In this new experience +you may find temptations both in wine and women. You must entirely +resist both temptations, and while treating all women with perfect +courtesy, you should avoid any intimacy. + +Do your duty bravely. + +Fear God. + +Honor the King." + + +Kitchener, + Field-Marshal. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WITH OUR SOLDIERS IN FRANCE*** + + +******* This file should be named 18325-8.txt or 18325-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/3/2/18325 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: With Our Soldiers in France</p> +<p>Author: Sherwood Eddy</p> +<p>Release Date: May 6, 2006 [eBook #18325]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WITH OUR SOLDIERS IN FRANCE***</p> +<br><br><center><h3>E-text prepared by Al Haines</h3></center><br><br> +<hr class="full" noshade> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<A NAME="img-front"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG SRC="images/img-front.jpg" ALT="The American Y.M.C.A. Headquarters in Paris." BORDER="2" WIDTH="479" HEIGHT="355"> +<H4> +[Frontispiece: The American Y.M.C.A. Headquarters in Paris.] +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +WITH OUR SOLDIERS IN FRANCE +</H1> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Sherwood Eddy +</H3> + +<BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +Author of "Suffering and the War," "The Students of Asia," etc. +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +ASSOCIATION PRESS +<BR> +NEW YORK: 124 EAST 28TH STREET +<BR> +1917 +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +COPYRIGHT, 1917, BY +<BR> +THE INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF +<BR> +YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION +</H5> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +To M. H. E. +<BR> +AND THE REAL HEROES OF THE WAR +<BR> +THE MOTHERS WHO HAVE GIVEN THEIR SONS +<BR> +AND THE WIVES WHO HAVE GIVEN THEIR HUSBANDS +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CONTENTS +</H2> + +<BR> + +<CENTER> + +<TABLE WIDTH="80%"> +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">CHAPTER</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">0. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap00a">FOREWORD</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">I. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap01">AT THE FRONT</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">II. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap02">WITH GENERAL PERSHING'S FORCE IN FRANCE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">III. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap03">A DAY IN THE "BULL RING"</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap04">WITH THE BRITISH ARMY</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">V. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap05">LIFE IN A BASE CAMP</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap06">THE CAMP OF THE PRODIGALS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap07">RELIGION AT THE FRONT</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap08">THE WORLD AT WAR</A></TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +ILLUSTRATIONS +</H2> + +<BR> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-front"> +The American Y.M.C.A. Headquarters in Paris . . . . . . <I>Frontispiece</I> +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-032"> +The "Eagle Hut" in London +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-072"> +Harry Lauder Singing at a Y.M.C.A. Meeting. <BR> +The officer seated at the extreme right is Captain "Peg" +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-098"> +Wholesome and Entertaining,<BR> + Home Refreshments in London +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-146"> +Three Thousand Soldiers in the Crowded Hut +</A> +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap00a"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +FOREWORD +</H3> + +<P> +The world is at war. Already more than a score of nations, +representing a population of over a thousand millions, or two-thirds of +the entire human race, are engaged in a life-and-death struggle on the +bloody battlefields of Europe, Asia, and Africa. No man can stand in +the mouth of that volcano on a battle front, or meet the trains pouring +in with their weary freight of wounded after a battle, or stand by the +operating tables and the long rows of cots in the hospitals, or share +in sympathy the hardship and suffering of the men who are fighting for +us, and remain unmoved. The man must be dead of soul to whom the war +does not present a mighty moral challenge. It arraigns our past manner +of life and our very civilization. It gives us a new angle of +observation, a new point of view, a new test of values. It furnishes a +possible moral judgment by which we can weigh our life in the balance +and see where we have been found wanting. +</P> + +<P> +These brief sketches are only fragmentary and have of necessity been +hastily written. The writer has been asked to state his impression of +the work among the men in France. He did not go there to write but to +work. He has tried simply to state what he saw and to leave the reader +to draw his own conclusions. A mere statement of the grim facts at the +front, if they are not sugar-coated or glossed over, may not be +pleasant reading, but it is unfair to those at home that they should +not know the hard truth of the reality of things as they are. +</P> + +<P> +Before the war broke out, it was the writer's privilege to make an +extended tour for work among students in Russia, Turkey, Bulgaria, +Serbia, and Greece, and to visit Germany. Since the declaration of +war, he has visited France, Italy, and Egypt, and has observed the +effect of the war throughout Asia, in tours extending over nearly the +whole of China and India. Last year he was in the British camps among +the soldiers of England, Scotland, and Wales. Since America declared +war he has been working with the various divisions of the British and +American armies in France, from the great base camps, where hundreds of +thousands of men are in training, up to the front with the men in the +trenches. +</P> + +<P> +For the sake of those who will follow with deep interest the boys who +are already in France, or who will shortly be there, brief accounts are +given of the various phases of a soldier's life in the base camps, the +training school of the "Bull Ring," at the front, and in the hospitals. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +AT THE FRONT +</H3> + + +<P> +In the midst of our work at a base camp, there came a sudden call to go +"up the line" to the great battle front. Leaving the railway, we took +a motor and pressed on over the solidly paved roads of France, which +are now pulsing arteries of traffic, crowded with trains of motor +transports pouring in their steady stream of supplies for the men and +munitions for the guns. Now we turn out for the rumbling tank-like +caterpillars, which slowly creep forward, drawing the big guns up to +the front; then we pass a light field-battery. Next comes a battalion +of Tommies swinging down the road, loaded like Christmas trees with +their cumbrous kits, sweating, singing, whistling, as they march by +with dogged cheer toward the trenches. +</P> + +<P> +We have crossed the Somme with its memories of blood, on across +northern France, and now we have passed the Belgian frontier and are in +the historic fields of Flanders, where the creaking windmills are still +grinding the peasants' corn, and the little church spires stand guard +over the sleeping villages. A turn of the road brings us close within +sound of the guns, which by night are heard far across France and along +the coasts of England. Soon we enter villages, which lie within range +of the enemy's "heavies," with their shattered window glass, torn +roofs, ruined houses, tottering churches, and deep shell holes in the +streets. Now we are in the danger zone and have to put on our +shrapnel-proof steel helmets, and box respirators, to be ready for a +possible attack of poison gas. +</P> + +<P> +Another turn in the road, and the great battle field rises in grim +reality before us. Far to the left stands the terrible Ypres salient, +so long swept by the tide of war, and away to the right are the blasted +woods of "Plug Street." Right before us rises the historic ridge of +Messines, won at such cost during the summer. We are standing now at +the foot of the low ridge where the British trenches were so long held +under the merciless fire of the enemy. From here to the top of the +ridge the ground has been fought over, inch by inch and foot by foot. +It is blasted and blackened, deep seamed by shot and shell. The trees +stand on the bare ridge, stiff and stark, charred and leafless, like +lonely sentinels of the dead. The ground, without a blade of grass +left, is torn and tossed as by earthquake and volcano. Trenches have +been blown into shapeless heaps of debris. Deep shell holes and mine +craters mark the advance of death. Small villages are left without one +stone or brick upon another, mere formless heaps, ground almost to +dust. Deserted in wild confusion, half buried in the churned mud, on +every hand are heaps of unused ammunition, bombs, gas shells, and +infernal machines wrecked or hurriedly left in the enemy's flight. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Here on June 7th, at three o'clock in the morning, following the heavy +bombardment which had been going on for days, the great attack began. +In one division alone the heavy guns had fired 46,000 shells and the +field artillery 180,000 more. The sound of the firing was heard across +France, throughout Belgium and Holland, and over the Surrey downs of +England, 130 miles away. +</P> + +<P> +The Messines ridge is a long, low hill, only about 300 feet in height, +but it commands the countryside for miles around, and had become the +heavily fortified barrier to bar the Allied advance between Ypres and +Armentiers. Since December, 1914, the Germans had seamed the western +slopes with trenches, a network of tunnels and of concrete redoubts. +Behind the ridge lay the German batteries. For months this ridge had +been mined and countermined by both sides, until the English had placed +500 tons of high explosive, that is approximately 1,000,000 pounds of +amminol, beneath nineteen strategic points which were to be taken. At +the foot of the ridge, along a front of nine miles, the British had +concentrated their batteries, heavy guns, and vast supplies of +ammunition. Day and night for a week before the battle began, the +German positions had been shelled. At times the hurricane of fire died +down, but it never ceased. By day and by night the German trenches +were raided and explored. A large fleet of tanks was ready for the +advance. Hundreds of aviators cleared the air and dropped bombs upon +the enemy, assailing his ammunition dumps, aerodromes, and bases of +supplies. The battle had to be fought simultaneously by all the forces +on the land, in the air, and in the mines underground. All the horrors +of the cyclone and the earthquake were harnessed for the conflict. +</P> + +<P> +In the early morning, a short, deathly silence followed the week's +terrific bombardment. At 2:50 a. m. the ground opened from beneath, as +nineteen great mines were exploded one by one, and fountains of fire +and earth like huge volcanoes leaped into the air. Hill 60, which had +dealt such deadly damage to the British, was rent asunder and +collapsed. It was probably the greatest explosion man ever heard on +earth up to that time. Then the guns began anew to prepare for the +attack and a carefully planned barrage dropped just in front of the +English battalions as they advanced. As the men came forward, the +barrage was lifted step by step and dropped just ahead of them, to +pulverize the enemy and protect the British troops. By five o'clock +Messines itself was captured by the fearless Australians. There was a +most desperate struggle just here where we were standing at Wytschaete. +All morning the battle raged along this line, but by midday it was in +the hands of the dashing Irish division. Seven thousand prisoners were +taken, while the British casualties, owing to the effective protection +of their terrific barrage, were far less than the German and only +one-fifth of what they had calculated as necessary to take this +strategic position. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +We make our way up to the crest of the Messines ridge where we can look +back on the conquered territory and forward to the new lines. The +great guns are in action all about us. They are again wearing down the +enemy in preparation for the next advance. For the moment we feel only +the grand and awful throb of vast titanic forces in terrible conflict. +Day and night, in the air, on the earth, and beneath it, the war is +slowly or swiftly being waged. The fire of battle smolders or leaps +into flames or vast explosions, but never goes out. +</P> + +<P> +Above us the very air is full of conflict. Hanging several hundred +feet high are half a dozen huge fixed kite-balloons, with their +occupants busily observing, sketching, mapping, or reporting the +enemy's movements. Each of these is a target for the attacking +aeroplanes and the occupants must be ready, at a moment's notice, to +leap into a parachute when they are shot down. High above these +balloons a score of British planes are darting about or dashing over +the enemy's lines, acting as the eyes of the huge guns hidden away +behind us. We are looking at one far up seemingly soaring in peace +like a graceful bird poised in the air, when suddenly we see it +surrounded by a dozen little white patches of smoke which show that it +has come within range of the enemy's anti-aircraft guns and the clouds +of shrapnel are bursting about it. Most of them break wide of the mark +and it sails on unscathed over the enemy's lines. Just above us is +hanging a German <I>taube</I>, obviously watching us and the automobile +which we had left below in the road, while the British huge +anti-aircraft guns near by are feeling for it, shot after shot. +</P> + +<P> +We duck into our little Y M C A dugout, just under the crest of the +ridge. It is an old, deserted German pit for deadly gas shells, which +even now are lying about uncomfortably near, in heaps still unexploded. +Here the men going to and from the trenches, come in for hot tea or +coffee and refreshments night and day. A significant sign forbids more +than thirty men to congregate at once in this exposed spot, as +sometimes these Y M C A dugouts are blown to atoms by a shell. The one +down below in "Plug Street" has been blown to bits, and the man in the +one just up the line has been under such fire for several days that he +will have to abandon his dugout. +</P> + +<P> +Just in front of us over the ridge is the first line of the present +British front. There is no time to build trenches now or to dig +themselves in. They just hold the broken line of unconnected shell +holes, or swarm in the great craters which are held by rapid fire +machine guns. The men go out by night to relieve those who have been +holding the ground during the previous day. It is harder for the +enemy's artillery to locate and destroy men scattered in these +irregular holes and craters than if they were in a clear line of +trenches. The British front faces down the slope toward the bristling +German lines, dotted with hidden snipers and studded with sputtering +machine guns. As the evening falls the batteries behind and all about +us open fire. Flash after flash of spurting flame leaps out from the +great guns. Boom upon boom, deep voiced and varied, follows from the +many calibred guns in the darkness, till the night is lurid and the +ground beneath us quivers with the earthquake of bombardment. +</P> + +<P> +High above we hear the piercing shriek of the shells speeding to their +fatal mark, and below the crash of the exploding shells of the enemy, +which toss the earth in dark waves into the air in the black surf of +war. Gun after gun now joins the great chorus, swelling and falling in +a hideous symphony of discordant sounds. The whole horizon is lit up +and aflame. The sky quivers and reflects the flash of the great guns, +as with the constant vibration of heat lightning. Flares and Verey +lights of greenish yellow and white turn the night into ghastly day, +and like the lurid flames of an inferno light up the battlefield, while +the rifles crackle in the glare. Here a parachute-light like a great +star hangs suspended almost motionless above us, lighting up the whole +battlefield, and now a burning farmhouse or exploding ammunition dump +illuminates the sky as from some vast subterranean furnace flung open +upon the heavens. All the long sullen night the earth is rocked by +slow intermittent rumbling, till with the silent dawn the birds wake +and the war-giants sink for a few hours in troubled sleep. Then the +new day breaks and the war-planes climb in the clear morning air to +begin the battle afresh. +</P> + +<P> +But let us turn from the hard-won ground of Messines to some of the men +who fought over it and survived. Here is a young American, Fred R——, +a graduate of Johns Hopkins, who fought in this battle with the +Canadians, and who told us in his own words the story of those brief +hours. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Our opening barrage lasted about twenty minutes, but in that short +time some two million shells were dropped on the enemy from about nine +thousand of our guns. We could hear no distinct reports, just one +steady roar of continuous explosion. The ground shook beneath us and +fragments from the trenches and dugouts caved in about us from the +shock. The air was oppressive and you felt difficulty in breathing, as +if you were in a vacuum. +</P> + +<P> +"About three o'clock in the morning the order came to 'Stand to!' and +shortly after the word rang out 'Up and over! Over the top boys, and +the best of luck!' With one foot on the fire step we climbed out of +the deep trench and with our rifles we started forward at a walk, +behind our advancing barrage. I was tense now and all of a tremble. +At a time like this every man is driven to his deepest thoughts. It is +not fear exactly, but apprehension and dread of the unknown. +</P> + +<P> +"As we started forward, one young boy fell at my side. I heard him +call, 'O, Mother!' as he fell. Another cried, 'O, God!' and sank down +on the other side. Then my partner, a boy of eighteen, fell, both legs +blown away above the knee. I bound up his wounds and carried him on my +back to the nearest dressing station. 'Fred,' he said, 'would you mind +kissing me just once? So long!' and with that he was gone. Then I got +mad and began to see red. In the first trench I ran amuck and with +rifle, bayonet, and bombs I suppose I accounted for twenty men in the +hour that followed. +</P> + +<P> +"I've been gassed three times, twice with the old gas and once with the +new, and I've had my share. Would I like to go home now? Say, I'd +rather be a lamp-post at the foot of Michigan Boulevard in Chicago than +the whole electric light system in all the rest of the universe!" +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +We turned from this young American to Sapper W—— of Western Canada, +who had just been through the same battle underground, and asked him to +tell us his own story. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Well, sir, long before the battle we were digging under Hill Number +60. A chance shell exploded on the surface above us and buried us all +underground. Three of us were killed and the other two left alive. I +had one man across my chest and another across my legs, one dead and +the other wounded. We could not move hand or foot. We were buried in +there for seven hours and they finally dug us out unconscious. +</P> + +<P> +"Then we started another sap to lay a mine. My pal was listening, with +an iron rod driven in the ground and two copper wires leading from it +to a head piece, such as a wireless operator uses, so that we could +hear the approach of the enemy's sappers, who were countermining +against us. My pal asked me to come and listen. But I had hardly got +the headpiece on when I said, 'O Lord, they're on us!' and before I +could get the thing off my ears the end of our sap fell through and the +Germans were at us. There was only room to use revolvers and bayonets +in that dark hole and the Germans seemed to get nervous and could not +shoot straight in the panic. We lost only one of our men, but we +killed seven and took the rest of the twenty prisoners. Then, before +they found out what had happened, we crawled through to the German end +of the tunnel and blew up their sap. +</P> + +<P> +"You say was I a Christian? Not me! I was wild and going to the +devil. But one night I was wounded and lay in a deserted shell hole, +shot through the thigh, and unable to move for fifteen hours. I was +feeling for a cigarette in my pocket to ease the pain a bit, but all I +could find was a little pocket testament which someone had given me, +but which I had never read. I managed to get it out and, thinking it +might be my last hour, and that I might never be found, I started to +read to try and forget my wound. I read the twenty-seventh chapter of +Matthew, and sir, that little book changed my life. I have read a +chapter every day since then. I was picked up by the infantry and +carried to a hospital. One night when I could not sleep for the pain, +the nurse asked me if she could do anything for me, and I asked her to +read the Bible to me. She said she had never read it in her life, and +I said it was about time she began, if that was so. After she read it, +she said it helped her too. Yes, I say my prayers on my knees in the +tent now. Another boy has joined me this week; and the language in the +tent is getting better. I'm off to the front tomorrow to take my turn +again. But I'm no longer alone up there in the trenches. It's +different now." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +We have heard the story of one in the infantry and of a sapper +underground. Here is the experience of a young Canadian student from +McGill University in the artillery: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"The past weeks have been ten thousand hells. It is nothing but death, +noise, blood, and mud. There are only two of our sergeants left now +and we have to keep up our spirits. You often feel as if your brain +would burst. I couldn't begin to describe the inferno human beings +pass through every day. 'Happy' was shot to pieces with a shell a few +nights ago while in bed, both arms and one leg off. I carried him for +over four hours to the nearest dressing station and then stayed and +watched him die. He never whimpered. Though in terrible agony, he +died game, as he always was. That is about the hardest knock I have +ever had in my life. He is only one of my many friends that have gone. +Believe me, war is Hell." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Here is the account of a simple Australian boy in the front trench: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Fritz had a machine gun to nearly every ten yards. I don't know what +became of my friends Hugh and Bill. They were just beside me, but when +I looked around both were gone. A shell landed just at the side of me, +and I think Hugh and Bill were blown to pieces. I got my wound in the +chest and the fragment came out through my back. I thought my last day +had come. I dropped into a hole, and no sooner had I got in, than Mack +got it through the face. He was able to go back, but I was simply +helpless, as my legs refused to move. Anyhow, I pulled the shovel off +my back and dug a little ridge in the side of the trench. No sooner +had I done this than Fritz started to bombard. One shell fell in the +hole in which I was, but exploded in the opposite direction. Then +another came and landed just above my head, but it failed to go off. +Had it gone off I never would have been here now. I had prayed hard to +my God to deliver me from my enemies and when those things happened I +felt my prayer was heard and that I was going to come through. I was +there in that hole all day and the next night before anyone came near +me. At last one of the 19th Battalion chaps came along and went for a +stretcher for me." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Such are the varying impressions which a battle makes upon various men. +It is no romance, but a grim reality of life and death. Far into the +night we lie awake and ask ourselves, what is the meaning of it all? +</P> + +<P> +At first on the field of battle one thrills at the sound of mighty and +unearthly forces loosed, but in the din we suddenly realize that boys +are dying all about us, and that these guns bear swift death and +mangling to suffering men. Between us and the enemy are just a few +deep shell holes and a thin red line of flesh and blood, as a human +rampart, formed of men who hold their lives in their hands, ready to +make the great sacrifice. Behind us are the hidden guns and the +support trenches in the narrow strip of hard-won territory. Behind +these are the moving columns on the long roads, the pulsing arteries of +traffic, and the moving troop trains on the rails. Behind these in +turn are the plying ships, the millions of toiling workers, and the +suffering hearts of the nations in arms. Whole nations—yes, almost +the whole of humanity—are organized for war and dragged into deadly +conflict as by some devil's behest, instead of being organized for +brotherhood and the building of a better world. Oh, not for this +devil's work were men made. Surely mankind must come to its own in +these birth pangs of a new era. Never, never again must a whole +humanity of the free-born sons of God be dragged into the hell of war +to sate the pride or pomp of kings, or to glut the ambition of scheming +secret groups who have taught men that they are created as obedient +slaves. +</P> + +<P> +Far behind us, marking the slow advance up this ridge of death, are the +sheltered cemeteries of white crosses that tell the price that has +already been paid. There are five thousand crowded graves in yonder +acre alone. Great is the price, awful in its solid weight of agony. +This is no longer a war between two peoples, but between two +principles; it is as much to free the German people as to protect +ourselves. It is not for this narrow strip of hard-won soil, but for +every foot of a world that from henceforth must be free. The men who +are fighting on grounds of moral principle would rather pay any price +than lie at ease under the false shadow of militarism, materialism, and +grasping greed. These men are fighting, and many of them know that +they are fighting, for a new world. Not only military oppression, but +industrial oppression, must go. Not only German militarism, and +Russian autocracy, and Turkish cruelty must be done away; but American +materialism must be purged in the fiery furnace of this war. Its +purposes will reach far beyond our ken, and though man's sin alone has +caused the war, its issues are in the hands of God. The whole war has +been a demonstration of the result of leaving God out of His world. +The world with God left out leaves war; and life with God left out +leaves hell. +</P> + +<P> +There must be a turning to God in our own national life. We speak of +the menace of German militarism, but what is militarism but armed and +aggressive materialism, the deeper principle which lies behind it? And +what is materialism but organized selfishness? Materialism and +selfishness are the dangers of our own land as well as of Germany. And +the war is a call to set our own house in order. +</P> + +<P> +America can no longer live to herself alone. She is fighting for the +freedom of humanity. Here on the very field of battle, at the +throbbing heart of the conflict, we ask ourselves, What is the real +issue of the war? What are they fighting for? +</P> + +<P> +Away there in Austria a young crown prince, Francis Ferdinand, was +murdered. It was the spark which set off the powder mine of Europe. +But not for him are they fighting. Behind him stood the two contending +forces of the growing nationalism of Serbia and the expanding +commercialism of Austria. These two forces clashed in conflict, but +not for them are they fighting. Behind these stood two greater powers, +those of pan-Germanism and pan-Slavism, a growing Germany and a rising +Russia, which like a vast glacier for a thousand years had sought the +open sea. The ambitions of these two powers clashed in conflict at +Constantinople and elsewhere. But not for them are they fighting. +</P> + +<P> +On the western front there were two deeper principles in conflict, +those of autocracy and democracy, the question whether one man and a +sinister, hidden group of plotting militarists could drag the whole +world into war and crush its liberties and its laws beneath the iron +heel of despotism, or whether man as man should stand erect in his +God-given right of freedom and work out his own destiny in friendly +brotherhood. +</P> + +<P> +But behind even the great conflict between autocracy and democracy lay +a yet deeper issue. In the last analysis the final question in human +life is between a material and a spiritual interpretation of the +universe, whether might makes right and the strong are to rule, or +whether right makes might and the moral order is supreme. There is a +material and a spiritual side of life. On this side is the brute +struggle for life; on that, the struggle for the life of others; on the +one hand, the fight for the survival of the fittest, and on the other, +the fight to make men fit to survive. On the left hand is selfishness +and on the right service; on the one side are the red battlefields of +the enemy, and on the other is a cross red in sacrifice of a life laid +down in the serving and saving of men. There is a final issue in the +world between passion and principle, between wrong and right, between +darkness and light, between mammon and God, between self and Christ. +</P> + +<P> +This ultimate issue must be faced by individuals and by nations. It is +the challenge which confronts men in this war. Seventy years ago a +crushed Europe faced the issue in the prophetic words of Mazzini, +written in the hour of darkness and defeat: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Our victory is certain; I declare it with the profoundest conviction, +here in exile, and precisely when monarchical reaction appears most +insolently secure. What matters the triumph of an hour? What matters +it that by concentrating all your means of action, availing yourselves +of every artifice, turning to your account those prejudices and +jealousies of race which yet for a while endure, and spreading +distrust, egotism, and corruption, you have repulsed our forces and +restored the former order of things? Can you restore men's faith in +it, or think you can long maintain it by brute force alone, now that +all faith in it is extinct? Threatened and undermined on every side, +can you hold all Europe forever in a stage of siege?" [1] +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Pasteur sees the same issue looming even in his day and states it in +burning words at the close of his life: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Two contrary laws seem to be wrestling with each other nowadays, the +one a law of blood and of death, ever seeking new means of destruction +and forcing nations to be constantly ready for the battlefield; the +other a law of peace, work, and health, ever evolving new means of +delivering man from the scourges which beset him. The first seeks +violent conquests, the other the relief of humanity. The latter places +one human life above any victory, while the former would sacrifice +hundreds and thousands of lives to the ambition of one. Which of these +two laws will ultimately prevail God only knows. We will have tried, +by obeying the laws of humanity, to extend the frontiers of Life." [2] +</P> + +<P> +Lincoln faced the same issue in the midst of the war weariness of our +own great conflict with words which come back to the nation now with a +prophetic call: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it +can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, +to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here +have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here +dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these +honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they +gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve +that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under +God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the +people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +[1] Life and Writings of Mazzini, vol. v, pp. 269-271. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +[2] Life of Pasteur, p. 271. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER II +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +WITH GENERAL PERSHING'S FORCE IN FRANCE +</H3> + + +<P> +We are in the midst of an American army encampment in a French village. +For miles away over the rolling country the golden harvests of France +are ripening in the sun, broken by patches of green field, forest, and +stream. The reapers are gathering in the grain. Only old men, women, +and children are left to do the work, for the sons of France are away +at the battle front. The countryside is more beautiful than the finest +parts of New York or Pennsylvania. In almost every valley sleeps a +little French hamlet, with its red tiled roofs and its neat stone +cottages, clustered about the village church tower. It is a picture of +calm and peace and plenty under the summer sun. But the sound of +distant guns on the neighboring drill grounds, a bugle call down the +village street, the sight of the broad cowboy hats and the khaki +uniforms of the American soldiers, arouse us to the realization of a +world at war and the fact that our boys are here, fighting for the soil +of France and the world's freedom. +</P> + +<P> +We are in a typical French farming village of a thousand people, and +here a thousand American soldiers are quartered. A sergeant and a +score of men are in each shed or stable or barn loft. The Americans +are stationed in a long string of villages down this railway line. +Indeed it is hard to tell for the moment whether we are in France or in +the States. Here are Uncle Sam's uniforms, brown army tents, and new +wooden barracks. The roads are filled with American trucks, wagons, +motors, and whizzing motorcycles, American mules, ammunition wagons, +machine guns, provisions, and supplies, and American sentinels down +every street. +</P> + +<P> +These are the men of the First Division, scattered along behind the +French lines, being drilled as rapidly as possible to take their place +in the trenches for the relief of the hard-pressed French. The nucleus +is made up of the men of the old army, who have seen service in Cuba, +Porto Rico, the Philippines, Texas, or along the Mexican border. And +with them are young boys of nineteen, twenty, or twenty-one, with clear +faces, fresh from their homes, chiefly from the Middle West—from +Illinois to Texas. +</P> + +<P> +The first thing that strikes us as we look at these men is their superb +kit and outfit. From the broad cowboy hat, the neat uniform close +fitting at the waist, down to their American shoes; from the saddles, +bits, and bridles to the nose bags of the horses; from the guns, +motors, and trucks down to the last shoe lace, the equipment is +incomparably the best and most expensive of all that we have seen at +the front. The boys themselves are live, clean, strong, and +intelligent fellows, probably the best raw material of any of the +fighting forces in Europe. The officers tell us that the American +troops are natural marksmen and there are no better riflemen in the war +zone. The frequency of the sharpshooters' medals, among both the +officers and the men, shows that many of them already excel in musketry. +</P> + +<P> +The second impression that strikes us is the crudeness of the new men, +and the lack of finish in their drill, as compared with the veteran +troops of Britain and France. The progress they have made, however, in +the past few weeks under their experienced American officers of the +regular army has been truly remarkable. +</P> + +<P> +The next impression we receive is the enormous moral danger to which +these men are exposed in this far-away foreign land. During the whole +war it is the Overseas Forces, the men farthest from home influences, +who have no hope of leave or furlough, who are far removed from all +good women and the steadying influence of their own reputations, that +have fared the worst in the war. The Americans not only share this +danger with the Colonials and other Overseas Forces, but they have an +additional danger in their high pay. Here are enlisted men who tell us +that they are paid from $35 to $90 a month, from the lowest private to +the best paid sergeants. When you remember that the Russian private is +allowed only one cent a day, that the Belgian soldier receives only +four cents a day, the French private five cents, the German six cents, +and the English soldier twenty-five cents a day, most of which has to +go for supplementary food to make up for the scantiness of the rations +supplied, you realize what it means for the American soldier to be paid +from one to three dollars a day, in addition to clothing, expenses, and +the best rations of any army in Europe.[1] +</P> + +<P> +Some of these men tell us that they have just received from two to +three months' back pay in cash. Here they are with several hundred +francs in their hands, buried in a French village, with absolutely no +attraction or amusement save drink and immorality. In this little +village the only prosperous trade in evidence is that in wines and +liquors. The only large wholesale house is the center of the liquor +trade and the only freight piled up on the platform of the station +consists of wines and champagnes, pouring in to meet the demand of the +American soldiers. There are a score of drinking places in this little +hamlet. Our boys are unaccustomed to the simple and moderate drinking +of the French peasants, and they are plunged into these <I>estaminets</I> +with their pockets full of money. Others under the influence of drink +have torn up the money or tossed it recklessly away. Prices have +doubled and trebled in the village in a few weeks, and the peasants +have come to the conclusion that every American soldier must be a +millionaire; as the boys have sometimes told them that the pile of +notes, which represents several mouths' pay, is the amount they receive +every month. Compare this with the $1.80 a month, in addition to a +small allowance for his family, which the French private gets, and you +will readily see how this false impression is formed. +</P> + +<P> +Temptation and solicitation in Europe have been in almost exact +proportion to the pay that the soldier receives. The harpies flock +around the men who have the most money. As our American boys are the +best paid, and perhaps the most generous and open-hearted and reckless +of all the troops, they have proved an easy mark in Paris and the port +cities. As soon as they were paid several months' back salary, some of +them took "French leave," went on a spree, and did not come back until +they were penniless. The officers, fully alive to the danger, are now +doing their utmost to cope with the situation; they are seeking to +reduce the cash payments to the men and are endeavoring to persuade +them to send more of their money home. Court martial and strict +punishment have been imposed for drunkenness, in the effort to grapple +with this evil. +</P> + +<P> +Will the friends of our American boys away in France try to realize +just the situation that confronts them? Imagine a thousand healthy, +happy, reckless, irrepressible American youths put down in a French +village, without a single place of amusement but a drinking hall, and +no social life save such as they can find with the French girls +standing in the doorways and on the street corners. Think of all these +men shut up, month after month, through the long winter, with nothing +to do to occupy their evenings. Then you will begin to realize the +seriousness of the situation which the Young Men's Christian +Association is trying to meet. +</P> + +<P> +Here on the village green stands a big tent, with the sign "The +American Y M C A," and the red triangle, which is already placed upon +more than seven hundred British, French, and American Association +centers in France. Inside the tent, as the evening falls, scores of +boys are sitting at the tables, writing their letters home on note +paper provided for them. Here are men playing checkers, dominoes, and +other games. Other groups are standing around the folding billiard +tables. A hundred men have taken out books from the circulating +library, while others are scanning the home papers and the latest news +from the front. +</P> + +<P> +Our secretaries have been on the ground for a week, working daily from +five o'clock in the morning until midnight. They have unpacked their +goods and are doing a driving trade over the counter, to the value of +some $200 a day. In certain cases goods are sold at a loss, as it is +very hard indeed to get supplies under present war conditions. The +steamer "Kansan" was torpedoed, and sank with the whole first shipment +of supplies and equipment for the Y M C A huts in France. +</P> + +<P> +Outside a baseball game is exciting rivalry between two companies; +while near the door of the tent a ring is formed and the men are +cheering pair after pair as they put on the boxing gloves and with good +humor are learning to take some rather heavy slugging. Poor boys, they +will have to stand much worse punishment than this before the winter is +over. Just beside the present tent there is being rushed into position +a big Y M C A hut which will accommodate temporarily a thousand men, +before it is taken to pieces and shipped to some new center. The +Association has ordered from Paris a number of permanent pine huts, 60 +by 120 feet, which will accommodate 2,000 soldiers each, and keep them +warm and well occupied during the long cold winter evenings that are to +come. On the railway siding at the moment are nine temporary huts, +packed in sections for immediate construction, and a score of permanent +buildings have been ordered to be erected as fast as the locations for +the camps are selected by the military authorities. Indeed, the aim is +to have them on the ground and ready before the boys arrive and take +the first plunge in the wrong direction. +</P> + +<P> +What is the life that our boys are living here at the front? Let us go +through a day with the battalion quartered in this village. At five +o'clock in the morning the first bugle sounds. The boys are quickly on +their feet, dressing, washing, getting ready for the day's drill. In +half an hour they are tucking away a generous breakfast provided by +Uncle Sam, of hot bacon, fried potatoes and coffee, good home made +bread, and as much of it as a man can eat. They get meat twice a day, +and we have found no soldiers in Europe who receive rations that +compare with the food that our boys receive. +</P> + +<P> +By 6:40 a. m. the men have reached the drill ground on the open fields +above the village and are ready to begin the eight or nine hours of +hard work and exercise that is before them. Half of each day is spent +with the French troops, learning more quickly with an object lesson +before them, and the remaining half day is spent in training by +themselves. The French squad goes through the drill or movement; then +the American battalion, after watching them, is put through the same +practice. They are trained in bayonet work and charges, in musketry +and machine gun practice, in the handling of grenades, and the throwing +of bombs. There is evidence of speeding up and an apparent pressure to +get them quickly into shape, in order to take their place in the +trenches before the winter sets in. A few weeks at the front with the +French troops will soon give them experience, and after a winter in the +trenches, the men of these first divisions will doubtless form the +nucleus for a large American army, and provide the drill masters +quickly to train the men for the spring offensive. +</P> + +<P> +On the day we were there, after a hard morning's drill, the Colonel +assembled three battalions and put them through the first regimental +formation and the first regimental review since landing in France. The +men of the First, Second, and Third battalions marched by, and one +could quickly contrast the disciplined movements of the veterans or old +soldiers with the crude drill of the new recruits, some of whom could +not keep step or smoothly execute the movements. +</P> + +<P> +At the noon hour, after the men had taken their midday meal and had +rested for a few minutes, the Colonel asked us if we would address the +troops. Some two thousand men were marched in close formation around +the large military wagon on which we were to stand. The mules were +unhitched and the men seated themselves on the grass, while the band +played several pieces. A great hunger of heart possesses any man with +half a soul as he looks into the faces of these boys, beset by fierce +temptations and facing a terrible winter in the trenches. At the +beginning we reminded them of the words of Lord Kitchener to his troops +before they left for France: "You are ordered abroad as a soldier. . . +Remember that the honor of the Army depends upon your individual +conduct. . . Your duty cannot be done unless your health is sound. So +keep constantly on your guard against any excesses. In this new +experience you may find temptations both in wine and women. You must +entirely resist both temptations, … treating all women with perfect +courtesy." [2] Kitchener's words furnish a text for the two-fold +danger which confronts these men. Here for an unhurried hour, with the +generous backing of the officers, we plead with the men on military, +medical, and moral grounds, for the sake of their own homes and +families, for the sake of conscience and country, on the grounds of +duty both to God and to man, to hold to the high ideals and the best +traditions of the homeland. Here, with no church save the great dome +of God's blue heaven above us, seated on the green grass, under the +warm summer sun, we have the priceless privilege of trying to safeguard +the life of these men in the grave danger of wartime. +</P> + +<P> +We were encouraged alike by the splendid support of the officers and +the warm-hearted and eager response of the men as they broke into +prolonged applause. The General in command attended one meeting and +pledged us his support for our whole program for the men. He had +already cooperated with us most generously on the Canal Zone, in the +Philippines, and in Mexico. Three colonels presided at three +successive meetings, and gave the work their strong moral support. +Three bands were furnished in two days. The official backing of the +authorities placed the stamp of approval on the whole moral effort for +the welfare of the men. In no other army in Europe that we have seen +have the officers taken such a keen interest in the highest welfare of +the troops, or offered such constant and efficient cooperation with +every effort to surround the men with the best moral influences. +</P> + +<P> +After the meeting, the regimental parade and the strenuous physical +drill of the morning, the Colonel called for a short break, and the men +gathered to learn some popular songs. Major Roosevelt assembled his +battalion, and Archie Roosevelt enthusiastically led the men in singing +Julia Ward Howe's "Battle Hymn of the Republic" and the modern soldier +songs of the war. +</P> + +<P> +After nine hours of hard drill, the men swung cheerfully down the +hillside into the village street. Now they have lined up, and with +ravenous appetites are waiting for the evening meal. We are almost as +hungry as they, and are glad to share the meal with them. Here on the +table are huge piles of good home-made bread. It is almost the first +white bread we have seen after months of brown war bread in England and +France. Here are heaping plates of good pork and beans, tinned salmon, +plenty of fried potatoes, and piping hot coffee. This is followed by a +delicious pudding, as good as the men would have had in their own +homes. Well fed, well clothed, well equipped, sleeping under Uncle +Sam's warm blankets, on comfortable "Gold Medal" cots, our boys are +well cared for. +</P> + +<P> +In another village, at the close of the day, the Colonel commanding two +battalions of the infantry called the men together in the open square +of the market place, and after a band concert invited us to address the +troops on the moral issues of the war. The next day almost the same +program was repeated, and at noon in an open field on a grassy hillside +the Major of another battalion marched out his men for a similar +lecture. Every commanding officer seemed eager to arrange for +meetings, to summon the men, and to back up the messages given to them. +Not only have General Pershing, General Sibert, and the Colonels +commanding the various regiments, met us half way in every plan for the +welfare of the troops; but they have taken the initiative in insisting +that every provision should be made for the physical, mental, and moral +occupation and safeguarding of the men. +</P> + +<P> +Probably more men are led astray in the war zone when they go on leave +than at any other time, in reaction from the deadly monotony of camp +life, or the inferno of the trenches. London and Paris are the chief +centers of danger. In London, just before sailing for the States, we +visited the finely equipped American "Eagle" Hut in the Strand. It +would be difficult to devise a more homelike or attractive place for +soldiers. In addition to sleeping accommodations for several hundred +men, the lounge and recreation rooms, the big fireplaces and +comfortable chairs suggested the equipment of an up-to-date club, in +marked contrast to the surroundings of a cheerless soldiers' barracks. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-032"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG SRC="images/img-032.jpg" ALT="The "Eagle Hut" in London." BORDER="2" WIDTH="479" HEIGHT="355"> +<H4> +[Illustration: The "Eagle Hut" in London.] +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +In Paris, in addition to the permanent headquarters at 31 Avenue +Montaigne, we are hoping to provide hotels and hostels and guides for +supervised parties to see the chief points of interest, and to plan +such healthy occupation for the soldiers that the evils of the city may +be counteracted. Better still we are planning resorts in the French +Alps, where summer and winter sports, athletics, mountain climbing, and +physical and mental recreation will obviate altogether the necessity of +leave to Paris for many of the soldiers of the United States and +Canada. In the first resort we are arranging for special rates and +moderate charges at the hotels and have the pledge of the civil +authorities to keep the place wholesome and absolutely to prevent the +incoming of camp followers. The Association is planning to take over +the best hotel, which can be made into an attractive social center for +the entire camp. A score of American and as many Canadian ladies will +help to provide social recreation and amusement for the men, which will +prove a greater attraction than the dangerous leave in Paris. +</P> + +<P> +A glance at one or two typical meetings held in various camps will show +how we are trying to help our boys face the pressing problems of a +soldier's life. +</P> + +<P> +We enter a large hut filled with a thousand soldiers. Here are many +men who have been driven toward God and who are face to face with the +great realities of life, death, and the future as never before in their +lives, eager for any message which may help them. But here are several +hundred others who have fallen victims to evil habits and who are +determined you shall not force religion down their throats. How are we +to capture the attention of this mass of men and hold them? Will they +bolt or stand fire? The time has come to begin the meeting and we +plunge in. "Come on, boys, let's have a sing-song; gather round the +piano and let's sing some of the old camp songs." Out come the little +camp song books, and we start in on a few favorite choruses. A dozen +voices call for "John Brown's Body," "Tennessee," "Kentucky Home," "A +Long, Long Trail," etc. Soon we have several hundred men seated around +the piano and the chorus gathers in volume. Now we call for local +talent. A boy with blue eyes and a clear tenor voice sings of home. A +red-headed humorist climbs on the table; and at his impersonations, his +acting, and comic songs, the crowd shouts with glee. +</P> + +<P> +Our heart sinks within us as we look over this sea of faces and wonder +how we are going to hold this crowd that this man seems to have in the +hollow of his hand. Somehow these men must be gripped and held to the +last. "Boys, what was the greatest battle of the war?" we ask. "Was +it the brave stand of little Belgium at Liege? Was it the splendid +retreat of the little British army from Mons? Was it the battle of the +Marne, when the French and British struck their first offensive blow? +Was it the great stand at Ypres, or the defense of Verdun, or the drive +on the Somme? What is <I>your</I> hardest battle? Is it not within, in the +fight with passion? Now is the time to challenge every sin that +weakens a man or the nation. How about drink? Is it a friend or foe? +How about gambling? How about impurity?" Here we mass our guns on the +greatest danger of the war. In five minutes the room is quiet, in ten +minutes we have the ear of every man in the hut, the last man has +stopped talking, and now the battle is on. They are gripped on the +moral question; how can we get them to the religious issue? These men +have the root of religion in their souls, but they do not know it. +They believe in strength, in purity, in generosity. We show that they +are often falling before temptation, but the very things that they most +admire are all found in their fulness in Jesus Christ. +</P> + +<P> +Now we make use of a simple illustration. We hold up a gold coin +hidden in our hand and offer it as a gift. "Who will take me at my +word and ask for this gift?" At last a man rises in the back of the +hall, there is a little scene, and then a burst of applause as he +receives it and goes to his seat. "Now why didn't <I>you</I> come? Some of +you didn't believe me, some were ashamed to come up before everybody +and ask for it, some were just waiting; and so all lost your chance. +Once again I offer a gift. Here is something more valuable than all +the gold on earth—heaven to be had for the asking; the free gift of +God is eternal life. Why don't you come? For the same three reasons. +Some of you don't believe, some are afraid to show their colors, some +are just waiting. You will soon start for the front to take your place +in the trenches. Are you ready for life or death? What will you do +with Jesus Christ?" +</P> + +<P> +We have had them forty minutes now and many a man is listening as for +his life. We hold up the pledge card of the war roll. "How many of +you are willing to take your stand against drink, gambling, and +impurity, to break away from sin, and to sign the war roll, which says: +'I pledge my allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ as my Saviour and +King, by God's help to fight His battles and bring victory to His +Kingdom'? Who will take his stand for Christ and sign tonight?" Here +and there all over the house men begin to rise. A hundred come forward +to get cards and sign them. Then every head is bowed and in the +stillness we pray for these boys; for they are mere lads, with ruddy +checks, fresh from the farm or the city. +</P> + +<P> +Now the meeting breaks up and we move down into the crowd. Men come up +and ask for private talks, some to confess their sins and others to +request prayer. Here is a boy who is friendless and homeless and in +need; the next man has just lost his wife, his home, and his money, but +here in the war he has been driven to prayer and has found God. He has +lost everything, but he tells us with a brave smile that he has gained +all, and now wishes to prepare for the ministry to preach the Gospel. +Next is a young atheist, an illegitimate child, a circus actor, who has +now found God and wants to know how to relate his life to Christ. The +next man is a jockey, who in the midst of his sins enlisted in order +that he might die for others and try to atone for his past life. +</P> + +<P> +Later, we were holding evangelistic meetings among the boys of another +regiment. One Sunday evening we were in a big hut where the meeting +was about to begin. Many of the men were writing to the old folks at +home. Captain "Peg" of Canada, who was with us to lead the singing, +stepped on the platform and announced a hymn. Immediately several +hundred men flocked to the seats and began singing the Christian hymns +they knew at home. Eyes lit up and faces were aglow as they sang +"Nearer, My God, to Thee," "Lead, Kindly Light," and "Fight the Good +Fight." Gradually the numbers increased until a thousand men were +singing. Then we began the address. Here were open-hearted boys some +of whom had gone down before the temptations of the port cities and who +now have to face the dangers of a camp in France. We began on moral +themes. Within half an hour it seemed as if the better nature of every +man was with us. The Christian ideals of home, of the Church, and of +their own best selves surged up again, until we had seated and standing +nearly twelve hundred men, many of whom were ready to make the fight +for purity with the help of Jesus Christ. One can never forget that +closing hymn as the men rose to sing "God Be With You Till We Meet +Again." We saw tear-stained faces before us as nearly the whole +company joined in the song "Tell Mother I'll Be There." +</P> + +<P> +Here was one poor fellow who felt he could not sign the decision card. +He sent up this little note: "I am the worst man in the tent—a man who +robbed his old father of his life's savings. How can I hope to be any +good again without any prospect of ever being able to repay this +money?" But before he left he had accepted God's forgiveness, and the +dawn of a new eternity breaks upon his happy face. There was another +man, the worst character in the regiment. Finally, touched by the +secretary's kindness, he had read his little pocket Testament in +prison, had yielded his life to Christ, and was now witnessing among +the soldiers in the camp. Another, broken down, came up to say he had +wronged a girl at home, and to ask if there was any hope for him. The +last man, Bob A——, serving at present with a British regiment, tells +us he was a Christian in Cleveland, Ohio, before the war. He lay all +last night drunk in the fields, but, convicted of his profligate life, +he repented and turned back again to God. There was another boy who +stopped to tell us that ever since a previous meeting he had knelt in +prayer every night before all the men. +</P> + +<P> +At the close of the meeting another man stepped up and handed in a +letter, saying: "Thank you for that message tonight, sir. I will be +true to the little girl I left at home. Here is a letter I had just +written to a bad woman. God helping me I will not go. I have signed +the War Roll tonight and I am going to be true to it." Hundreds of men +filed past and shook hands in gratitude. +</P> + +<P> +We were facing an average of some five hundred men every night in the +week and a thousand or more on Sunday. One humble private who had been +a pilot out at sea, handed us a poem which he had just written, the +last lines of which are typical of the verses many of the men are +writing these days: +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"And if I fall, Lord, take an erring mortal<BR> + Into those realms of peace and joy above;<BR> +And, by-and-by, at Thy fair mansion's portal,<BR> + Let me find there the little girl I love."<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +In all our meetings our aim has been to enable men to find themselves +by coming into a personal and vital relation with God as Father, +through Jesus Christ. Our purpose is to evangelize, but not to +proselytize. We aim to make each man more loyal to his own church. +During the three years of the war, we have never known of a man +changing his church or being asked to do so. Our aim is not to change +any man's ecclesiastical position, but to make him a truer and stronger +man in the church where he is. The great outstanding issue in war time +is not between creed and creed, between sect and sect, but between God +and mammon, between right and wrong, purity and impurity. We have no +contention concerning the questions that divide us; we are fighting for +the great fundamentals upon which we are all united, for God and moral +manhood. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +[1] According to the War Bulletin of the National Geographic Society, +issued in Washington in September 1917, a first class American private +drawing $26.60 a month receives more than a Russian colonel or a German +or Austrian lieutenant. An American lieutenant receives more than a +British lieutenant colonel, a French colonel, or a Russian general. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +[2] See Appendix IV. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER III +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A DAY IN THE "BULL RING" +</H3> + + +<P> +Just before going into the trenches the British, French, and American +troops take a final course for a few weeks in a training school, where +the expert drill masters put them through a rigorous discipline, and +the finishing touches are given to each regiment. At the moment of +writing our American boys are going through such a course, "somewhere +in France." The men commonly call this training school, or specially +prepared final drill ground, the "Bull Ring." It is a thrilling +spectacle to see many thousands of men across a vast plain going +through the various maneuvers of actual warfare as it is practiced +today at the front. Perhaps a brief description of such a drill ground +may be of interest to those who are following the fortunes of our +soldiers. +</P> + +<P> +At six the bugle sounds and the whole camp is astir. Outside there is +the clatter of feet as the men fall in after a hasty breakfast. The +shrapnel-proof steel helmets are donned, the heavy seventy-pound kits +and rifles are swung to the broad backs, the band strikes up "Pack Up +Your Troubles," and our battalion is on the march for the "Bull Ring." +</P> + +<P> +First comes the ceremonial parade. A whole brigade swings into line +and must prove that it can move as one man, as a perfect machine, +without flaw or friction. One master mind directs every motion, and at +the word of command thousands of feet are moving in exact time, +wheeling, marching, maneuvering with a precision that proves the long +months of patient practice. This finish of discipline and perfection +of unity have their part to play in the winning of the battle raging at +this moment up the line. +</P> + +<P> +Next the men must pass through the deadly gas chambers, to be ready to +meet the attack of the enemy fully prepared. More fatal than the +prussic acid which the Prussian has occasionally employed, is the +deadly mixture of chlorine and phosgene, which has been most commonly +used. In a gentle favoring wind it is put over invisible in the +darkness, and if it catches the foe unprepared, can kill from ten to +fifteen miles behind the lines. The mixture is squirted as a liquid +from metal generators. It quickly forms a dense greenish yellow cloud +of poison vapor, which floats away in the darkness. Its success must +depend on the element of surprise, taking the enemy unprepared and +choking him, awake or asleep, in the first few moments before the +horns, gongs, and whistles send the alarm for miles behind the trenches. +</P> + +<P> +Recently a new so-called "mustard gas" has been used by the enemy with +deadly effect, owing to the fact that it is both invisible and +odorless. It is sent over in exploding shells, and sinks in a heavy +invisible vapor about the sleeping men, creeping into their dugouts and +trenches or enveloping them around the guns or in the shell holes. The +effects do not manifest themselves for several hours. With stinging +pain the man's eyes begin to close, and for a time he may go almost +blind. He is then taken violently sick. The surface of the lungs and +the entire body, especially where it is moist with perspiration, is +burned. The skin may blister and come off. Many cases have proved +fatal and many more suffer cruelly for weeks in hospital. With the men +we attended a lecture on the nature of the various gases used by the +enemy and the proper methods of meeting them. The lecture throughout +was unconsciously couched almost in theological language. The +instructor first disposed of what he called superstitious "heresies" +concerning the gas, in order to prevent the men from having panic and +"getting the wind up." There is a foolish rumor which says, "One +breath and you are ruptured for life, or you fall dead the next +morning," etc., etc., but he warns the men of its deadly nature and +tells them they are to be saved from its fatal effects by knowing the +truth. +</P> + +<P> +The instructor explains that if they take four deep breaths it will +prove fatal: "One breath and you catch the first spasm, two and you are +mad, three and you are unconscious, four and you are dead. If you keep +your presence of mind and hold your breath you will have six seconds to +get on your gas helmet or respirator." The attack, remember, is a +surprise in the dark; brain-splitting gas shells are dropping on all +sides, and it is hard to keep cool and hold one's breath in the moment +of sudden surprise and panic. We are told that there are fifteen +mistakes which are easily possible in getting on this complicated +helmet, or if there is one big blunder in the sudden surprise the man +is done for. +</P> + +<P> +Before going through the death chamber, helmets are inspected, to see +that they are sound and unpunctured, and the men are drilled in the +open to practice putting them on quickly. Suddenly the warning whistle +of an imaginary gas attack sounds. One backward fling of the head and +the steel helmet falls off, for there is no time to lift it off. A +dive into the bag carried on the chest and the respirator is grasped +and with one skilful swoop it is drawn over the face. Your nose is +pinched shut by a clamp, your teeth grip the rubber mouthpiece, and, +like a diver, you must now get your one safe stream of pure air through +the respirator. You draw in the air from a tube which rises from a tin +of chemical on your chest. Then you can breathe in the dense, deadly, +greenish chlorine vapor, for as it passes through the respirator filled +with chemicals, it is absorbed, neutralized, oxidized, and purified +into a stream of pure air. All about you may be choking fumes of death +which would kill you in four seconds, yet you will be completely +immune, breathing a purified atmosphere. +</P> + +<P> +The soldiers are now marched up to this chamber of horrors to walk +through the poison gas. Many have "the wind up" (i. e., they are +afraid inside, but are ashamed to show it). Reliance on the guide, the +expert who has been through it all, and the sense of companionship, the +stronger ones unconsciously strengthening the weak, have a steadying +effect upon all the men. The soldiers have had four hours' drill to +prepare them, but the "padre" and I, who are now permitted to go +through, have had but four minutes. I am trying to remember a number +of things all at once. Above all I must keep cool and assure myself +that there is no danger if only I trust and obey what the expert has +said. I fling on the helmet and we start into the death chamber, but +suddenly a string is loose—will the respirator work? There seems to +be something the matter with my nosepiece which should be clamped shut. +I would like to ask the instructor just one question to make sure, but +I can no more talk than a diver beneath the sea. It is too late, we +are moving, I can only hope and trust the helmet will hold. We have +left the sunlight and are in a long dark covered chamber, like a +trench, groping forward, and looking at a distant point of light +through the dim goggles. We are alone in these deadly fumes, the +instructor is not here, there is a tense silence, and all about us is +the poison of death. Oh, what was that fourth point that I was to +remember? Why has the guide turned back? I thought we were to go out +at the further end, where last week the poor fellow fell who lifted his +helmet a moment too soon after he got out and caught one whiff which +sent him to the hospital, but instead we seem to be turning around and +going back. But there is no time for explanations or questions now; we +just plod on through the darkness and soon we are out in the sunlight +again—safe!—in God's pure air. Oh, why did man ever want to pollute +it and poison his brother with these deadly fumes of hell! +</P> + +<P> +As a special favor, the instructor allows us, without a mask, to take +one swift look into the fumes as we hold our breath. That yellow green +chlorine will corrode the lungs and fill them with pus and blood. The +phosgene is much more deadly and will strike the man down with sudden +failure of the heart. +</P> + +<P> +We were also sent through a chamber of the invisible "tear gas," +without a mask. The object of this is to take away the fear of the gas +from the men. This particular gas has no effect upon the lungs, but +sends a stinging pain through the eyes, so that one weeps blindly for +some minutes and could not possibly see to shoot or to defend himself. +</P> + +<P> +We are now ready to return to another lecture with more understanding. +No wonder these tired boys under the heavy, hot steel helmets, which +absorb the heat of the scorching sun, are listening with all their +ears, yet one or two fall asleep for very weariness and may again be +caught napping by the enemy's poison gas up the line. The instructor +is in dead earnest, for the life of every man during the coming +conflict may depend upon his message. His words are still in my ears, +for they were strangely like a sermon: +</P> + +<P> +"Men, I am going to tell you the truth about this deadly gas and you +must believe it, for your life will depend upon it. It can kill and no +doubt about it. But for every poison of the enemy there's an antidote +and we have found it. Your helmet is perfect and you simply must +believe in it, you must trust to it. We have made full provision for +your safety. If you go under it will be your own fault from one of +four causes—unbelief, disobedience, carelessness, or fear. If you +carelessly go without your helmet it means death. During an attack, +after putting on the respirator, just stand and wait. There is nothing +you can do for yourself except to keep your helmet on. Your skill, +your strength are nothing. Now if you are caught in an attack unawares +remember if you're still alive at all, there's hope. Don't lose +courage. If your confidence goes, you lose ninety per cent of your +defense, for the sole hope of the enemy in gas is surprise and panic. +If you are gassed, don't move. Keep still, keep warm, don't worry, and +wait. To move or try to save yourself will be fatal. +</P> + +<P> +"The enemy will put over three or four waves with a break between. The +gas may come for some hours. To remove your helmet before the attack +is over will be fatal. Within a quarter of an hour after the gas has +ceased, the charge of the enemy will come and you must never let him +get past your barbed wired entanglements. After exposure to gas, all +food, water, and wells are poisonous. The heavy gas must be expelled +from the trenches by fans before the charge comes. Only remember, you +must believe what I say, keep your helmet on in time of danger and you +are perfectly safe." +</P> + +<P> +There is a vast difference between the warning and the preparatory +exposure to the gas by your guide and the deadly surprise of the enemy. +The former is a trial to prepare you, the latter is an effort to +destroy you. The whole experience was so obviously parallel to the +deadly moral dangers which surround the soldier in war time that it +needs no comment. The one and only safety in the time of temptation is +to put on the whole armor of God, especially the "helmet of salvation," +then to trust and obey and stand fast. +</P> + +<P> +The writer has just come from a ward in the hospital filled with +patients suffering from the new gas which the enemy has lately put +over. It is, as we have said, invisible and odorless, so the men +receive no warning, and consequently do not put on their masks. They +do not know that they are being gassed until hours afterwards, when +they find they are burned from head to foot. Here are twenty men lying +in this tent, suffering from this new torture. This first boy, with a +wan smile that goes right to your heart, can only whisper from his +burnt-out lungs and cannot tell us his story. The next man was taken +with vomiting five hours after the gas shells exploded. Seven of his +fourteen companions sleeping in the dugout were killed outright, the +others were gassed. He does not know where they are. He lay +unconscious for several days, and now his eyes and skin are burned as +though he had passed through a fire. The next boy is badly burned in +his eyes and chest. Half the men of his battery were killed by gas +while asleep at night. On the next cot is a boy who has been suffering +for seventeen days; the burns on his body have been improving, his +lungs also are better, but he is still blind and fears he may lose his +sight. He asks me to write a letter for him to his mother. "Only," he +says, "don't tell her about my eyes." Together we make up a cheerful +letter, and the boy rests back on his cot to pray for his returning +eyesight. The next two beds are empty. Both the men died in the +night, falling an easy prey to pneumonia in their weakened condition. +The next boy is from the infantry. Out of his squad nine were killed +by the explosion of the shell, eight wounded, and the rest badly +burned. The neck, chest, arms, and legs of this boy are burned and +blistered. The deadly gas fumes have burned right through his clothing. +</P> + +<P> +Such is the effect of this new and latest triumph of modern science, +which will shatter the hopes and happiness of thousands of homes. +</P> + +<P> +After passing through the gas chambers, we visited the bombing section +of the training school. Here each man has to throw one or more live +bombs and receive his final coaching. The bomb is about the size of a +lemon, and is made to break into small fragments. It contains enough +of the high explosive to kill a whole group of men. The boy advances +and grasps the bomb; he draws out the pin and holds down the lever. +Once this is released, it explodes in just five seconds. The man +heaves his bomb over a parapet at a dummy dressed in German uniform. +The whistle blows and we all duck. There is a terrific explosion like +a small cannon and you hear the pieces whizzing through the air. Every +man is holding in his hand and wielding a terrible power. Wrongly +used, it is death to himself and his comrades. The other day a boy's +hand was moist with perspiration and the bomb slipped, killing the +group. Another prematurely exploded as it was being thrown, carrying +away the man's own hand and killing the instructor. So it is a +dangerous business. During the morning there were only four "duds," or +bombs that would not go off. +</P> + +<P> +After the bombing section, we pass with the men to the trenches. +Bayonets are drawn and rifles loaded. After firing several rounds, +comes the command, "Advance." At a bound they are "over the top" and +off, heads down; they run very slowly and keep together. A breathless +man who outruns his comrades is useless and is soon killed by the +enemy. The drill sergeant shouts to the men "Keep together, keep +together, men, one man can't take a trench," and my friend the "padre" +notes his words to tell to his congregation when he goes home, where +the minister can't do all the work. When they are near the enemy's +trench, the final word "Charge" is shouted, the whole line leaps +forward with a wild yell, and the bayonets are driven into the stuffed +sacks which are suspended as dummies to serve in the place of men. +</P> + +<P> +For miles across the great plain the "Bull Ring" is alive with men. +Here in one section they are doing physical drill and learning to go +over all kinds of obstacles—trenches, fences, barbed wire, shell +holes, and ditches. There they are practicing musketry and advancing +under cover. In one place the artillery is in full swing, and in +another you hear the sputter of the machine guns. In one section they +are taught to dig trenches and in another to take them. +</P> + +<P> +Before a great advance where a system of trenches is to be taken, a +"rehearsal" often takes place. From a height of thousands of feet +above the lines the aircraft with powerful telescopic cameras +photograph every foot of the battlefield covered by the enemy's lines. +These photographs are developed and studied and diagrams drawn from +them of the enemy's system of trenches. These diagrams are reproduced +far behind the front in elaborately prepared earthwork and trenches +which are an exact replica of the enemy's lines. The divisions which +are to take part in the attack are sent back to rehearse their exact +duties at just the point corresponding to that which they will have to +take. Each officer knows every nook and crevice, each bay and angle of +the trenches he will have to capture. When all is ready the men are +placed in their exact positions and they execute in reality what they +have rehearsed in theory behind the lines. The lesson of preparedness +and organization is studied and mastered with infinite care. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +WITH THE BRITISH ARMY +</H3> + +<CENTER> +<P> +I +</P> +</CENTER> + +<P> +In sheltered America we cannot realize what war means, but when we +entered the warring countries of Europe, in an instant we were in a +different atmosphere. We landed in England upon a darkened coast, we +entered a darkened train, where every blind was drawn lest it furnish a +guide to London for invading Zeppelins or aeroplanes. We passed +through gloomy towns and villages, where not a single light was showing +from a window, where every street lamp and railway station was darkened +or hidden. Automobiles with a dim spark of light groped through the +black streets of the metropolis. +</P> + +<P> +In London we saw a great Zeppelin brought down in flames. It was a +sight never to be forgotten. At half-past two in the morning we were +awakened by the roar of the anti-aircraft guns in and around the city. +After traveling all night from Germany, one Zeppelin had arrived over +London and a whole fleet of them was scattered over the coasts and +counties of England. +</P> + +<P> +We sprang to the window and found the sky swept by a score of +searchlights with their great shafts of piercing light, shooting from +the dark depths of the city high into the sky, where they all converged +on a single bright object that hung nine thousand feet above us. Long, +and shining like silver with its flashing aluminum, the Zeppelin seemed +held as if blinded by the fierce light. Bombs were dropping from it +and explosions followed in rapid succession in the city beneath. +</P> + +<P> +It was a battle to the death, high in the air with all London looking +on. The guns were in full play and the shell and shrapnel were +bursting all about the Zeppelin. Sometimes you could trace the whole +trajectory of a projectile, as a spark of light swept through the sky +toward the Zeppelin and then burst to the right or left, above or below +it. Most of the shots seemed to go wide of the mark. More than a +score of aeroplanes had been sent up to attack it, with one plane to +guide the rest and signal to the guns below by wireless or lights. The +battle finally developed into a duel to the death between the machine +guns of the Zeppelin and Lieutenant Robinson of the Flying Corps, who +was up for two hours in his aeroplane after the enemy—one man fighting +for a city of five millions. He attacked from below and bombs were +thrown at his plane; then he attacked from the side as he circled about +the monster, but he was driven off by their machine guns. At last, +mounting high in the sky, he attacked from above. The guide-plane +flashed down the signal for the guns to cease firing and give him a +chance. +</P> + +<P> +For a few moments all was silent; the battle seemed to be over. The +great airship, which had swung sharply to the left, was triumphantly +leaving for home. Then it was that Robinson dropped his incendiary +bomb. Suddenly there was an explosion. A flame of burning gas leaped +into the sky. London was lit up for ten miles round-about. Our room +was instantly as bright as though a searchlight had flashed into the +window. Far above us was the Zeppelin in flames. Now it began to +sink—first it was in a blaze of white light, then its outline turned +to a dull red, finally it crumpled to a glowing cinder, sank from +sight, and fell crashing to the earth. Then all was dark again. Death +had fallen suddenly upon the men in the Zeppelin and upon some in the +sleeping city below. +</P> + +<P> +As we drove through London we passed the draper's shop, near St. Paul's +Cathedral, where George Williams and a group of twelve young men met in +a little upper room on June 6, 1844, to organize the first Young Men's +Christian Association. A dozen young men with little wealth, +influence, or education might not seem a very formidable force, but +twelve men have upset the world and changed the course of history +before now. They had only thirteen shillings, or $3.25, in the +treasury, and were too poor even to print and send out a circular +announcing their little organization. But George Williams brought his +fist down on the table, with the confident words, "If this movement is +of God, the money will come." +</P> + +<P> +It has come. The twelve men have been multiplied now to a million and +a half, scattered in forty lands. Girded with new strength and with +the dauntless optimism of youth, the movement has risen up to minister +not only to the millions of British and American soldiers and munition +workers, but also to the men in the camps, hospitals, or prisons in +most of the nations now at war. The thirteen shillings have been +multiplied until now the permanent Y M C A buildings are worth over a +hundred million dollars. An average of two new huts or centers have +been erected and opened by the British or American Associations every +day since war was declared; while two permanent buildings in brick or +stone rise each week in some part of the world. +</P> + +<P> +Wars are the birth-pangs of new eras. A new day dawned for the Young +Men's Christian Association with the present war. At midnight on +August 4, 1914, the British Association as it had been for seventy +years was buried and forgotten, and a new movement arose on the ruins +of the old. Ninety per cent of its former workers left to join the +colors, but a new army of over thirty thousand men and women was +mustered and trained within its huts for the service of the British +soldiers. The Y M C A had suddenly to "think imperially," and to +minister to a world at war. +</P> + +<P> +Seventy years ago George Williams was the man of the hour, but a leader +of the British war work of the Y M C A was found in the present crisis +in the person of Mr. A. K. Yapp, General Secretary of the National +Council of Great Britain, who has recently been knighted by virtue of +his distinguished service for the nation. He had spent Sunday, August +second, in deep searching of heart and had caught a vision of what the +war would mean, and the opportunity that would be presented to an +organization that was interdenominational, international, readily +mobile, and adaptable enough instantly to meet a great national crisis. +</P> + +<P> +Within a fortnight the British army and the whole British navy were +mobilized for war. During that time the Y M C A was represented in +four-fifths of the camps of the territorial forces and 250 centers were +opened. In six months 500 centers were occupied; at the end of the +first year there were 1,000, and after two years of the war 1,500 such +centers were in full swing. The area of operations includes the +British Isles, Egypt, the Dardanelles, Malta, the Mediterranean ports, +India, Mesopotamia, East and South Africa, Canada, Australia, and out +to the last limits of Britain's far flung battle line. +</P> + +<P> +The Y M C A has a strong homing instinct, aiming to provide "a home +away from home." In the dugouts behind the trenches, in the deserts of +Egypt, or in the jungles of Africa, it has been forced to make a home +in every kind of shelter. It was significant that its first three +successive dwelling places seventy years ago were a little bedroom, a +coffee house, and a room in a tavern. During the present war, one may +see Associations in actual operation along the fighting line in France, +in a cowshed, a pigsty, a stable, a hop-house, dugouts under the earth; +in battered and ruined buildings in Flanders; in tents in the Sahara +and on the ancient Peninsula of Mt. Sinai; at the bases of the big +battle fleets; in the rest houses of the flying corps; on the Bourse in +Cairo; in hotels taken over in Switzerland and France, and in the great +Crystal Palace of London. In four centers it has used and transformed +a brewery, a saloon, a theater, and a museum. Its dwellings stretch +away from the tents of "Caesar's Camp," where the Roman Julius lauded +in 55 B. C., on the southern shores of Britain, to the far north, in +the new naval institute at Invergordon, erected for the sailors of the +Grand Fleet at a cost of more than $20,000. They range from the +battered dugouts at the front in France to the Shakespeare hut in +London, costing more than $30,000. They stretch from the rest huts of +the great metropolis, with sleeping and feeding accommodations for some +ten thousand men a day during the dangerous period of leave in London, +away to the hut in "Plug Street" Woods, recently blown to atoms by a +shell, where the secretary escaped by a few seconds and returned to +find literally nothing left save the rims of his spectacles and two +coins melted and fused together by the terrific heat of the explosion. +Several of the secretaries and workers have been killed by shell fire, +or in transit by torpedoes from submarines, while other Association men +have received the Victoria Cross for heroism in action. +</P> + +<P> +Let us visit a typical hut to grasp the significance of its work, in +order that we may realize what is going on in the fifteen hundred +similar centers. We are on the great Salisbury Plain, in the midst of +thirty miles square of weltering mud during the long winter months. To +realize what a hut means to the men in such a place, we must understand +the unnatural situation created by the conditions of war. Here are +multitudes of men far from home, shut out from the society of all good +women, taken away from their church and its surroundings, weary and wet +with marching and drilling, often lonely and dejected, in an atmosphere +of profanity and obscenity in the cheerless barrack rooms, and tempted +by the animal passions which are always loosed in war-time. The men +need all the help we can give them now, and need it desperately. +</P> + +<P> +Now can you measure just what a big warm hut means to these men as a +home, far away from home? The red triangle at the entrance gleams +across the whole camp and stands for the three things the soldier most +needs. +</P> + +<P> +It stands, in the first place, as a pledge for supplying the <I>physical +need</I> of these hungry, lonely, and fiercely tempted men. A dry +shelter, a warm fire, a cheerfully lighted room, the bursts of song, +and the hum of conversation make the men forget the wind and rain and +mud outside. Supper and a hot cup of coffee satisfy their hunger. On +the notice-board is the announcement of the outdoor sports, football +tournaments, and the games, where the thirty thousand men of the +division will compete in open contest on the coming Saturday, under the +direction of the Y M C A. Whatever the soldier needs for his physical +life, whether it is to eat or to sleep, a bed in London, a cool drink +in the thirsty desert, or hot coffee in the trenches, it is furnished +for him by the Association. +</P> + +<P> +The hut also provides for the soldier's <I>intellectual</I> and social +needs. The piano and the phonograph, the billiard tables, draughts and +chess boards, tables for games, library, and reading room keep him +busy; and the concerts, stimulating lectures, moving pictures, +educational classes, and debating societies provide him with +recreational and mental employment. +</P> + +<P> +The far deeper <I>moral and spiritual needs</I> of the soldier are also met. +As the evening draws to a close, one sees the secretary in his military +uniform stand up on the table; hats are off and heads are bowed at the +call for evening prayers, which are held here every night. On Sunday +the parade services of the different denominations take place in turn +in the Association hut. Weekly voluntary religious meetings are also +held. At one end of the building is the "quiet room," where groups of +Christian soldiers can meet for Bible classes or for prayer. At +regular intervals evangelistic meetings are held. On our last night at +this hut, on a Sunday evening, twelve hundred men gathered to listen to +the Christian message. +</P> + +<P> +Of the three bars of the triangle, it is this which stands at the top, +which unites the other two and which is the dominating factor of the +whole. And yet nowhere is religion forced down the throats of the men. +Rather it is the aim to make it the unconscious atmosphere of the whole +hut. It is a striking fact, to which every soldier will testify, that +while the language of the barrack room and beer canteen is often +reeking with the profane and the obscene, the whole tone of the +Association hut is entirely different. As one soldier says: "You don't +realize the enormous difference of atmosphere between this and any +other place where soldiers congregate. A man simply does not talk bad +language and filth here; he learns to control himself." Thus the +threefold work of the Association stands for the whole man and for the +whole manhood of the nation. +</P> + +<P> +In many ways the Y M C A hut seeks to meet the soldier's every need. +</P> + +<P> +1. It is his <I>club</I>, where he meets his comrades and in the freedom and +friendship of the place forgets the irksome drill, the endless +restraints, and the stern discipline of military life. +</P> + +<P> +2. As we have already seen, it is his <I>home</I>, the place where he writes +his letters and keeps in touch with his family and distant friends. +Nearly twenty million pieces of stationery are sent out free for the +soldiers each month from the London central office, and the sign of the +red triangle on the letter head brings weekly joy and cheer to the +broken circle in the distant home. It is here that the lad is helped +to "keep the home fires burning" in his heart and to hold true to those +high ideals. One little girl when visiting the Crystal Palace, upon +seeing the sign of the red triangle, said: "My daddy always makes that +mark on his letters when he writes to us at home." +</P> + +<P> +3. It is his <I>church</I>, for out on the desert, or in the jungle, or at +the front, there is usually no other church building for religious +services. The following is taken from a typical Sunday program in one +of the huts: "6:30 a. m., Roman Catholic Mass; 7:30 Nonconformist +service; 9:00 Anglican service; 2-3 p. m., Bible class; 6:4:5-8 United +Song Service." Thus each denomination is allowed to have its own +service in its own way on Sunday morning, while the evening meeting is +interdenominational and open to all. +</P> + +<P> +In one place where the young Hebrews were being sadly neglected and +were falling away from their former moral standards, the secretary +arranged with the Jewish rabbi to have a weekly service in the Y M C A +tent for his men. It has been held ever since. The Jews of the +neighboring city were so grateful that they started a campaign to raise +a fund of $10,000 for Y M C A huts. The Rev. Michael Adler, the head +Jewish rabbi with the forces in France, has time and again expressed +his cordial appreciation of the help rendered to the men of his faith. +The doors of the Association will always remain open for men of all +creeds. As wide as the needs of men, as broad as democracy, as unified +as humanity, and as tolerant as its Lord and Master, the movement will +ever aim to be. +</P> + +<P> +4. The Association hut is the soldier's <I>school</I>. Here his classes are +held. A program taken at random from a single hut will show the scope +of a week's work: "Bible classes; religious services; lecture on The +Town Where We Are; lecture on South America; lantern lecture on Russia; +debating society; impromptu speeches; history class." +</P> + +<P> +5. The Association hut is also his place of <I>rest</I>, and the shop where +he buys his supplies. Here he can procure almost anything he needs +that is decent, and read anything that is wholesome. Usually this hut +is the only clean place of recreation in the camp, and without it he is +left to choose between the cheerless tent and the beer canteen. +</P> + +<P> +6. The Y M C A is the center of his <I>recreation</I>, and his entertainment +bureau. Under the leadership of Miss Lena Ashwell and scores of +others, concerts and entertainment parties have been organized and have +toured continuously in France, Great Britain, Egypt, and the more +distant camps. The six artists of each party are received with +tremendous enthusiasm and become the fast friends of Tommy Atkins. One +writes: "Last time the party came here the press of men waiting on the +verandah to go into the second performance was so great that our brand +new verandah collapsed with the sound of a bomb explosion! Luckily the +mass was so tightly packed that they fell through in a solid heap; no +one was hurt, and all were able to enjoy the concert thoroughly." +</P> + +<P> +7. It is the soldier's <I>bank</I>, and his <I>postoffice</I>. We were in one +hut alone where more than fifteen thousand dollars were on deposit in +the savings bank. The sale of stamps in this hut amounts to fifteen +hundred dollars a month, and of postal orders for the remittance of +money home to more than four thousand dollars. Every week an average +of 28,000 letters are written and posted in this one room, while +thousands more are received and handed to the men. +</P> + +<P> +8. The Association is the soldier's <I>friend</I> and tourist guide, while +he is visiting London, Paris, or the other great cities. In some +places one table is set apart where a chaplain or secretary is always +on duty to help the soldiers make their wills, find out their trains to +London, answer their questions, or give them the friendly help they +need. +</P> + +<P> +The Y M C A stands by the soldier to the last and even after he falls. +After the boy has fought his last fight and lies wounded or crippled or +dying in the hospital in France, it meets his parents and relatives and +provides for their entire stay in the country. Each relative of the +wounded proceeding to France receives printed instructions from the War +Office that the Y M C A will meet all the boats and provide +transportation and accommodations for all who need it while at the +front. Our friend, Mr. Geddes, broke down as he tried to tell us how +he and his wife had been met on the lonely shores of France by the Y M +C A secretary and motored quickly to the bedside of their dying son, +only to find that they were just too late. The funeral was arranged, +even to the providing of flowers. The last ministry was performed for +the young man away from home and for the loved ones left behind, under +the triangle that will forevermore be red. +</P> + +<P> +Thus the Association is at once the soldier's club, his home, his +church, his school, his place of rest, his entertainment bureau, his +bank and postoffice, his tourist guide, and the friend that stands by +him and his bereaved parents at the last. Fifteen hundred just such +huts and centers stretch away from Scotland to East Africa, from France +to Mesopotamia, from Egypt to India. Could any other single +organization have met all these needs of the men under arms, mobilized +so quickly, united all denominations, entered all lands, and embraced +all forms of work secular and religious? +</P> + +<P> +We conducted meetings for several months throughout the camps in the +British Isles. At our last parade service with the brigade out in the +open field there were several thousand seated on the grass, with their +eight bands drawn up in front. In every service the battle was on +between good and evil, between God and mammon, between sacrifice and +sin. +</P> + +<P> +One night we visited the sailors' training camp. It was a great +meeting, with two thousand of the sailor boys crowded in a big theater. +The concert was going on when we arrived and the jeers and yells of the +crowd drowned some of the voices of the performers; it was evident that +we were going to have a hard time to hold the audience. Captain "Peg" +stepped to the stage and soon had them singing, "We'll Never Let the +Old Flag Fall." Roars of applause followed and they clamored for more. +Out in the glare of the footlights and looking into that sea of faces, +we began to fight for that audience. There were two thousand tempted +men whom we should never see again. In five minutes the whole theater +was hushed—you could hear a pin drop. After half an hour the meeting +was interrupted by the noise of the band outside. Surely the men will +bolt and leave the meeting. We said to them: "Boys, there is the band. +Let everybody go now who wants to go! We are going on. Every man that +wants to make the fight for character, the fight for purity with the +help of Jesus Christ, stay with us here." There was a shout from the +audience, and not a man left the theater. The band thundered on, but +the crowd was with us now, and the hopes of hundreds of hearts for the +things that are eternal surged to the surface. Several hundred men +signed the War Roll, pledging their allegiance to the Lord Jesus +Christ. One sailor boy came up to thank us, saying that he had all but +fallen the week before; and simply for the lack of a sixpence he had +been saved from sin. With God's help he would now live for Christ. +Another came up who had been drinking heavily and had quarreled with +his wife. He did not have the price of a postage stamp to write to +her. He wanted to know how he could be saved from drink. Man after +man came forward, hungry for human help and longing for a better life. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-072"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG SRC="images/img-072.jpg" ALT="Harry Lauder Singing at a Y. M. C. A. Meeting. The Officer seated at the extreme right is Captain "Peg."" BORDER="2" WIDTH="506" HEIGHT="387"> +<H4> +[Illustration: Harry Lauder Singing at a Y. M. C. A. Meeting. <BR> +The Officer seated at the extreme right is Captain "Peg."] +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +On another occasion we were with the army of Australian and New Zealand +troops, as they were marching by the King at their last review before +going to the front. Fortunately, we had secured standing room near the +King's side, where we could watch every smile and action as he saluted +each passing battalion, and we could even hear him speak a kind word +now and then to some officer. There were generals to the right of us +and to the left of us, colonels, majors, captains, officers of every +rank, and prominent civilians; but the greatest man on that field was +the soldier himself. With what a swing those clean-cut young +Australian boys marched past; every man was a volunteer and part of +that great first army of over four millions of men who came forward for +the defense of the Empire without conscription. +</P> + +<P> +Hundreds were playing in the massed bands, as the long file of men +marched by. But time and again the firm columns seemed to fade before +us, and we could not see them for tears, as we realized that many of +these brave boys were going forward to die for us. Above, a great +aeroplane was looping the loop and warplanes were darting to and fro. +</P> + +<P> +Away on the horizon stood the great boulders of Stonehenge, erected +long before the time of the Saxons, the Britons, or even the ancient +Druids, by the sun-worshippers, who offered their human sacrifices on +the ancient altar there nearly forty centuries before. We looked at +those stones, where through a mistaken conception of God and an +inadequate conception of man, human sacrifices were offered long ago. +Suddenly we heard the crack of the rifles of a body of troops at +practice, moving forward in open line of battle. Today, through a +mistaken conception of God and a low conception of man, over 5,000,000 +of men have already been killed, offered in human sacrifice; while many +millions in lands devastated are homeless, starving, or ruined in body +or soul—these are part of the offering, forced upon humanity by a +godless materialism, while a divided Christian Church stands by +impotent. +</P> + +<BR> + +<CENTER> +<P> +II +</P> +</CENTER> + +<P> +Let us now visit Egypt where we shall witness very different scenes. +Away on the distant horizon are the two triangular points, which grow +as we approach into the outlines of the great pyramids. Beyond are the +fifty-eight centers which have risen along the banks of the Nile, in +the metropolis of Cairo, and in the harbors of Port Said and +Alexandria, and which line the Suez Canal and dot the desert even out +into the peninsula of Mt. Sinai. The sun is setting as we climb the +great pyramid, which stands a silent witness to forty centuries of +history which have ebbed and flowed at its base, but surely no stranger +sight has it ever seen than these armed camps about it, engaged in this +titanic struggle of the world. Away to the south towards far Khartoum, +like a green ribbon in the yellow desert, stretches the irrigated basin +of the Nile. Beyond it is the bottomless burning sand of the Sahara. +</P> + +<P> +Here on the site of Napoleon's ancient battlefield is the largest +concentration camp in Egypt. The white tents of the Australasians +shelter a population as numerous as many a city, with three Association +buildings for the men. From out the great pyramid there is a constant +stream of soldiers passing to and fro. And there under the shadow of +the Sphinx are two more Y M C A huts. Jessop, the former secretary at +Washington, has been in charge here, with a large staff of secretaries +from Australia and New Zealand. General Sir Archibald Murray, in +command of the Egyptian Expeditionary Forces, says: "First of all, the +men must have mess huts; then we want the Y M C A." +</P> + +<P> +Cairo is the throbbing center of Egypt's life, where vice does not lurk +in secret, but flaunts itself in open effrontery. Our secretaries have +been at work there in the long lines of men that stand outside the +places of vice, handing them Testaments and urging them to come away. +The Y M C A has taken over a large amusement center in the Ezbekieh +Gardens in the very heart of Cairo; and in spite of the public saloon +nearby, with its attraction of music and wine, from two hundred to two +thousand men are constantly thronging the Association rooms. The +attractive equipment of a garden, an open-air theater, a skating rink, +baths, supper counters, and a meeting place, but most of all the +personal touch of the two earnest secretaries, make the whole work +effective. The Association has also rented the spacious Bourse, where +it houses several hundred men who are in the city on short leave, while +its lobby is used for concerts and entertainments. During the last +action five of the Y M C A huts on the Canal Zone were under fire. But +there is no day passes but that the men under canvas in this hot land +of Egypt are under fire from temptations more deadly than Turkish +bullets. +</P> + +<P> +Leaving Egypt, we passed over the hot and stifling Red Sea, across the +Indian Ocean, toward the sunny plains of India. Away from the snowy +ridge of the Himalayas, down across the bare plains of the north and +the rice fields and cocoa-nut palms of the tropic south, India lies +like a vast continent, embracing one-fifth of the human race. It was +held before the war by some 75,000 British and twice as many Indian +troops. The numbers are completely altered now. Almost the whole +regular force, both Indian and British, are away fighting in +Mesopotamia, East Africa, France, and Egypt, while a new territorial +force of Kitchener's army of London clerks and English civilians has +taken its place. +</P> + +<P> +One hundred and fifty secretaries in India were ready upon the outbreak +of the war. All across India the Y M C A has opened huts, buildings, +or tents for the territorial and other forces.[1] A writer in the +Journal of the Royal Sussex Regiment, at Bangalore, said: "Somehow the +very letters, Y M C A have gathered to themselves an implication of +comfort, pleasure, and welcome; we instinctively feel among friends." +</P> + +<P> +We visited one night the great tent generously given by the Viceroy for +the work of the territorials in Delhi. General Sir Percy Lake took the +chair and the men gathered in the large marquee for the meeting. +Sherwood Day, of Yale, had been in charge of this work during the +winter, providing a home for the men of the territorials in this +ancient Indian capital. A series of lectures by leading Indians served +to interpret Indian life and thought to these soldiers, who were seeing +at once the needs and greatness of the Indian Empire at first hand, +while leading Indian Christians of the type of Mr. K. T. Paul, Dr. +Datta, and Bishop Azariah told them the fascinating story of Indian +missions and the history of Christianity in Asia. A new sense of race +brotherhood is taking the place of the old antagonism and prejudice, +and Indian secretaries stationed with English Tommies have become +exceedingly popular with them. +</P> + +<P> +From India as a base, the Association has gone forward with the +advancing columns into Mesopotamia and East Africa. As we cross the +Persian Gulf and follow the winding courses of the Tigris and the +Euphrates up into the heart of Mesopotamia, we find a group of +Princeton men and some sixty secretaries stationed here with the +troops, under Leonard Dixon of Canada. The men affectionately call him +the "padre"; anyone who has ever boxed with Dixon and felt the force of +his right, knows that he is a man who has both drive and "punch." The +troops in Mesopotamia have been fighting often under terrible +conditions, marching through ooze and slime, drinking the yellow +unfiltered water, decimated by the attacks both of sickness and of the +enemy. In summer the alkali dust lies four inches deep on the floors +of their tents, and the thermometer stands at 120 degrees in the sultry +shade. Dixon racked his brain to provide recreation and helpful +entertainment for these hard fighting men. A bioscope, competitive +concerts, a Christmas tree, a New Year's treat, football and hockey +tournaments, and entertainments of various kinds have been improvised +to make the men forget the awful hardship of the march and of the +battle. On Sunday the writing tables are full from dawn till dark and +tons of stationery have been used to keep these men in touch with their +distant homes. +</P> + +<P> +The secretaries have been kept busy handling the big convoys of wounded +as they come down the rivers in the boats from the fighting at the +front. One colonel got up from his sick bed to give his testimony +unasked as to what the work of the Association had meant to these +wounded men. He said that it was not only the big kettles of hot +coffee and the caldrons of soup which the secretaries brought aboard +the boats, not only the warm blankets, beef tea, and other comforts +which had helped the men so much, but the fact that when those men +entered that barge with its weight of human suffering and misery, it +seemed that the touch of Another hand unseen was resting on the hot +brow and feverish pulse of those wounded soldiers. +</P> + +<P> +Bovia McLain, an American secretary, gives us a glimpse of a night on a +hospital barge, with a cold wind and rain-storm sweeping down the +river. The canvas tarpaulin began to leak like a sieve and most of the +wounded were cold and drenched to the skin. Soon the men were lying +not only under wet blankets, but actually in two or three inches of +water on the undrained decks. They were packed in like sardines, +without pillows or comforts. "The whole thing was ghastly and +terrible. Men wanted to change their position or have a broken limb +slightly moved, and a dozen other wants seemed to demand attention all +at once. At times I felt the strain so that it seemed to me I could +not control myself longer, but must break down and weep, it was so +appalling." After the men had been made comfortable, the workers were +ready in the morning with supplies of chocolate and tobacco and other +luxuries. It is no wonder that up at the front when the secretary +invites the men to remain for evening prayers sometimes nearly the +whole battalion stays, and one can understand the new interpretation +given by some soldiers to the letters Y. M. C. A.—"You Make +Christianity Attractive." +</P> + +<P> +When the war broke out the Association was ready to enter Africa also. +With the first contingent of 60,000 South African troops a number of Y +M C A secretaries were sent. They erected large marquees in local +training camps, and there prepared the way for the even greater +opportunity which was to follow in the East African campaign under the +Northern Army. The military authorities cabled the Association +headquarters at Calcutta, offering to hand over the army canteens of +East Africa to the Y M C A and to cut out liquor if the Association +would take them over and be responsible for the welfare work among the +troops, looking after their physical, social, and moral needs. +Instantly, Mr. E. C. Carter, the National Secretary of India, cabled +back accepting the offer. +</P> + +<P> +The first score of men were sent over to open up nineteen centers with +the advancing column in the jungles of Africa. The 20,000 troops were +then occupying Swakopmund, a desolate little town surrounded by a sea +of burning sand. There were no trees, not a blade of grass, nor even +the song of a solitary bird to relieve the monotony. The men called it +"the land of sin, sand, sorrow, and sore eyes." Soon, however, the +large hall of the Faber Hotel was procured, with accommodations for a +thousand men. It became the social center of the whole camp. So +popular was the place that the men fairly fought and struggled to get +into the building. Every night at 7:30 the war telegrams were read, +and as it was the only way to hear the news from the front, each tent +appointed one man to be at the Y M C A at that hour. On the occasion +of the opening of the work, one man wrote home: "Two great events have +happened today—the Y M C A has commenced and I have had a bath." The +story will never be written as to what the Association meant in the +hearts of those men who laid down their lives fighting in East Africa. +On the cross at the head of every grave in one section of the dark +continent is the sentence: "Tell England, ye that pass by, that we who +lie here, rest content." Thus, from Cairo in the north, from +Swakopmund in the east, clear to Cape Town in the south, the red +triangle has followed the army to its last outposts. Space will not +permit us to describe the huts which have been opened at Salonica, the +twelve centers at Malta, and others dotted along the ports of the +Mediterranean. +</P> + +<BR> + +<CENTER> +<P> +III +</P> +</CENTER> + +<P> +A new development has now been undertaken by the Association among the +thousands in the munition works in Great Britain. With the whole +nation organized for war, there are millions of workers busily engaged +on ten and twelve hour shifts, turning out that steady stream of +munitions which must ever flow up to the guns at the front, to supply +the army fighting there. Here are men and women without the excitement +and the adventure of the front, toiling all day under a strain, far +removed from home, congested in unattractive surroundings, and it is of +the utmost importance that these workers be kept healthful and happy. +</P> + +<P> +We motored down one afternoon to see the work that is going on in the +great arsenal at Woolwich. Outside, where a year ago were orchards and +pastures, are long rows of permanent buildings which have sprung up on +every side. To meet this situation the Y M C A has within recent +months erected more than a hundred huts in the different munition +centers, which can provide meals for thousands of tired workers. These +huts have already placed the Association in touch with half a million +workers. In the first hut we visited, three thousand of them were +seated at meals in two relays, while two thousand soldiers were +accommodated in the hut during the afternoon and evening. A platform +at one end had been put up for musical concerts and entertainments. +The price of meals varies from twelve to twenty-five cents. Lady Henry +Grosvenor and other leaders have marshalled a force of fifteen hundred +voluntary workers in this group of huts. +</P> + +<P> +So appreciative has the government been of this new development, that +in addition to providing their own government welfare workers to look +after the women and girls, they are permitting the munitions +manufacturers to build new Y M C A huts at government expense for the +accommodation of the men. We passed down long rows of dormitories, +erected almost in a night, where thousands of weary workers were +sleeping during the day, preparing for their night shift. It was +almost a sad sight to see whole huts filled with hundreds of boys from +fourteen to sixteen years of age, all sound asleep at midday. The +secretaries look after these boys in their rest and play and provide +healthful surroundings, a clean moral atmosphere, and attractive +religious influences. +</P> + +<P> +The Young Women's Christian Association has entered the open door for +work among the women. In one place where a young girl from the country +had been led astray by the temptations of this new and monotonous life +and had committed suicide, the Young Women's Christian Association has +erected a large hut to provide for the moral welfare of thousands of +other girls faced by the same temptations. Oh, the dreary drudgery +that faces these tired women! +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"Rattle and clatter and clank and whirr,<BR> +And thousands of wheels a-spinning--<BR> +Oh, it's dreary work and it's weary work,<BR> +But none of us all will fail or shirk;<BR> +Not women's work--that should make, not mar,<BR> +But the Devil drives when the world's at war;<BR> +And it's long and long the day is."<BR> +</P> + +<P> +The Y W C A has adopted the sign of the blue triangle, to distinguish +it from the red triangle of the Y M C A. The huts bore the touch of +deft women's hands in the decorations, flowers, and signs of cheer and +comfort which the ladies have provided for these hard worked girls. +Before the huts were erected some girls had to sleep in the streets all +night in the unsanitary communities about the works. +</P> + +<P> +Both the government authorities and the Association workers have seen a +large open door for social service among these millions of munition +workers. For the work here is permanent. These great buildings will +remain as manufacturing centers of some kind after the war. The huts +will still be occupied. Already a new and growing body of legislation +is being introduced to improve the conditions of the toilers of old +England. +</P> + +<P> +It is little wonder that the whole nation has responded to this work so +boldly undertaken on such a large scale. From the first gifts have +been pouring in unsolicited. His Majesty the King, patron of the Young +Men's Christian Association in Britain, has inspected many of the +buildings, and sent in his contribution, with the following note: "His +Majesty congratulates the Association on the successful results of its +War work, which has done everything conducive to the comfort and +well-being of the armies, supplying the special and peculiar needs of +men drawn from countries so different and so distant. It has worked in +a practical, economical, and unostentatious manner, with consummate +knowledge of those with whom it has to deal. At the same time the +Association, by its spirit of discipline, has earned the respect and +approbation of the Military Authorities." +</P> + +<P> +The Queen Mother donated the Alexandra Hut in London, which makes +provision for the accommodation of soldiers on leave in the city. She +was seen recently serving tea behind the counter in the Association hut +to the happy Tommies who had come back strained and tired from the +front to "Blighty" once more. The Princess Victoria has been most +tireless in opening Y M C A huts, and has given unsparingly of her time +and effort for the men. +</P> + +<P> +No one has been more appreciative than the military authorities +themselves. Lord Roberts, four days before his death, wrote expressing +his appreciation of the work being accomplished. His secretary adds: +"He hears on all sides nothing but praise for what the Y M C A is doing +at the camps." Lord Kitchener, who had inspected the huts of the +Association in England, France, and Egypt, wrote: "From the first the Y +M C A gained my confidence, and now I find they have earned my +admiration and gratitude." Mr. Asquith, when Prime Minister, after +visiting the Association huts and attending the religious meetings +said: "The Y M C A is the greatest thing in Europe." Lloyd George, the +present Premier, said recently: "I congratulate the Y M C A. Wherever +I go I hear nothing but good of the work they are doing throughout the +country, and we owe them a very deep debt of gratitude." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +[1] In addition to the existing work at Bangalore, Maymyo, and Poona, +Association privileges have been provided for soldiers in Lahore, +Delhi, Multan, Forozepore, Jhansi, Lucknow, Mhow, Trimulgherry, +Jubbulpore, Calcutta, Bombay, Madras, Ahmednagar, Rangoon, Dalhousie, +Naini Tal, Karachi, Allahabad, and Jutogh. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER V +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +LIFE IN A BASE CAMP +</H3> + + +<P> +The man who inaugurated Y M C A army work in France was Joseph Callan. +In 1903 he became a secretary of the International Committee in +Allahabad, North India, and later in Colombo. Ten years ago in +Bangalore he began his wonderful work for soldiers, which, in time, was +to set the pace and furnish the standard for the Association work of +the present war. +</P> + +<P> +When the British troops were out in camp, Callan opened his big Y M C A +tent and beat the army canteen in open competition, so that at the end +of the maneuvers the contractors had to haul back much of the liquor +unsold. While the canteen was being drained of men, Callan was running +a full show almost every evening. He had powerful arc lights placed +over the athletic field, and night after night tournaments were played +off, company against company, regiment against regiment, until the +closing hour of the canteen had passed. Lectures, moving pictures, and +concerts were followed by straight religious meetings, with lasting +results. The cooperation of the Bishop, clergy, and chaplains, helped +to relate permanently these results to the Church. +</P> + +<P> +As soon as the commanding officers saw the value of this work, they +began to cooperate and insisted upon its being carried on in every +camp. In the great maneuvers at Dacca, Callan was invited to Bengal to +run the institutional work for the troops at the expense of the +government, which he did with striking results. Each success made the +work known to a widening circle of officers and men. +</P> + +<P> +When the war broke out, Callan and Carter approached the Viceroy and +Commander-in-Chief to ask if they could serve the Indian Army as it was +to start as an expeditionary force to France. Since the Mutiny of +1857, with its religious superstition and prejudice about the greased +cartridges, etc., no Christian work had been permitted in the Indian +Army. Finally, however, permission was given to the Association to +begin work with the troops before embarkation. Upon arrival in Bombay, +our secretaries called upon the Commanding Officer, who had wired to +the General at Headquarters to know what he could do to hold his +discontented troops together in the flooded and crowded quarters about +the docks. The general had just wired, "Consult the Y M C A and ask +them to send for their army department." He had known of Callan's work +at Bangalore, Dacca, and other centers, and believed it would supply +just the missing link with the dissatisfied men. When our secretaries +called, the Colonel had just received the telegram and was prepared to +give them a chance to see what they could do for the troops. +</P> + +<P> +Within twenty-four hours a work was organized which kept the sepoys +occupied for all their leisure time. Football and hockey and outdoor +athletics, excursions down the harbor, sea bathing, lectures, and +entertainments were soon in full swing. This was the first work of the +kind ever done for the Indian Army. So instantly and obviously +invaluable did it become that the Commanding Officer insisted that the +secretaries should accompany the troops on the long and much dreaded +trip to France, which was a bold and untried venture for Indian +soldiers. +</P> + +<P> +It was a historic event when that great fleet of some seventy-five +ships, the largest assembled since the Spanish Armada, freighted with +about 25,000 troops bound for France, East Africa, and Persia, weighed +anchor, and sailed out of Bombay harbor with the first twelve Y M C A +secretaries on board. Arrived in France, permission was finally +obtained from the Commander-in-Chief to land and begin work on French +soil. +</P> + +<P> +Here the moral problem made the work of the Association a crying +necessity. Soon there were some 25,000 Indian troops concentrated +around Marseilles. These men could neither safely be let out of bounds +nor kept contented within bounds. A cordon of troops around the camp +could not keep vice out. The Y M C A was needed as a counter +attraction. Upon an outbreak of drinking and immorality on the part of +a group of Sikh soldiers, the whole garrison was called out to witness +these men stripped and flogged in exemplary punishment. The Sikhs felt +this to be such a public disgrace that they asked for the use of the Y +M C A hut in which to hold a council meeting. They finally decided to +ask one of the secretaries to address the whole body of Sikhs on the +subject of intemperance and impurity, for the Association was already +tacitly recognized by all as the dominant moral force in the camp. +</P> + +<P> +One of the Indian secretaries, Mr. Roy, addressed the soldiers at their +own request for an hour and a half, and a remarkable scene of +repentance was witnessed. Men arose on all hands, confessing their +sins in respect to these two special failings and requested that +penalties be imposed upon them by their own priest in accordance with +the custom of their religion, as a punishment for the past and as a +guarantee for the future. For nearly two hours the men filed by their +priest receiving penalties. Later on they held a service of their own +in the Y M C A hut on Christmas day and took up a large collection of +copper coins as a thank-offering to the Association. They felt that it +had been their one friend in a strange land. +</P> + +<P> +It should be clearly understood, however, that of necessity, in the +very nature of the case, the Government of India imposed upon the +secretaries the strict obligation of silence regarding the propagation +of Christianity. They entered the work on the understanding that the +men could live out the spirit of Christ and express it in silent +ministry under the motive of Christian love. +</P> + +<P> +It was striking to see how much real Christianity could be packed into +<I>life</I> when speech was forbidden. The pent-up prayer and love and +sympathy of the workers was forced into the single channel of silent +service. It reminded one of those thirty years in our Lord's life, in +simple secular toil, which could only minister to the needs of men over +a carpenter's bench. +</P> + +<P> +It is no small task to undertake to occupy all the leisure time of +25,000 men far from home, shut up in irksome camps, easily aroused by +rumor or superstition. The numbers increased until there were finally +some 50,000 men to be cared for. Athletic fields were secured and +games were started. Football and hockey were more played by the +Indians than by the British troops. Badminton and volley ball, races +and track events, were also useful. Indoor games, the gramophone, +cinemas and concerts, and especially Indian dramas, were popular in the +evening. Lectures on geography, history, and moral subjects were well +attended, and French classes were of practical benefit. +</P> + +<P> +An incalculable service has also been rendered in writing letters for +the great mass of ignorant soldiers to their families in the far-off +Indian villages, miles away from a railway. Illiteracy, superstition, +and false rumors existed at both ends of the line. Here is a man who +has had no word from home since he left a year or more ago. He hears a +baseless rumor or heeds some inborn fear that his child is sick, or his +wife unfaithful, or that he has been cheated out of his property. +Hundreds of homesick men whose whole lives have been bound up in the +family circle pour in upon the secretaries, begging that they will +write letters home for them. Here you may see six or eight secretaries +writing for hours each day, as fast as the men can dictate their +messages and tell their stories. +</P> + +<P> +Then there arose the problem of how to keep these men in touch with +their households in isolated and illiterate villages in India. Mr. +Hume, one of the secretaries in Lahore, devised a far-reaching plan +whereby every letter was forwarded through missionaries or Christian +workers or officials to the distant home of the soldier. The whole +community gathers to hear the news from the Indian regiment on the +other side of the world, and a shout goes up from the village street +when they learn that their brave Sepoy is not dead, as rumor had +whispered. A message is sent back in eager gratitude from the wife, +children, and neighbors, and from the united heart of the little +village to the distant soldier and his fighting comrades. The Red +Triangle has spanned the gulf from the winter cold and the dreary +trenches in France to the little village on the plains of sunny India, +and the grateful hearts at both ends somehow dimly know that all this +silent ministry is in the name of the White Comrade who is the Friend +of man. +</P> + +<P> +Here in France the hut must stand as the friendly home that gathers up +all the best traditions of Indian life. It takes the place of the +banyan tree in the heat of the day, the village well, and the meeting +place for the men in the cool of the evening. Even beyond all hopes it +has proved a potent factor for unity, harmony, and peace in a time of +unrest. It draws the British officers and the Indian men closer +together, and the Indian secretaries have served time and again as the +mediators between the two, who could so easily have misunderstood each +other. It provides a common meeting place between the caste-ridden and +divided Indians themselves, who had no other ground of unity. +</P> + +<P> +Here are men of different languages and races and traditions, from the +Gurkhas, the brave little hill men, to the stalwart Pathans, who come +as fighting men from far beyond the borders of India for the sheer joy +of battle. The chances for supposed loot in the fabled wealth of the +West and the accumulation of merit by slaying the "unbelievers" of the +enemy, prove an added attraction to men born and bred in border +warfare. Here also are men of three separate creeds, who have often +fought with one another over the issues of their faiths—the big +bearded Sikhs, with a soldier's religion, the warlike Mohammedans, who +fight according to their Koran, and the caste-ridden Hindus. +</P> + +<P> +As you walk among the tents the smoke of the fires hangs heavy over the +camp; there is the familiar sound of the bubbling rice pots, the smell +of pungent curry, the babel of many oriental tongues, and you seem to +be back in the very heart of India itself. We gather with the reverent +Sikhs for their religious worship. They meet morning and evening for +their prayer service, and turn out almost in a body for the weekly +Sunday meeting. The service consists principally of singing and the +reading of their sacred scripture, the Granth. Seated on the ground, +the men show deep reverence, and seem to have a sense of the presence +of God in their midst. Their religion has a real restraining influence +and there is at present little immorality amongst them. +</P> + +<P> +A little further on in the camp one comes upon an improvised Mohammedan +mosque. Five times a day a devout soldier calls the faithful to +prayer, and on Friday about three-fourths of them come out to their +voluntary service. The Hindus, on the other hand, dependent upon +ceremonial rites, without their temple or priest and with no organized +public worship, have not a religion which holds them in such a vital +grip in this distant land. +</P> + +<P> +As you pass down the camp, the band is playing for the draft that is +marching off to take its place in the trenches. The last good-bys are +being said and little groups are round the secretaries. The stalwart +Sikhs are wringing their hands or kneeling down to wipe the dust from +their shoes, or thanking them with tears of gratitude. They are great +child-like men, simple of heart, affectionate, but lonely and homesick +in a distant land. Here is a man who was once a hard drinker, living +an immoral life, but today he is keeping straight. Here is another who +has resolved to go back to India to lead a different life. There were +tears in the eyes of the secretaries themselves as they came back after +bidding good-by to the draft, and there was compensation after long +months of service in the gratitude of the men and in that inner voice +which says, "I was a stranger and ye took me in." +</P> + +<P> +After Callan had launched the work among the Indian troops, he was +called upon to open up the work at a large British base camp behind the +lines in France. Here, beside the vast drill ground where Napoleon +used to marshal his troops, is a white city of tents, and between +100,000 and 200,000 men are always encamped there for training. +</P> + +<P> +Life in the trenches for the moment drives men to God, but the life in +a base camp is one of fierce and insidious temptation. To hold the men +in the face of such temptations, Callan has erected his buildings in +the thirty principal centers of this base. Here is a typical hut +before us, built of plain pine boards, 120 feet long and 60 feet broad. +It accommodates from 2,000 to 3,000 men a day and is used by +three-fourths of the men in the camp, by practically all, in fact, +except those who are confined to their hospital beds. These thirty +huts will be filled all winter with an average of 60,000 men a day. +Each night at least 15,000 men will be gathered in meetings, lectures, +and healthy entertainments. Twice each week there are 12,000 men in +attendance at religious meetings, and not a week passes without +hundreds of decisions being made for the Christian life. In the course +of the year a million men will pass through these camps, or one-sixth +of the manhood of the nation now marshalled under arms. These are the +men who are to be made or marred by life in the army, and who will go +back to build the new empire in the great era of reconstruction that is +to follow the war. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-098"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG SRC="images/img-098.jpg" ALT="Wholesome and Entertaining; Home Refreshments in London." BORDER="2" WIDTH="361" HEIGHT="576"> +<H4> +[Illustrations: Wholesome and Entertaining; <BR> +Home Refreshments in London.] +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +To minister to these 60,000 men who daily crowd these thirty huts, +there are 167 workers sent over from England, 100 of them men and 67 of +them women. The latter are nearly all self-supporting and not only +receive no salary but pay all their own expenses. The self-sacrificing +toil of these helpers, who form part of a vast army of 30,000 heroic +women who are voluntarily serving without compensation in the +Associations of England and France, is beyond all praise. Their very +presence in the camps is the greatest single moral factor for the +creation of that indefinable atmosphere which pervades every hut. Even +rude and coarse men never think of swearing or speaking an indecent +word within these walls. Nor do they forget to be grateful for the +tireless service of these women, who stand for hours day and night +serving them and providing for their physical necessities. The women +workers are under the direction of Lady Rodney, who has had four sons +fighting at the front, one of whom has already fallen in action. The +men have been thrilled and moved to the depths as Lady Rodney has +addressed them on "What Are We Fighting For?" and by her message to the +men from the women at home. Several hundred of the choicest women of +America will be needed for service among our own troops. They should +be women who can stand for the whole principle of the red triangle. +They must be ready for tireless and exhausting physical service, able +to work with others without friction, prepared to meet the social needs +of the men and to give a sympathetic hearing to the tales that will be +poured into their ears, but above all they must be able to give a +definite Christian message to men fiercely tempted and beset by doubts +and difficulties. The soldier cannot live by bread alone, nor by the +tea and coffee of a Y M C A counter; he needs God, and the friendship +of good women, and the spirit of home which they carry with them. +</P> + +<P> +The hundred men who are working in these thirty British huts are worthy +of note. A score of them are clergymen, who have resigned their +churches for the period of the war. Many others are well-known +ministers, laymen, or professors who have come over for a period of +several months of service. The list of the men who have been serving +here contains many distinguished names. There is Professor Burkett, +the New Testament scholar of Cambridge, in charge of one of the huts; +Professor Bateson, the great biologist of Cambridge, who has been +lecturing on his subject, and who was swept off his feet by the +response which he received from the troops. He stated that he was able +to learn more from these men than in months of research in his +laboratory, where he had been shut up for most of his life. Professor +Holland Rose, also of Cambridge, has been lecturing to the troops on +European history, interpreting the war to the soldier. Professor Oman, +of the same university, has been dealing in his lectures with the +historical problems of the war. Rev. E. A. Burroughs, of Oxford, has +been giving religious lectures. Principal D. S. Cairns, of Aberdeen, +has had crowded meetings night after night for his apologetic lectures, +and the questions raised in the open discussions would make one think +he was in a theological seminary. Principal Kitchie, of Nottingham, +has been lecturing on European history and the Balkan situation. +Bishop Knight is giving his time seven days a week to looking after the +spiritual and ecclesiastical needs of the men, as many seek +confirmation and partake of the Holy Communion before going up to the +front. Here are Scotch ministers, Anglican clergymen, and laymen, +working side by side in a great ministry of service. +</P> + +<P> +A series of missionary lectures has helped to give the men a new world +view of Christianity. It has lifted the simple villager, and the man +who has never known anything save the narrow ruts of his own +denomination, above the petty interests and divisions of his former +life to face world problems and the wide extension of the Kingdom of +God. Four lecturers have followed each other to present a great world +view to the men in these thirty huts: Butcher of New Guinea showed the +effect of the impact of the Gospel upon primitive native races; +Farquhar of India showed the power of Christianity over the great +ethnic religions of India; Lord Wm. Gascoyne Cecil came next on the +transformation of China, and was followed by Dennis of Madagascar and +Dr. Datta, a living witness of the power of Christianity in the great +Indian empire. John McNeill and Gipsy Smith, the well-known +evangelists, have spoken to thousands and have brought the challenge of +the Christian Gospel to the men, calling upon them for decisions and a +change of life in harmony with the teachings of Christ. +</P> + +<P> +Here are some of the finest spirits of England, some of its +intellectual and spiritual leaders, brought into daily contact with the +manhood of the nation in this formative period and epoch-making crisis. +Before us hangs the program for the week. It looks like the schedule +of classes and lectures for some great university. It is drawn up in +seven columns for the seven days of the week, and includes a score of +centers, with an average of three events for each hut per day. It +would cover several closely printed pages. Here are some of the events +scheduled for a single night: +</P> + +<P> +Hut No. 1, lecture on "The Meaning of Christianity," by Mr. A. D. Mann; +choir rehearsal; devotional meeting. No. 2, Rev. Butcher of New +Guinea, lecture on "The Failure of Civilization"; French class; Clean +Talk League. No. 3, lecture by Lord Wm. Cecil on China; French class; +hobby class. No. 4, cavalry band orchestra; Communion Service; evening +prayers. No. 5, Lena Ashwell Concert Party from London. No. 6, Rev. +N. H. M. Aitken, Bible lecture and discussion; orchestral band. No. 7, +concert party; general hospital show. No. 8, lecture on Napoleon by +Mr. Perkins; Mrs. Luard's concert party. No. 9, concert given by the +men of the auxiliary park camp; draughts tournament. No. 10, religious +discussion class; Lord Wm. Cecil; service conducted by Chaplain Berry. +No. 11, Professor Thos. Welsh's Bible class; mid-week rally. No. 12, +fretwork and carpentry class; games; letter writing. No. 13, mid-week +service; Bible class; letter writing. No. 14, cinema show; indoor +games. No. 15, lantern lecture on "India in the Trenches." No. 16, +ladies' concert party; Hindi and Urdu classes; letter writing; games. +All of this covers only the program for half of the huts on a single +night! +</P> + +<P> +Principal Fraser, of Ceylon and Uganda, but equally conversant with +present-day problems in Britain, has been conducting a weekly +parliament in different camps on the great questions of reconstruction +after the war. For here are men away from home, lifted above the toil +and narrow drudgery of their former cramped lives, and they have +learned to think. +</P> + +<P> +There is evidence of wide industrial and social unrest. The men are +conscious not only of world wrongs which threaten their country from +without, but of wrongs within as well, and they are going to demand +that these wrongs shall be righted. A deep tide of feeling runs +through the audience, as these men, blunt of speech but clear of brain, +openly and frankly discuss the future, and they hang eagerly upon the +words of Principal Fraser as he guides their thought to higher ideals +for the period of reconstruction that is to follow. +</P> + +<P> +One night they are discussing the present social order, and what is +wrong with it; they are dealing with bad housing, employment, low +wages, the cleavage between the rich and the poor, industrial +oppression, and social injustice. The next night they consider the +dangers of demobilization. What will be the effect upon hundreds of +thousands of women workers? Here are more than five million soldiers +in the army, and a large number of men and women, boys and girls, +working on government orders. What steps must be taken to minimize the +dislocation of industry and to prevent unemployment? On the night +following, they discuss the question of industrial reorganization. +They resolve that "the time has come, as the only means of averting +social disaster, to grant a constitution to the factory, and quite +frankly to recognize and insist that the conditions of employment are +not matters to be settled by the employer alone, any more than by the +workmen alone, but in joint conference between them; and not even for +each establishment alone, but subject to the National Common Rules +arrived at for the whole industry by the organized employers and +employed, in consultation with the representatives of the community as +a whole." +</P> + +<P> +At the next parliament they discuss the future of education in England. +What should be its aim, how far should it be technical, and how far +should it aim at the development of personality? Should the +school-leaving age be raised to fifteen, or half-time education be +given up to the age of eighteen? One night in the parliament they +discuss the problem of drink and the war; on another night, gambling; +and on another, the social evil. The men who attend the lectures and +parliaments of these camps will almost get a liberal education during +the three years. +</P> + +<P> +We have spoken of the vast work going on in the thirty huts conducted +by 167 workers in this single base camp. Let us now pass into a +typical center and observe the work a little more in detail. For our +first illustration, let us take the Y M C A hut in the Convalescent +Camp. We select this because it is the model of the new huts for the +American army which are now being constructed. It is a moving sight +simply to step inside its doors. Here are two parallel structures of +simple pine boards, each 120 by 30 feet. They may be used separately, +in eight different departments, including the lecture hall which will +seat 500, or with the partitions raised they may be thrown into one +large audience hall, holding 1,200 men. +</P> + +<P> +A glance at the crowd within, or at the great city of white tents +without, shows that even this building is utterly inadequate for this +convalescent camp holding 4,000 men. It is a center for a dozen +surrounding hospitals, each containing from 1,000 to 4,000 patients. +As the men are cured in these hospitals they are sent up to the +Convalescent Camp to be made fit to return to the trenches. It is +worth remembering that every one of these 4,000 patients is a wounded +man, all of whom have seen service and suffering. +</P> + +<P> +Let us enter first of all the large social hall. Several hundred men +are seated at the tables, playing games or chatting over a cup of tea. +At one end is the counter, where three women and five men take their +turn serving during the day and evening. Two or three thousand of +these men will pour in every day this winter. They will stand in a +long queue filing by the counter for more than two hours. Here are +large urns, each holding ten gallons of tea. Cup after cup is rapidly +pushed across the counter without turning off the tap; as 160 men are +served in ten minutes, and there is no stop save to place a fresh urn +full of tea. As fast as the workers can move, not only hot tea and +coffee, but bread and biscuits, cake and chocolate, tobacco, matches, +candles, soap, bachelor buttons are furnished, and every other need of +the soldier is supplied. The aim is to meet his every demand, so that +he will not have to go into the city to places of temptation and evil +resorts. +</P> + +<P> +While these men are being served or are seated in the social room, +meetings and lectures are conducted at the same time on the other side +of the partition in the audience hall, which is occupied several times +a day, and is used for social purposes between the meetings. We now +pass into the lounge, which is filled with men, busy at their games. +Next is the Quiet Room, where no talking or writing is allowed. Men +come into this room for quiet meetings or private prayer, and here +small group prayer meetings and Bible classes are held. +</P> + +<P> +Just outside the hut is a wide wooden platform which accommodates +several hundred men. There nearly a dozen different games are in full +swing, all at the same time. Each one is designed to help the patient +recover his health. Here are badminton, tennis, volley ball, indoor +baseball, quoits, deck billiards, bagatelle, ping-pong, and other +games. The front of this platform forms a grandstand for the cricket +field beyond. +</P> + +<P> +Here for three nights we conducted meetings, with five or six hundred +men in attendance. More than a hundred men signed the decision cards +each night, and when asked it was found that one-third of them had made +the decision for the first time, about one-third of them were +back-sliders who had been living as Christians before the war but who +had gone down before temptation, while the remaining third had been +maintaining a consistent Christian life during the war. +</P> + +<P> +In a second after-meeting in the Quiet Room one night, men from almost +every quarter of the globe spoke and gave testimony. Here was one poor +fellow who had come over after several years in the States. He had had +delirium tremens three times, and showed the effects of it on his face. +He had formerly been the center of the foul talk and vulgar language of +his tent. He had now come straight out for Christ and had boldly +witnessed for Him before the men. The second boy, the son of a +prominent officer in South Africa, arose under deep emotion. He had +been living a wild and reckless life and was known as the "Red Light +King." After his conversion, he went out and brought in another +comrade who openly decided for Christ. There were boys from Canada, +Australia, and England who followed, many of them with tragedies in +their past lives. +</P> + +<P> +It is impossible to calculate the vast influences for good that have +been flowing from this hut to the thousands of men who pass through it. +The aim of the young Scotch minister who is the leader has been to make +it for all the men "a home away from home." The life in the army, with +its irksome toil, daily drill, cold and wet and mud, the horror of +battle and the pain of wounds, is all for the moment forgotten as the +men enter the place. +</P> + +<P> +We tell the leader that we are taking this building as the model for +our new American camps. He says: "Large as this hut is, it is not +large enough or good enough for the men. Daily we have need for better +equipment. This hut as it stands will serve from two thousand to three +thousand men in a day, but nothing is too good for these boys who are +coming here to suffer and die in this faraway land. You will send your +sons over from America to spend this cold winter on the bleak plains of +France in open bell tents. They will be fed on canned goods and corned +beef, and they will be housed in the most unattractive towns of France, +where there is absolutely no interest or diversion apart from drink and +women. You can hardly realize what it means to sit down in a homelike +place, to get a hot cup of tea served on a white tablecloth. This is +the only home these boys will see in France, and they will either come +here or go to the red light resorts. I wish I could tell the men of +America what their boys will face here, what they will suffer, what +temptations will assail them. The best equipment you can give them is +not good enough, for the people at home little realize to what a life +their boys are coming, and what hardships will face them here in +France." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE CAMP OF THE PRODIGALS +</H3> + + +<P> +We are in a natural amphitheater of the forest, near a big base +hospital, about seventy miles behind the lines in France. Always in +the stillness of the woods, even at this distance, one can hear the +intermittent boom of the big guns at the front, and the air is vibrant +on this summer evening. Beyond the wood lies the old drill ground of +Napoleon, which is used today as a field for final training for the +reenforcements for the front line. +</P> + +<P> +In this wide open space in the woods at sundown the patients of the +hospital in their blue uniforms are gathering for the meeting. It is a +picturesque sight to see about eight hundred of them seated on the +grass, while an orchestra composed of their own men is playing before +the opening of the meeting. Who are these men before us? They are not +the wounded who have fallen on the field of honor, but the sick, and, +quite frankly, they all have venereal disease. The war has dragged +this moral menace so into the light of day that the times of prudish +silence and of fatal ignorance should have passed for all who are truly +concerned for the welfare of the soldier and who want to know his +actual conditions. We shall, therefore, in this chapter call a spade a +spade. +</P> + +<P> +The eight hundred men gathered here are a small part of some thousands +of similar cases in France. The <I>London Daily Mail</I> of April 25th, +1917, referring to the report of the military authorities to the House +of Commons, stated that there had been some two hundred thousand cases +of venereal disease in the British Army in France alone. This does not +include England or the men on the other fronts. The British Army is +not worse than others. Professor Finger, at a meeting of the Medical +Society in Vienna early in the war, estimated that over 700,000, or +some ten per cent of the Austrian troops, had contracted venereal +disease. More ominous still is the fact that in almost every place yet +investigated the majority of the men were confessedly living in +immorality amid the temptations of the base camps in France. +</P> + +<P> +As we visit the hospitals in France, we are saddened by the fact that +for one of the two venereal diseases no cure has yet been found, that a +large proportion of these cases suffer a relapse, and that over seventy +per cent will develop complications. As one Commanding Medical Officer +said, "There is enough venereal disease in these military camps now to +curse Europe for three generations to come." +</P> + +<P> +One young major said: "Every day I am losing my boys. I've lost more +men through these forces of immorality than through the enemy's shot +and shell." The recent report of the Royal Commission shows the grave +menace of the disease to Britain, where twenty per cent of the urban +population has been infected. Flexner's terrible indictment in his +"Prostitution in Europe" proves how particularly dangerous and +pernicious is the system of inspection and regulation which legalizes +and standardizes vice as a "necessary evil" and spreads disease through +the false sense of security which it vainly promises. Even if the +inspection and regulation of vice were physically perfectly successful, +it might still lead to national degeneration, but instead of being a +success it has proved, especially in France, a miserable failure. We +cannot place all the blame upon local conditions, for the presence of +an army in a foreign land in wartime creates its own danger. +</P> + +<P> +Among the men in the venereal hospitals of France are musicians, +artists, teachers, educated and refined boys from some of the best +homes, and in another camp we find several hundred officers and several +members of the nobility. What was the cause of their downfall? A +questionnaire replied to by several hundred of them revealed the fact +that six per cent attributed their downfall to curiosity, ten per cent +to ignorance, claiming that they had never been adequately warned by +the medical authorities, thirteen per cent to loss of home influences +and lack of leave, thirty-three per cent to drink and the loss of +self-control due to intoxication, while the largest number of all, or +thirty-eight per cent, attributed it to uncontrolled passion when they +were unconverted or had no higher power in their lives to enable them +to withstand temptation. But perhaps the chief cause of the spread of +immorality is the unnatural conditions under which the men are +compelled to live in a foreign land in war time. +</P> + +<P> +Donald Hankey, the brilliant young author of "A Student in Arms," who +fell at the front, speaks thus of the moral problem in the soldier's +life: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Let us be frank about this. What a doctor might call the 'appetites' +and a padre the 'lusts' of the body, hold dominion over the average +man, whether civilian or soldier, unless they are counteracted by a +stronger power. The only men who are pure are those who are absorbed +in some pursuit, or possessed by a great love; be it the love of clean, +wholesome life which is religion, or the love of a noble man which is +hero-worship, or the love of a true woman. These are the four powers +which are stronger than 'the flesh'—the zest of a quest, religion, +hero-worship, and the love of a good woman. If a man is not possessed +by one of these he will be immoral.… Fifteen months ago I was a +private quartered in a camp near A——.… The tent was damp, +gloomy, and cold. The Y M C A tent and the Canteen tent were crowded. +One wandered off to the town.… And if a fellow ran up against 'a +bit of skirt' he was generally just in the mood to follow it wherever +it might lead. The moral of this is, double your subscriptions to the +Y M C A, Church huts, soldiers' clubs, or whatever organization you +fancy! You will be helping to combat vice in the only sensible way." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +We agree with Donald Hankey that the appetites hold dominion over the +average man, whether civilian or soldier. We do not wish to make any +sweeping generalizations or accusations. We have no means of knowing +how many men are immoral in peace time, as we have in war time. We +only know that conditions of ordinary times are intensified, +aggravated, and multiplied; and they are revealed in war time as never +before, and thrown upon the screen of the public gaze. The writer also +desires to guard against any possible impression that the British army +is worse than our own or any other. It is too early to know what +record our men will make, but we find it difficult to believe that they +could have maintained a higher standard if placed in equal numbers in +the same circumstances. +</P> + +<P> +But to return to our meeting. Every one of these eight hundred men in +this audience has a history. Tired or hardened or haggard faces are +relaxed as they join in singing the hymns on this Sunday evening, +"Nearer, My God, to Thee," "Lead, Kindly Light," "Tell Me the Old, Old +Story," and "Where is my Wandering Boy Tonight?" There is a tragedy in +every heart, and each man has experienced the bitterness of sin and +bears its scars branded in his body. Look into the faces of some of +these men. Here in front, this very first one, is an American cowboy +from Texas, Frank B——. As a "broncho-buster" he became the star +rider in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show and was finally adopted as his +son. At the age of fifteen he started to go wrong in New Orleans. At +an early age he joined the American army, and later, at the outbreak of +the war, he served in the Flying Corps of the British army. Here he +broke a leg and was smashed up in action. After that he joined an +infantry division. In one of the meetings this week he accepted +Christ. He has since been standing firm and goes out tomorrow to begin +a new life. Near him is a young theological student with a sad look on +his face, who has learned here in bitterness the deepest lesson of his +life. Next to him is a heartbroken married man with a wife and +children at home. +</P> + +<P> +After the crowd has assembled, we speak to them of Christ as the Maker +of Men. We tell them of the transformation of others like themselves, +of Augustine, Francis of Assisi, Loyola and the saints of old, of John +B. Gough, Jerry McAuley, Hadley, and the men of Water Street whom God +raised out of the depths, and of men right in their midst who have come +out for Christ in the meetings this week. After speaking for an hour, +we go into the Y M C A for an after-meeting. +</P> + +<P> +We had a wonderful time with them here one Saturday night. Five +hundred of them crowded the hall and listened for an hour as we spoke +on the good news of the free offer of life. When the invitation was +given, over two hundred stayed to the after-meeting as desiring to +follow Christ. After we had spoken one of the men came forward and +asked if he could say a word. He had been an earnest Christian before +the war, and as he began to speak of his fall and of his trusting wife +and children at home, the poor fellow broke down in utter wretchedness. +It seemed to strike a responsive chord in the hearts of the married men +all over the room. Many a one buried his head in his hands and wept +bitterly. A second after-meeting was held and God seemed to be moving +in the heart of every man present. Man after man rose to tell of his +fall, or of his repentance, or of his new acceptance of Christ. The +feeling was deep but controlled. It was one of the saddest and yet one +of the gladdest meetings I have ever attended. One minister present +said he had seen nothing like it all through the Welsh revival. +</P> + +<P> +During their stay in this hospital great changes have taken place in +many of these men. Here is Dan, a young chauffeur, a strong-willed, +self-sufficient young fellow who thought he needed no help and no +religion. He has a Christian wife at home to whom he has been untrue, +for the temptations of the war swept him off his feet like a flood. In +the meetings this week he turned to Christ and has been working right +and left bringing in others ever since. Beside him is a poor fellow +whom he has just brought to the meetings. He went on leave to England, +only to find his three children deserted by his wife, who had run away, +untrue to him. At last he found her, and brought her home. On his +return to the army, he finds that now he has to bear here in the +hospital the vicarious result of her fall. He came to me as a +non-Christian struggling with the problem of forgiveness. Could he +forgive her all this and his broken home? At last in Christ he found +the power to forgive and took up his heavy cross. He knelt at the +altar of the little chapel and yielded up his life to God. Tomorrow he +leaves the hospital to begin a new life. +</P> + +<P> +Here is a young Australian who was untrue to his wife. When we first +saw him he was hardened by sin. That night he yielded to Christ. The +next Sunday we knelt beside him at the Lord's Supper. He was a new +man; his very face was changed. He said, "I have read of miracles in +the past, but there was never a greater miracle than the change which +has taken place in my heart and life. I am a new man. I can look any +one in the face today!" +</P> + +<P> +Beside him at that communion table knelt a young gunner, "Joe," of the +Royal Field Artillery. He was a strong, red-cheeked six-footer, +winsome and good to look upon, the most popular man in his battery. +Away from home among bad companions he was swept off his feet and fell. +He has found Christ here among the prodigals in a far country. Before +leaving he came up to bid us good-by, saying, "I'm going out to warn +other men and to witness for Christ to the end of my days." +</P> + +<P> +Here is M——, a young sergeant, who came up after the meeting, with +tears in his eyes. "Sir," he said, "I was never drunk but once in my +life, when my pals were home on leave, and that once, under the +influence of drink, I fell. Here I am in the hospital, yet I am +engaged to a little girl at home who is as white as snow. What is my +duty in the matter?" He has accepted Christ and is a changed man. +</P> + +<P> +Oh, it is a wonderful sight to see men transformed by this inward moral +miracle, wrought by the touch of the living God. Here in the very +center of this venereal camp stands the Y M C A, endeavoring to meet +their every need, and even here the red triangle shines with the hope +of a new manhood for body, mind, and spirit. Every day at the hour of +opening there is a scurry of feet as the men rush in to the one center +in the whole camp where they can congregate. Martin Harvey has just +been here to cheer them up, and they were enthusiastic over a fine +lecture and recital last night on Chopin. The Colonel in command takes +particular pride in the Y M C A for his men, and states that crime +among them has been reduced ninety per cent since it started. +</P> + +<P> +But even greater than the privilege which the Association has in +ministering to the fallen, is its work of prevention in the other +camps. Just up the road is a swearing old major in command of a unit +which has always had the worst record for immorality and disease of any +camp on the plain. He finally came in and demanded a Y M C A hut for +his men. A few weeks later he came to the Association headquarters and +said, in punctuated language which could not be printed, "For a year +and a half my camp has led all the rest as the worst in venereal +disease, with some twenty-five fresh cases every week. The first week +after the Y M C A was opened we had only ten cases, the next week six, +the third week only two, and it has not risen above that since. Your +Association is the ——— best cure for this evil." +</P> + +<P> +Nothing less than reaching the whole man can meet this gigantic +problem. You must take physical precautions and build up a strong, +clean, athletic body. Better than all repressive rules and +regulations, you must provide healthy and happy occupation for the +minds of the men. But beyond the reach of medical and military +restrictions you have got to grip and strengthen their spiritual and +moral nature. Otherwise, in the artificial and unnatural conditions +consequent upon a vast concentration of men in a foreign land, away +from all home influences, and in the poisonous atmosphere of a land of +"regulated" immorality, where the government still regards it as a +"necessary evil," you must see your men fall in ranks before the +machine guns of commercialized vice, controlled by the vested +interests, or fall a prey to the harpies who walk the streets. In the +face of all this we must lay bold claim to the whole of manhood for God +and for the high ends for which it was created. +</P> + +<P> +The writer recently walked through a French street of licensed vice, +where strong young fellows were tossing away their birthright for a +mess of pottage. He passed on the main street of the city two young +Americans from a medical unit who were reeling along in the possession +of two harpies. They were shouting to all the passers by, trying to +hold up the carriages, and widely advertising their uniform and their +nation. We recognize the difficulty of maintaining a high moral +standard in a foreign land in war time, but we believe it can be done. +A plan has recently been suggested by the Association for dealing with +this menace. +</P> + +<P> +First of all, it is proposed to conduct a campaign of education on the +highest moral grounds by a select group of lecturers, capable of +presenting wisely the danger of immorality from both the medical and +moral standpoints. This will involve the preparation of lectures, +charts, lantern slides, films, and everything needed for the effective +presentation both to the ear and eye. It is hoped that these lecturers +will be able to instruct chaplains, Y M C A secretaries, and all who +are responsible for the moral leadership of the troops, in order that +they may be better able to cope with the situation. It is proposed +that these lecturers conduct meetings for three days in each center, +with a parade lecture for each battalion and voluntary meetings in the +evening, which will include addresses on hygiene, lantern lectures, and +moral talks. Healthy literature will be prepared and distributed to +the men, and similar campaigns will be conducted in the camps in the +United States and on shipboard before the troops reach France. +</P> + +<P> +Second, a positive program for the occupation and amusement of the men +will be provided. Athletic sports, games, tournaments, track meets, +and other events will offer adequate physical facilities. Amusements, +entertainments, concerts, classes, and lectures will be arranged for +the mental occupation of the men. Meetings, personal interviews, and +services will be planned to keep before them the moral and spiritual +challenge and the call for clean living. Special campaigns will be +carried on in all Y M C A huts from time to time. +</P> + +<P> +Third, we would favor strict regulations and penalties to cope with +immorality. We are glad that the selection of camp sites for the +American troops in France is being made at places as far removed from +the temptations of the cities as possible, where the men will be kept +under closer supervision than could be done if the troops were located +near large centers of population. Other means are being provided which +cannot here be mentioned. +</P> + +<P> +In the fourth place, we favor adequate medical provisions, coupled with +the highest moral restraints. We will take our stand against any +league with vice, against any recognition of immorality as a "necessary +evil." We will stand against all notices, lectures, or medical talks +such as are given in some quarters, which practically serve as an +invitation or solicitation to immorality. We would oppose any +provision on the part of the authorities to provide in advance for +immorality, to standardize it, accept it, and attempt to render it +safe, and we would oppose any mention of it which tends to advertise +and increase the evil. We would strenuously oppose the running of +supervised houses of prostitution by our own military authorities, as +was done by some of them on the Mexican border. Conceivably a system +of inspected government houses and of prophylactic measures might be +devised which would eliminate disease altogether, and yet demoralize +the young manhood of our nation by a cynical scientific materialism +such as we are fighting against in the powers that dragged the world +into this war. We are more opposed to immorality than to disease, +which is its penalty. We fear not only the impairment of the physical +fitness of the men as a fighting force, but much more the menace of the +moral degradation of the manhood of the nation, under the unnatural +conditions of wartime. +</P> + +<P> +We believe that the hearty cooperation of the medical and moral +agencies and of the military and voluntary forces which have to do with +the men, can greatly reduce both immorality and disease. We feel sure, +moreover, that the solid backing of public opinion in America will +support every effort to surround our camps with a zone of safety and to +keep the men clean and strong in the multiplied dangers of a foreign +land, as well as in the military camps of our own country. It is +reassuring to know that our military authorities abroad have taken a +strong stand and that in no army in Europe are drunkenness and the +contraction of venereal disease more instantly court-martialled or more +severely punished. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +RELIGION AT THE FRONT +</H3> + + +<P> +The war, like a great searchlight thrown across our individual and +national lives, has revealed men and nations to themselves. It has +shown us the nation's manhood suddenly stripped of the +conventionalities, the restraints, and the outward respectability of +civil life, subjected to the trial and testing of a prodigious strain. +It has shown us the real stuff of which men are made. It is like the +X-ray photographs now constantly used in all the military hospitals, +and placed in the windows of the operating rooms, to guide the surgeon +in discovering the hidden pieces of shrapnel or shattered bones which +must be removed in order to save the patient. +</P> + +<P> +The war has been a great revelation of things both good and bad. In +the light of this terrible conflict, we may well ask what it shows us +of the present virtues and vices of the men, and of our past failure or +success in dealing with them, and to what future course of action it +should summon us? In other words, what lessons has the war to teach +us? Large numbers of young clergymen and laymen of the churches of +England and Scotland have gone to the war zone with the men as +chaplains, Y M C A workers, or in the army itself, and have learned to +know men as they never knew them before. We would covet this +opportunity for every young minister or Christian worker in America. +Mr. Moody once stated that the Civil War was his university. It was +there he learned to understand the human heart and to know and win men. +</P> + +<P> +During the summer of 1917 a questionnaire was sent out to +representative religious workers throughout the armies in France and +Great Britain by a committee under the chairmanship of the Bishop of +Winchester and Professor D. S. Cairns, with Mr. E. C. Carter of the Y M +C A, and the Rev. Tissington Tatlow of the Student Christian Movement, +as secretaries. Although the results and findings of this committee +are not yet published, the writer has before him the reports of numbers +of workers in France. In the base camp where he was last working, the +questions were taken up by more than a hundred of the workers and +discussed in conferences with groups of the soldiers and officers of +the various regiments. These were summarized in findings and the +reports were compared with the returns made from other centers. The +writer has had the privilege of talking with hundreds of the soldiers +regarding their own religious lives and difficulties. In this chapter +he will try to form a composite photograph of all these impressions and +to state impartially the results of his own experience and those of +others. +</P> + +<P> +We shall confine ourselves to three outstanding questions: I. What are +the moral standards and actions of the men in war time? II. What is +their attitude to religion and what is their religious life at the +front? III. What is their attitude to the churches, and what lessons +may the Church learn from the men at the front? +</P> + +<P> +The questionnaire has been answered mainly by men of the British army, +but the writer could observe no radical difference between the British +and American forces as regards their religious life. As in other +things connected with the war, we in America may learn much from the +experience of Britain and other nations. +</P> + +<BR> + +<CENTER> +<P> +I +</P> +</CENTER> + +<P> +<I>What are the moral standards and actions of the men in war time</I>? At +the very beginning, we must recognize the difficulty and danger of +generalizations. No two men in the army are precisely alike. All +sweeping generalizations are likely to be misleading. Regiments differ +from one another and workers receive differing impressions of the +front. Most of all we must distinguish between the different classes +in the army. +</P> + +<P> +It has been repeatedly affirmed that not more than 20 per cent of the +men now under arms among the British troops were connected with the +churches in any vital way before the war, or were regular in attendance +at their services. Of this minority perhaps a half—those who were +weak or nominal Christians before the war or have lost the higher +standards of peace time or have hidden whatever religion they may have +had—would not now be classed as definitely Christian men. But the +remaining half, or one-tenth of the total number in the army, would +probably be out-and-out Christians, strengthened by the severe +discipline of the war and living under distinctly Christian standards. +</P> + +<P> +At the other or lower extreme, there are perhaps one-tenth who are +so-called "rotters," the men who set the evil standards of the camp and +whose conduct is almost altogether selfish and materialistic. Between +these two extremes are the great majority, or four-fifths, whom it is +so difficult to classify. It is our conviction that these men "are not +saved, but are salvable." +</P> + +<P> +What are the moral standards of this majority? They are not definitely +Christian. Rather, they have a military, material standard of the type +of a somewhat primitive social group. Their expressions unconsciously +reveal their judgments. Their constant demand of one another is "to +play the game," that is, to play fair and to do one's part in order to +win the game for the good of all. Anything which harms, hinders, or +endangers another, which brings suffering to one's fellows or defeat to +one's side, is not playing the game. They condemn unmanly actions +which bring defeat, and praise the practical and virile virtues. As +one chaplain writes: "I believe nearly all live partly by faith in a +good God. I have never found men afraid to die, even though they were +afraid before battle. As to the standards by which they live, I should +say they are the sanctions of group morality. They have very lax ideas +about drunkenness and sexual irregularity, but they have very strict +ideas about the sacredness of social obligations within the groups to +which they belong. I would mention sheer fear of public opinion as one +of the great weaknesses of the men. They would rather be in the +fashion than be right. And most of them have been hardened—though not +necessarily in a bad sense." +</P> + +<P> +As we ask ourselves what are the virtues which the majority admire in +others and practice themselves to a greater or lesser degree, we would +say that they are chiefly five: +</P> + +<P> +1. <I>Courage</I> or bravery, the first virtue of the ancients and always at +a natural premium in war time, is admired by all. In countless +instances in the camps or on the battlefield this rises to heroism or +self-sacrifice. Cowardice is scathingly condemned, and the man who +starts to run away on the battlefield is unhesitatingly shot down by +his comrades to preserve the morale of the fighting body. +</P> + +<P> +2. <I>Brotherliness</I>, or comradeship, shows itself in unselfish service +and cooperation with others. +</P> + +<P> +3. <I>Generosity</I> and tender-heartedness show themselves in the men's +willingness to help a comrade, to share their last rations, and to +insist that others be attended to on the battlefield before themselves +when they lie wounded. These are among the most beautiful virtues +which the war has revealed. +</P> + +<P> +4. <I>Straightforwardness</I> and genuine honesty are demanded; and all +cant, hypocrisy, double dealing, shirking, and unreality are scathingly +condemned. +</P> + +<P> +5. <I>Persistent cheerfulness</I> in the midst of monotony, drudgery, +suffering, danger, or death, is admired and maintained by the majority. +This is not incompatible with the "grousing" or grumbling which the +Englishman regards as his prerogative. This good cheer shows itself in +the inveterate singing and whistling of the men on the march.[1] +</P> + +<P> +Commenting upon the virtues of the soldiers, especially the wounded, a +hospital nurse writes: "I was struck by the amount of real goodness +among the men—their generosity, kindness, chivalry, patience, and +self-sacrifice. The sins which they dislike are those sins of the +spirit which Christ denounced most bitterly—hypocrisy, pride, +meanness. They love giving, they bear pain patiently, they honor true +womanhood, they reverence goodness." +</P> + +<P> +Probably no one in the present war has given a better description of +the unconscious virtues of the soldiers than has Donald Hankey, in his +chapter on "The Religion of the Inarticulate," fragments of which we +here quote: +</P> + +<P> +"We never got a chance to sit down and think things out. Praying was +almost an impossibility.… Above all, we were not going to turn +religious at the last minute because we were afraid.… The +soldier, and in this case the soldier means the workingman, does not in +the least connect the things that he really believes in with +Christianity.… Here were men who believed absolutely in the +Christian virtues of unselfishness, generosity, charity, and humility, +without ever connecting them in their minds with Christ; and at the +same time what they did associate with Christianity was just on a par +with the formalism and smug self-righteousness which Christ spent His +whole life in trying to destroy.… The men really had deep-seated +beliefs in goodness.… They never connected the goodness in which +they believed with the God in Whom the chaplains said they ought to +believe.… They have a dim sort of idea that He is misrepresented +by Christianity.… If the chaplain wants to be understood and to +win their sympathy he must begin by showing them that Christianity is +the explanation and the justification and the triumph of all that they +do now really believe in. He must start by making their religion +articulate in a way which they will recognize." +</P> + +<P> +As we turn from the virtues to the vices or moral weaknesses of the +soldier in war time, we find that they also fall chiefly under five +headings: +</P> + +<P> +1. <I>Impurity</I> must certainly take the first place. Investigation +seemed to show that the majority of these men were immoral in peace +time, but the war has intensified this evil. This would be accounted +for to a large extent by the unnatural conditions under which the men +are forced to live, and the policy of the military authorities, who are +often concerned merely with the fighting fitness of the men, rather +than with the moral issues. However this may be, in nearly every camp +or battalion or regiment or body of men questioned, whether among +officers or men, the majority were confessedly living in immorality. +This in itself is a staggering fact. It could be supported here by +numerous statements or authorities and by much evidence. +</P> + +<P> +2. <I>Obscene and profane language</I> is sweeping like an epidemic through +the camps. It is infectious, and the worst men, who are the loudest +talkers, tend to set the standard, so that evil is rapidly and +unconsciously propagated until the very atmosphere becomes saturated. +It is some comfort to know that frequently words are used unthinkingly +and without a full realization of their original meaning. It is also +comforting to be assured that there is not much deliberate telling of +obscene stories. As one man puts it, "There are few essentially rotten +minds." When, however, the name of our Lord is used not only +profanely, but dragged into the most obscene and horrible connections, +unheard of in peace times, no possible excuse can be offered and the +habit cannot but prove deadening and baneful in its influence. Men who +never before thought of swearing find themselves driven to strong +language and to reckless, heightened, or intensified expression in the +trying and persistent strain of war time. +</P> + +<P> +3. <I>Drunkenness</I> has always proved the danger of the soldier. The +discipline of the army has lessened this evil within the camps. +Certainly it is being sternly suppressed and severely punished by the +authorities among the newly arrived American troops. The rum which is +given to the soldiers of the British army before a charge, or in the +extreme cold of the trenches, has taught some men to drink who had not +contracted the habit before. It is also a fact that the drink bill of +England has increased during the war. Lloyd George said: "We are +fighting against Germany, Austria, and Drink; but the greatest of these +three deadly foes is Drink." The drink trade of England is maintained +on the one hand by the powerful vested interests and the respectable +moderate drinkers at the top of society, who are not willing to +sacrifice their selfish comfort for the weaker brother, and on the +other hand by the demand of the laboring classes who will have their +beer, and whom the government does not dare oppose in the present +crisis. Drink has been a curse to Britain during the war. +</P> + +<P> +4. <I>Gambling</I> is a danger to the soldier. It is strictly forbidden in +most of its forms by the military authorities. The game of "House" is +tolerated as a mild form of gambling, where the men play for hours for +very small stakes in order to kill time. The game of "Crown and +Anchor" is also popular. +</P> + +<P> +5. <I>A lack of moral courage</I>, of independence, and of individual +initiative are particular evils of the present. All the men have to +act together. They are taught to obey under rigid discipline. +Individual initiative is crushed or left undeveloped. The sense of +personal responsibility and of personal ownership is often weakened. +This lack of the sense of private property may partly account for the +pilfering which goes on. The men find it exceedingly difficult to take +an open stand on moral or religious questions before their comrades. A +soldier will ordinarily hide his religion and is afraid to be seen +praying or doing anything that makes him peculiar, although the most +immoral and obscene man is not ashamed of his actions. +</P> + +<P> +A lieutenant of the Royal Irish Rifles says: "Taken singly they are +afraid to face public opposition, anxious to avoid bother and exertion, +slack, and easily overcome by temptations. There is a fairly general +chaotic unrest, but little or no serious thought. There is a greater +tolerance towards vice. Many more men practice sexual vice than before +and most refuse to condemn it. It might be said that the men are more +open to religion, but less religious. They are also more open on the +question of sacrifice, the need for living or dying for others." +</P> + +<P> +An army chaplain who himself served in the ranks writes of the soldier: +"He lives an animal life in which the thinking is done for him. Indeed +his relative comfort depends upon the extent to which he can abstain +from thinking. In France the number who take drink increases greatly. +It is wicked, damnably wicked that our lads through ignorance should be +allowed to slip into sins which in themselves are deadly, but which +also open the door to deadlier sins.… There are many indications +that when the Army returns there will be a great social upheaval. Men +feel that they are out to fight Prussianism, but they are becoming +growingly conscious of Prussianism in our own national life. They are +very conscious of it in military life." +</P> + +<P> +If we were to sum up our impressions we would be compelled to say that +there has been an increase of immorality, drinking, and bad language +during the period of the war. +</P> + +<BR> + +<CENTER> +<P> +II +</P> +</CENTER> + +<P> +Let us now ask, <I>What is the attitude of the men to religion, and what +are the characteristics of their religious life in war time</I>? The war +seems to have intensified all the tendencies of peace time. It makes a +man a greater sinner or a greater saint. He is either driven to God or +away from Him. It would be impossible for any single human mind +adequately to sum up the good and evil of war, and strike a balance +between the two. Most Christians cannot believe that war is in itself +good. To those who have seen its hideous reality it is unquestionably +a dire evil. Even the best results of war might have been better +attained by other means. The good is often revealed rather than caused +by it. A moral equivalent for war might have been found. Certainly no +Christian could defend war save as a last resort, forced upon a nation +in defense of its life or for the lives of others, when all more +rational or judicial methods had failed. +</P> + +<P> +Among the obvious <I>evil results of war</I> we would be compelled to name +at least ten: The wanton destruction of human life; the maiming and +suffering inflicted upon the wounded; the breaking up of homes and the +terrible suffering caused to women and children; the loss of wealth and +property, with the subsequent hardship for the poor which it entails, +and the destruction of art, architecture, and the higher material +accomplishments of civilization; the outbreak of immorality and +drunkenness, which always accompanies war; the hardening of the finer +sensibilities of men through the cruelty and barbarity of modern +warfare; the increase of hatred and suspicion; the dividing of humanity +and the destruction of its sense of unity, brotherhood, and +cooperation; the breakdown of international law and respect for law and +order; and the loss of reverence for human life and the sense of its +priceless value. +</P> + +<P> +An equal number of possible <I>good effects</I> may be mentioned which war +may at times call out: The development of courage and heroism; the call +to sacrifice in the sinking of selfish individual interests for the +sake of a cause; the discipline of obedience and the development of +corporate action; the bringing of men out of selfish and careless lives +to the facing of the great realities of God, life, death, and +immortality; the awful object lesson of the results of sin, both +personal and national, and the teaching of the terrible lesson that +"the wages of sin is death"; the widening of men's horizons, the +breaking of old molds, ruts, and restrictions and the opening of men's +minds to new ideas; the chastening and mellowing influence of +suffering, with its possible development of sympathy, tenderness, and +unselfishness; the deepening of the sense of brotherhood within a +single nation with the sinking of the false or artificial social +distinctions of peace time; the strengthening of religious unity by the +stripping off of nonessentials and the laying bare of the great simple +fundamentals; and the new contact with the practical ministry of +religion in hours of deepest need in camps, in hospitals, and on the +battlefields, with the resultant strengthening hold on the great +verities of the love of God, the cross of Christ, and the service of +men. +</P> + +<P> +It will depend upon the individual and his theories of life how he will +strike the balance between these two sides of the good and evil of war. +While the good effects of a war are seen more clearly after it is over, +certainly during the war the vast majority of men at the front would +almost unanimously agree that the preponderating influence and effect +for the time being is evil. +</P> + +<P> +At the beginning of the war in 1914 there was talk of a religious +revival in the various countries. The churches for a time were filled. +The opening of the war drove men to God. With the passing months, +which have now dragged into years, many of the high ideals have +gradually been lowered or lost. Men are certainly ready to listen to a +living message and are probably more open than ever before in their +lives to religious influences, because of their desperate need. They +are between the nether and upper millstones of sin and death. On the +one hand they meet the pressure of terrible temptations, and on the +other they have to face the awful fact of death, unready and +unprepared. But although the men are open to a religious message and +to the Christian challenge presented by one who has a real message, it +could hardly be maintained by anyone that there is a revival of +religion at the front today. Rather the opposite is true. +</P> + +<P> +A friend of the present writer, a chaplain in charge of the religious +work in one of the five armies at the front, well says: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"On the whole, I venture to say, there is not a great revival of the +Christian religion at the front. Deep in their hearts is a great trust +and faith in God. It is an inarticulate faith expressed in deeds. The +top levels, as it were, of their consciousness, are much filled with +grumbling and foul language and physical occupations; but beneath lie +deep spiritual springs, whence issue their cheerfulness, stubbornness, +patience, generosity, humility, and willingness to suffer and to die. +There is religion about; only, very often it is not the Christian +religion. Rather it is natural religion. It is the expression of a +craving for security. Literally it is a looking for salvation." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +It may be asked, To what extent are the men thinking of religion and +discussing its problems? One friend of the writer, a young Anglican +chaplain, says: "The men are not thinking at all. They are 'carrying +on.' They spend hours in playing a game like House because it requires +no thought." However, it would probably be fairer to say that at times +all of them think about religion, although they do not talk very much +about it. It is not, however, consistent thought leading to action. +Rather they have moments of deep impressions, vague longings, +intuitions, and hunger of heart. But the minute anyone starts a +discussion or begins to attack religion, men show that they have been +thinking, or that they have ideas of their own in private. +</P> + +<P> +Most of them believe in God, although they do not know Him in a +personal way. They believe in religion, but have not made it vital and +dominant in their lives. They have a vague sense or intuition that +there is a God and that He is a good God, round about and above them. +He is looked upon, however, not as One whom they are to seek first, but +rather as a last resort; not as a present Father and constant Friend, +but as One to whom they can turn in time of need. They have a vague +feeling of unworthiness, although no clear sense of sin. Yet they also +have an inarticulate belief or intuition that they have tried, however +brokenly or unsuccessfully, to live up to such light as they had or to +some standard of their own. They feel that somehow, though they have +often failed, at bottom they are not so very bad, and that God is very, +very good. Their vague feeling would probably find its most accurate +expression in Faber's hymn, "There's a wideness in God's mercy, like +the wideness of the sea." +</P> + +<P> +They revere God from afar off and in one compartment of their being, +but they have never opened their lives to Him. They have a reverence +for Him in the face of death, in the hour of need, and in the great +crises of life. Most of them like to sing the Christian hymns on +Sunday evening and have thoughts of home and of loved ones that are +sacred. They do not feel that they have come into close personal +relations with God, but neither do they consciously feel that they are +out of relation with Him. They do not think they are altogether right +with Him, but neither do they feel in the bottom of their hearts that +they are wholly wrong with Him. The vast majority of them in the hour +of death do not feel that they have either consciously accepted or +rejected Him. They have not loved darkness rather than light, nor have +they wholly chosen the light and rejected the darkness. +</P> + +<P> +It will depend upon the individual how he classifies these men. Some +will believe that the great love of the Good Shepherd, who laid down +His life for the sheep, will somehow in the end not be thwarted in His +seeking to save the lost. Not only will men differ in their judgment, +but it is exceedingly difficult to pass judgment upon an individual +soldier. He seems to be a different man under different circumstances. +In the temptations at the base camp, he would perhaps appear to be +utterly irreligious and profane. He can hardly be recognized as the +same man as he prays in the hour of battle, or as he lies wounded, +chastened, and sobered, in the hospital. Which situation reveals the +true man? +</P> + +<P> +Before us as we write lies the photograph of a young sergeant. Before +the war he was an atheist, an illegitimate child, a member of the +criminal class. But in the trenches he found God. Blown up by a mine, +for sixteen days he lost the power of speech and of memory. He +returned from the front with a deep sense of God, but with no personal, +vital relationship to Christ. He eagerly welcomed the first real +message that went straight to his heart, and the personal word of +loving sympathy which led him to relate his deep experience of the +trenches to the presence of the living Christ. All this man needed was +someone to interpret to him his own experience, and bring him into the +relationship with God which his own heart craved and longed for. +</P> + +<P> +Beside this photograph is the card of a strong-willed, self-righteous +young Pharisee, who had no use for religion in peace time, but who was +driven to God by his awful conflict with sin in this war. Next comes +the card of a young man who formerly had lived a proper conventional +life without bad habits. The war taught him to drink and he finally +became a drunkard, but in his extremity he found Christ as a personal +Saviour. Next comes the card of a man who had been in a public house +for thirty-two years—twenty-seven years as a bar tender and five years +as a saloon keeper. He said, "I have sent men to hell with drink. I +have seen women who would sell the clothes off the backs of their +children or pawn their husband's clothing to get drink." Yet this man +has been brought to God during the war. Many a man has found God on +the field of battle, or like the thief has turned to him in the hour of +death.[2] +</P> + +<A NAME="img-146"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG SRC="images/img-146.jpg" ALT="Three Thousand Soldiers in the Crowboro Hut." BORDER="2" WIDTH="438" HEIGHT="361"> +<H4> +[Illustration: Three Thousand Soldiers in the Crowboro Hut.] +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +One young soldier thus describes his experience which is typical of +many another: There had been a charge, a hopeless affair from the +start. He lay in the long grass between the lines, unable to move, and +with an unceasing throbbing pain in his left leg and arm. A whizz-bang +had caught him in both places. He just lay there, feeling strangely +peaceful. Above him he could see the stars. All this bloodshed—what +was the good of it? He suddenly felt terribly small and lonely, and he +was so very, very weak. "God!" he whispered softly. "God everywhere!" +Then into his tired brain came a new phrase—"Underneath are the +everlasting arms." He sighed contentedly, as a tired child. They +fetched him in at last. He will never again be sound of limb; but +there is in his memory and in his heart that which may make him a +staunch fighter in other fields. He has learned a new way of prayer, +and the courage that is born of faith well-founded. +</P> + +<P> +The idea has been widely preached by many British chaplains that death +in battle saves. This may be good Mohammedanism, but it is surely not +the Christian message that is given to Christ's ministers to preach. +The verse most often quoted in support of this theory is: "Greater love +hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." +But such a passage cannot be taken out of its context either in +Christ's teaching or in the man's own life. Our Lord had said that we +were to love even as He loved, that is, out of a pure and surrendered +heart to lay down our life for our friends; and He added, "Ye are my +friends if ye do the things which I command you." It is going far +beyond the province of the Christian minister to offer any hope other +than that which is offered by our Lord Himself. It is not death or a +bullet or battle that saves. Christ only saves, and there is no other +name given under heaven. This offer is made to all men and at all +times. +</P> + +<P> +But although one may not preach so dangerous and misleading a doctrine, +it is nevertheless possible to realize that many a man is unconsciously +more of a Christian than he knows, and that in the last day he may say +with surprise: "When saw I Thee an hungered and fed Thee?" +</P> + +<P> +We may turn to "A Student in Arms" for his interpretation of the +feeling of the common soldier in this crisis: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Then at last we 'got out.' We were confronted with dearth, danger, +and death.… They, who had formerly been our despair, were now our +glory. Their spirits effervesced. Their wit sparkled. Hunger and +thirst could not depress them. Rain could not damp them. Cold could +not chill them. Every hardship became a joke.… Never was such a +triumph of spirit over matter.… If it was another fellow that was +hit, it was an occasion for tenderness and grief. But if one of them +was hit, O Death, where is thy sting? O Grave, where is thy +victory?… Life? They did not value life! They had never been +able to make much of a fist of it. But if they lived amiss they died +gloriously, with a smile for the pain and the dread of it. What else +had they been born for? It was their chance. With a gay heart they +gave their greatest gift, and with a smile to think that after all they +had anything to give which was of value. One by one Death challenged +them. One by one they smiled in his grim visage, and refused to be +dismayed. They had been lost, but they had found the path that led +them home; and when at last they laid their lives at the feet of the +Good Shepherd, what could they do but smile?" +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +It has been well said that there is much natural religion in the +trenches, but that much of this religion is not Christian. What is the +attitude of the men to Christ Himself? Most of them associate Him with +all that is highest and noblest in life. They link Him with God in +their thought, and with themselves in their time of deepest need. +Although His name with that of God is sometimes taken on their lips in +profanity, there is often a deep reverence for Him. Thousands have +seen the cross of Christ standing among the ruins in the villages of +Belgium and Northern France, when all about seems to be battered and +wrecked. The old skeptical theories and captious criticisms of pre-war +days are little heard during this awful time. Generally speaking, the +facts of the gospel narrative are not disputed. They believe in Christ +as the revelation of God. They have no difficulty with the doctrine of +the divinity of Christ and do not doubt that He is a living reality and +has power to save. Their only difficulty is with their own sin. They +do not know how to break from it or are unwilling to give it up. +</P> + +<P> +The great need of the hour is for interpretation. On the one hand, men +have had in their hours of great need a deep experience of God which +they do not understand; yet on the other hand, they are gripped by the +power of temptation which alone they cannot overcome. They admire the +virtues of courage, generosity, and purity, but for the most part they +see no connection between these and the presentation of Christ in the +lives and words of those about them who profess to be Christians. What +is needed is personally to relate the man to the God and Father of +Jesus Christ, with Whom he has been brought face to face at the battle +front. There is urgent and imperative need of the giving of that +message, both in public presentation and in the channels of personal +friendship. +</P> + +<P> +One chaplain says of the men: "I am sure the soldier has got religion: +I am sure he has got Christianity; but he does not know he has got +Christianity. I am convinced that of the hundreds of men who go into +action the majority come out affected towards good rather than +coarsened. They come out realizing that there are times when they +cannot get on without God; they are not frightened of Him, they flee to +Him with their simple cries for strength." +</P> + +<P> +While another, a student who laid down his life at the front, makes +this valuable suggestion as to the presentation of Christ: "When I was +talking to them at these services, I always used to try to make them +feel that Christ was the fulfilment of all the best things that they +admired, that He was their natural hero. I would tell them some story +of heroism and meanness contrasted, of courage and cowardice, of noble +forgiveness and vile cruelty, and so get them on the side of the +angels. Then I would try and spring it upon them that Christ was the +Lord of the heroes and the brave men and the noble men, and that He was +fighting against all that was mean and cruel and cowardly, and that it +was up to them to take their stand by His side if they wanted to make +the world a little better instead of a little worse." +</P> + +<BR> + +<CENTER> +<P> +III +</P> +</CENTER> + +<P> +The third question discussed with the men was, <I>What is the attitude of +the soldier to the churches, and what lesson has the Church to learn +from the present war</I>? Let it be said at the very outset that the +writer speaks as a member of the Church and in deep sympathy with it. +As the divinely constituted organization which stands for the highest +human ideals, and for the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth, +we all are, or ought to be, members of the Church. "With charity for +all and with malice toward none," we see no ground for self-complacence +on the part of any branch of the Church, and no part of it which +deserves sweeping condemnation from the rest. Doubtless it will seem +to many that it is unwise to confess our faults, but the men at the +front are not silent, however much we may desire to be. We would do +well to face the facts which this war is forcing upon our attention, +however much we may dislike the searching glare of the present +conflict. Obviously something is wrong. Had the Church fulfilled her +divine mission, the present war between so-called "Christian" nations +would have been impossible. +</P> + +<P> +As was stated in the preceding chapter, according to the opinion of the +majority, less than 20 per cent or one-fifth of the men are vitally +related to any of the Christian communions. A series of conferences +held with individuals and carefully selected groups of men and officers +brought out by a general consensus of opinion the following points as +representing the attitude of the men toward the churches: +</P> + +<P> +1. <I>Indifference to the Church</I>. As one typical young sergeant, a +member of the student movement, puts it: "The men simply have no time +for it. They do not care for the Church because it did not care for +them." There is a general feeling that the churches do not understand +them or sympathize with the social and industrial disabilities of the +men. They feel that the ideals of life for which the Church stands are +dull, dim, and altogether unnatural; its standard of comfort and +complacent respectability makes no appeal to them and they have no part +or lot in it. They feel that this respectability of the Church is +quite in keeping with flagrant selfishness in social and industrial +relationships, that the Church is largely in the possession of the +privileged classes, who monopolize it, and who have neither sought nor +welcomed them within its doors. +</P> + +<P> +As one representative chaplain in a most influential position in France +says: "There is the plain fact that the great mass of men are out with +the Christian Church, and do not look to it as being in any vital +relation to life as they know it, either in peace or war. There is the +deeper and sadder fact that to a very large proportion of them God +Himself means little or nothing, or means something that is very +unchristian. Where there is a living presentation of religion men are +responsive—extraordinarily so. Put it how you will, men must be +summoned to a new thought, a new outlook on life, a new attitude +towards the unseen and eternal." +</P> + +<P> +2. An attitude of <I>separation and alienation</I> from the Church. For the +most part the men are largely ignorant of what the Church really is, +and for this the churches are largely responsible. They believe that +its message and presentation of truth are often too feminine and +impractical and that its fellowship is too cold and exclusive. They do +not understand the vocabulary and tone adopted frequently by preachers +in speaking of religious things, and they feel that the churches are +almost complete strangers to the real facts of life with which they +have to deal. +</P> + +<P> +It is true that the practical work of the churches in their helpful +ministry through the various organizations working in the camps has +brought many of the men into vital contact with religion for the first +time. But the war has revealed the lack of the churches' hold upon the +men in pre-war times. +</P> + +<P> +3. <I>Criticism of its worldliness</I>. The men have an unuttered belief in +God, and they reverence Jesus Christ as the friend and brother and +comrade of man, as the embodiment of the highest ideal they can +conceive. But they feel that somehow the churches do not adequately +represent Christ, that they have become merely the adjunct of the State +to second its schemes and aims. Many feel that the Church has lowered +its colors in the present war, that in some countries it has been +little more than a recruiting station for enlistment and that its +message cannot be reconciled with the Sermon on the Mount. +</P> + +<P> +One sergeant thus states his convictions: "Perhaps it would be well if +we out here could get up a committee of inquiry on 'Civilians and +Religion' and arrive at some decision as to what is the matter with you +at home. Are we to return home where the spiritual fires have been +kept burning brightly, or to the blackened ashes of those great ideals +of the early days of August, 1914, which have burned themselves out? +Are we to return to a country in which, in spite of all the community +of suffering and sorrow, the Christian churches have still their +differences simmering instead of being regiments in one common Army?" +</P> + +<P> +Another soldier writes: "What could not the churches do for the world +if they could only connect the symbols Christ gave us with the +knowledge that is within the hearts of men? There must be more known +about suffering and sacrifice now in the hearts of men than at any past +time. I thought once, on the Somme, that the two races facing each +other in such agony were as the two thieves on their crosses reviling +each other, and that somewhere between us, if we could but see Him, was +Christ on His Cross." +</P> + +<P> +4. The men are <I>bewildered and repelled by the Church's divisions</I>. +There is a widespread feeling among them that there is something wrong +here, that instead of representing Christ or losing themselves in the +wide interests of His Kingdom, instead of concern for the winning of +the world and humanity as a whole, the aims of many of the churches are +petty, narrow, exclusive, and sectarian. There is a feeling among the +men that far too many Christians are working for themselves or for +their own particular branch of the Church, or are, as one of them puts +it, "out for their own show." +</P> + +<P> +In the last hospital we visited, the young American Episcopal chaplain +working with one of our own units asked the writer to accompany him one +morning to help him in cheering up the patients, giving them +Testaments, meeting their needs, and answering their doubts and +difficulties. While we were proceeding through one of the wards, the +Nonconformist chaplain came by. The writer was speaking to a poor boy +who was dying. The chaplain seemed shocked and surprised that we were +speaking to one of his patients without his permission. The young +Episcopal chaplain explained that he felt sure that the chaplain would +not mind if we tried to help the men. Although he followed him out of +the ward and tried his best to make his peace with him, the chaplain +reported the matter, and we were prevented from doing personal +Christian work in neighboring hospitals. +</P> + +<P> +The Roman Catholic chaplain in the next hospital, a most consecrated +and earnest man, has managed to get a military rule passed that no +services can be held in any ward of the hospital unless every Roman +Catholic patient is bodily carried out. This has successfully +prevented the holding of any Christian services whatsoever, Catholic or +Protestant. Throughout the entire war we have never known of a single +instance of any man trying to proselytize or to divert a soldier from +allegiance to his own church. We have known of men leaving the +churches altogether during the war, but not one instance of a man's +changing his church or being asked to do so. Yet the jealousy and +suspicion of the bare possibility of men's doing so has blocked and +excluded much genuine Christian work. +</P> + +<P> +To give another instance—a personal friend of the writer, a young +Anglican clergyman, a widely known college principal, was serving in +one of the huts of a Convalescent Camp. He had made the acquaintance +of the patients in some twelve wards and was going the rounds every +morning telling the war news, giving oranges to the fevered, and +cheering up the depressed. The Commandant came with apologies and told +him that although he was doing the best Christian work in the hospital +it must be discontinued, as the chaplain objected. Our friend, who was +a clergyman of the same communion as the chaplain, called upon him and +asked if he had any objection to the distribution of fruit. He replied +that if our friend did this it would give an unfair advantage to his +work as his particular organization would get the credit, and that he, +as the chaplain, must "push his own show." To continue in the words of +our friend: "Then I asked him if I could send the fruit through the +lady workers or the hut orderlies, or the 'Tommies' who were friends of +the wounded. But he refused all. So I asked him if he would +distribute them if I gave them. This he agreed to, and I have sent +them to him since then. But he is too busy." The oranges were not +distributed, and our friend concludes: "I am out against the whole +principle on which he acts. I don't think he is much to be blamed. He +is one of the best; a keen, hard-working, pleasant man, zealous for his +'own show,' and in its interests doing much for the men. And in his +principle of action he is not an exception, but a common type of the +Anglican <I>padre</I> as I have met them in many lands. They are trained +and encouraged to 'push their own show.' But this keenness on one's +'own show' rather than on men, is the very essence of the sin of +schism, and the very root of Pharisaism. Now, as a rule, all the sects +stand for their 'own show' first, and men know it. I am ashamed to be +a parson today. Men were not made for any Church, but the Church for +them." Here again, which of us is without sin, and who can throw the +first stone at his brother, or at other branches of the sadly divided +Church of Christ? +</P> + +<P> +Facing the vast common need in war time with four thousand wounded +patients, whom no one chaplain could visit, the whole story is +obviously pathetic and sad. The writer also recalls visiting a Y M C A +hut of another nationality, where the secretary was so obviously "out +for his own show," and had become so engrossed in the counter of his +dry canteen and his work as a money-changer, that he had forgotten all +the higher interests of the men, and the high purpose for which he was +there. He had become a mere secularized machine, a kind of automatic +cash register, mistaking in his work the means for the end. He was +just as much "out for his own show" as the three mentioned above, and +it was an infinitely smaller "show." +</P> + +<P> +Here we have four instances of men, each conscientious, well meaning, +and earnest; each zealous for his own work and his own organization; +yet each earning the pity or contempt of the great body of men outside +the churches today who are out of sympathy with sectarian zeal. The +saddest religious spectacle the writer ever witnessed was in the Church +of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, where five chapels divide that +sacred spot where our Lord is supposed to have been crucified, occupied +by five bodies, each claiming to be <I>the</I> church. The blood of their +fellow Christians has been shed by the followers of these churches on +this very spot, and it is a humiliating sight to see them kept apart +even to this day by the Turkish bayonet alone. How many of us are +working for "our own show," rather than for the Kingdom of God? +</P> + +<P> +The war work of the Y M C A in America, in England, in France, and +elsewhere has been made possible only by churchmen sacrificing their +individual interests and losing themselves in service for the Kingdom. +The Association represents the churches at work on behalf of the +suffering men in the war zone. If it should claim the credit for +itself as though it were a wholly independent organization, rather than +the united work of the churches which have sunk their own differences +to make possible this common work, this would be only a manifestation +of the same spirit and more inexcusable. But such a claim it could +never truly make. As a matter of fact, this united work has proved how +truly Christians of various bodies can get together on a great +practical issue. If, as at present, all can unite in a great lay +organization, what may not the churches themselves do in the future? +</P> + +<P> +Should we not in this war repent, in bitterness and deep humiliation, +for our unhappy divisions and each resolve that he will work for +nothing less than the whole Kingdom of God, and that no member of that +Kingdom, even one of these least, shall be excluded from the love and +fellowship which make us one in Him? One of the chaplains in France +who has himself been in the ranks says: "I feel that in the past +churches have been more anxious to get men into the Kingdom of the +Church than into the Kingdom of God, with the result that very many are +Pillars of the Church who are not near to the Kingdom. Out of the two +battalions which I have known as a private soldier, I should say that +not more than five per cent were vitally related to any of the +Christian communions. It is useless making plans for the time when the +boys come home, unless the Church rediscovers her Lord and Master. The +Spirit-filled Church is more necessary than any modifications of +organization." +</P> + +<P> +Is not the whole war a call to deep humiliation to the Church of Christ +and should we not all stand convicted of sin before it? So far as our +saving the world is concerned and our bringing in the Kingdom of love +and peace, which Christ came to establish, does not the war write in +flaming judgment against us, "Thou art weighed in the balances and +found wanting"? Are we not all, like the Pharisees of old, too ready +to throw the first stone at someone else who we may think caused the +war, instead of admitting our own guilt? +</P> + +<P> +As Arnold Freeman, in his lectures at Sheffield University, says: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"We persuade one another that it was the Kaiser, through his lust for +self-glorification, who made this war. Would it be possible for one +man to transform all Europe into a slaughter-house unless that same +Kaiser-spirit found its response in human nature in every corner of +this continent? It is the 'Kaiser' in each one of us that makes wars +possible. It is because we have in every nation, and in every class, +multitudes of men and women who neglect the service of their +fellow-creatures in a desire for self-indulgence and +self-aggrandizement, that this catastrophe has fallen upon us all. It +is a case of devil-possession, and our only hope is to exorcise +ourselves of the evil spirit. Our avowed intention is to cast out +'Kaiserism' in Germany by brute force. We must be no less resolute to +cast it out of this country." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The Bishop of Carlisle has well said that if we were really Christians +this war would not have happened. If the defense of its citizens is +the work of the State, and the redemption of the world is the task of +the Church, no one can deny that the State has done its work far better +than the Church. In the face of this, the most pathetic spectacle that +the Christian world ever witnessed, must we not wring our hands with +shame and cry, "Why could we not cast it out?" The divisions, the +impotence, the worldliness, the coldness, the sin and failure of the +Church stand revealed in the lurid light of this war. +</P> + +<P> +What a self-righteous spirit the war has bred in many of us, and what a +hatred of our enemies! One has but to read the secular and religious +press on both sides of the present conflict to see our sin writ large +before us. Since we have such a keen vision for the mote in our +brother's eye and such an eager perception of every flaw in our enemy, +we can recognize this spirit most readily if we look for it first in +Germany, but in doing so let us clearly recognize that every quotation +can be paralleled by the press both secular and religious on our own +side of the conflict. In all fairness let us state that a large +proportion of the sermons which have been preached in the churches of +Germany, England, and America have had a recognition of the sins of +their own people. But there have been many preachers on both sides who +have praised their own nation to the skies with Pharisaic +self-righteousness, and have seen the enemy only with the distorted +eyes of prejudice and hate. +</P> + +<P> +It will not be necessary to quote here the notorious "Hymn of Hate," by +Ernst Lissauer, which was distributed by the Crown Prince of Bavaria to +his army. Rather let us quote from some of the sermons and poems of +German pastors and the religious press. In a collection of poems +published by a German pastor, Konsistorialrat Dietrich Vorwerk, there +occurred the following paraphrase of the Lord's Prayer: "Though the +warrior's bread be scanty, do Thou work daily death and tenfold woe +unto the enemy. Forgive in merciful long-suffering each bullet and +each blow which misses its mark! Lead us not into the temptation of +letting our wrath be too tame in carrying out Thy divine judgment! +Deliver us and our Ally from the infernal Enemy and his servants on +earth. Thine is the kingdom, the German land; may we, by aid of Thy +steel-clad hand, achieve the power and the glory." Fortunately, this +was deleted in the later editions of this book. +</P> + +<P> +The published sermons of Pastor H. Francke are also typical: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"As Jesus was treated, so also have the German people been treated. +From the East the Russian threatens us. Injustice and bloody deeds of +violence are his life-element, agreements and constitutions, solemnly +sworn to, have no significance for him; he is stained with blood from +top to toe. Germany is precisely—who would venture to deny it?—the +representative of the highest morality, of the purest humanity, of the +most chastened Christianity. They envy us our freedom, our power to do +our work in peace. To heal the world by the German nature is to become +a blessing to the people of the earth. Wherever the German spirit +obtains supremacy, there freedom prevails. Here we come upon the old +intimate kinship between the essence of Christianity and of Germanism. +Because of their close spiritual relationship, therefore, Christianity +must find its fairest flower in the German mind. Therefore we have a +right to say: 'Our German Christianity—the most perfect, the most +pure.' Thus the Germans are the very nearest to the Lord. Is He the +God of those others? No, they serve at best Satan, the father of lies." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The Rev. J. Rump writes in the same strain: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Against us stands the world's greatest sham of a nation, the 'English +cousin,' the Judas among the nations, who betrays Germanism for thirty +pieces of silver. Against us stands sensual France, the harlot amongst +the peoples. Against us stands Russia, inwardly rotten, mouldering, +masking its disease under outbursts of brutality. Germany shall be the +Israel of the future. The Germans are guiltless, and from all sides +testimonies are flowing in as to the noble manner in which our troops +conduct the war. We fight—thanks and praise be to God—for the cause +of Jesus within mankind. Verily the Bible is our book. It was given +and assigned to us, which proclaims to mankind salvation or +disaster—according as we will it." [3] +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Such quotations could be multiplied not only from German war sermons, +but from some that have been preached in England and America as +well.[4] The Archbishop of Canterbury says: "I get letters in which I +am urged to see to it that we insist upon 'reprisals, swift, bloody and +unrelenting. Let gutters run with German blood. Let us smash to pulp +the German old men, women and children,' and so on." [5] +</P> + +<P> +Here is Henri de Regnier's song of hate from France: +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"I swear to cherish in my heart this hate<BR> + Till my last heart-throb wanes;<BR> +So may the sacred venom of my blood<BR> + Mingle and charge my veins!<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +May there pass never from my darkened brow<BR> + The furrows hate has worn!<BR> +May they plough deeper in my flesh, to mark<BR> + The outrage I have borne!<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +By towns in flames, by my fair fields laid waste,<BR> + By hostages undone,<BR> +By cries of murdered women and of babes,<BR> + By each dead warrior son, . . .<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +I take my oath of hatred and of wrath<BR> + Before God, and before<BR> +The holy waters of the Marne and Aisne,<BR> + Still ruddy with French gore;<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +And fix my eyes upon immortal Rheims,<BR> + Burning from nave to porch,<BR> +Lest I forget, lest I forget who lit<BR> + The sacrilegious torch!"<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +A poem recently written by an "Unbeliever" represents all the churches, +Catholic and Protestant, Lutheran and Reformed, of the enemy and of the +Allies, at last united in one message, which furnishes the recurring +refrain of the poem, "In Jesus' Name go forth and slay." +</P> + +<P> +With two-thirds of the world, representing more than twenty nations, +already dragged into the widening vortex of the present war; with more +than five millions of the finest youth of Europe already slaughtered on +the battlefield, with twenty millions who have already been wounded, +nearly forty millions under arms, and whole nations organized for war +and the manufacture of munitions; with the flood tide of impurity and +immorality which war has brought in its train; with the barbarism and +cruelty, poison gas, flaming oil, and organized destruction used at +present on the battlefields of Europe, is it not time for the Church to +set her own house in order, to humble herself with shame in the very +dust for her criminal impotence and worldliness and sin, and to return +to her crucified Lord and Master? Is it not time that we seek a new +vision of His face, to renew our consecration before Him, and to seek a +vital and life-giving message first for ourselves and then for the +world about us? Not for "our country right or wrong," not for a +Pharisaic self-righteousness, but for Christ and His suffering world, +for a whole Kingdom, and a whole Church, must we reconsecrate ourselves. +</P> + +<P> +As Fosdick says, "The issue was drawn: <I>Christianity would be a failure +if it did not stop slavery</I>. And from the day that this issue was +drawn, the result was assured. It was not Christianity that failed, it +was slavery.… This, too, is a climactic day in history. For so +long time the Gospel and war have lived together in ignoble amity! If +at last disharmony between the spirit of Jesus and the spirit of war is +becoming evident, then a great hope has dawned for the race.… The +main issue is clear. <I>Christianity will indeed have failed if it does +not stop war</I>." [6] +</P> + +<P> +Is it not time that we turn to God in humiliation and prayer for an +outpouring of His spirit and a deeply needed revival of religion? In +the words of Admiral Sir David Beatty, the Commander of the British +Fleet, "England still remains to be taken out of her stupor of +self-satisfaction and complacency and until she be stirred out of this +condition, until religious revival takes place at home, just so long +will the war continue." +</P> + +<P> +If at the call of nationalism the manhood of the nation has poured +forth in boundless heroism and self-sacrifice, at the call of Christ +cannot His Church rise again to its high vocation? If half of the zeal +and passion, half of the outpouring of life and treasure, of +organization and efficiency, that the State has put into this war could +be thrown into the cause of the Kingdom and of the eternal verities, +the world would soon be won. If Christians would but follow Christ, +war, as an unbelievably brutal and barbarous anachronism, like its +former savage contemporaries of slavery, the burning of witches, and +the torture of the Inquisition, would be forever done away. The +message with which our Lord challenges the whole Church today is that +with which He began His ministry when He faced His apostate nation, +"Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +[1] The songs of the men which are most popular in war time bear +evidence of this unconscious virtue. They fall into three classes. +There are the songs of cheer so popular in the camps today: "Pack Up +Your Troubles in Your Own Kit Bag and Smile, Smile, Smile," "Are We +Down-hearted, No," "Though Your Heart May Ache Awhile Never Mind," etc. +Then there are the songs of home: "Keep the Home Fires Burning," +"Tipperary," "Take Me Back to Dear Old Blighty," "Put Me on the Train +to London Town," "Back Home in Tennessee," "In My Old Kentucky Home," +"There's a Long, Long Trail Awinding," "Give Me Your Smile," "If You +Were the Only Girl in The World," "Mother McCrae," etc. Then there are +the songs of nationality; The "Marseillaise," "John Brown's Body," +"When Irish Eyes are Smiling," "Come Back to Erin," "Annie Laurie," etc. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +[2] See Appendix III for a typical expression of a soldier's new +experience of religion at the front. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +[3] Quoted in "Hurrah and Hallelujah," pp. 116-119. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +[4] It is interesting to note in this connection some words of Immanuel +Kant. See Appendix I. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +[5] <I>London Times</I>, June 22, 1917. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +[6] "The Challenge of the Present Crisis," Association Press. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE WORLD AT WAR +</H3> + + +<P> +Let us try to grasp the colossal facts of the present war. Since the +beginning of the conflict there has been a daily attrition of more than +25,000 in killed, wounded, or prisoners every twenty-four hours. At +the opening of the fourth year of the war the number killed was over +5,000,000. This does not include those who have perished in the +devastated nations. Not less than 6,000,000 men are now in the +military prisons of Europe, some of whom have undergone great +suffering, both physical and mental. More than 6,000,000 lie wounded +today in the military hospitals, not to speak of several times that +number who have been patched up and sent back into the line to face +death again, or have been rejected as unfit for further service, often +left crippled or maimed, blinded, or deformed for life. +</P> + +<P> +Mere numbers or statistics cannot measure the sacrifice and suffering +of these lives. If we could know the infinite value of the unit of +personality, or compute the preciousness and potentiality of a single +life destroyed, we might then hope to multiply it by the million. If +human scales could weigh the sorrow of a widow's heart, could compute +the anguish of a mother's loss, could prophesy the deprivation of an +orphan's lot, or know the good which might have been done by even one +man who has now been killed, we would then be in a position to begin to +estimate the casualty list. +</P> + +<P> +There are today nearly 40,000,000 men with the colors. If we add to +these the 5,000,000 already killed, the 6,000,000 prisoners and the +large number discharged as unfit for further service, we have a total +of far more than 50,000,000 who have been with the colors in the first +three years of the war. We can better realize the significance of this +statement if we remember that in no previous war have more than +3,000,000 men faced each other in conflict. According to Gibbon, +Rome's great standing army was not over 400,000 men. Napoleon's grand +army did not exceed 700,000, and in the Battle of Waterloo less than +200,000 men were engaged. In the American Civil War less than +3,000,000, and in the Russo-Japanese War only 2,500,000 men were +employed. Indeed, if we sum up the twenty greatest wars of the last +one hundred and twenty-five years, from the Napoleonic Wars to the +present time, less than 20,000,000 men were engaged, while in this war +nearly twice that number are now under arms. Britain alone has +enrolled over 5,000,000 for the army, with 1,000,000 more from the +overseas dominions, and about 500,000 for the navy. Germany has called +some 12,000,000 and Russia more than 12,000,000 to the colors. +</P> + +<P> +By the end of 1917 nearly 6,000,000 men will have been killed. Less +than 5,500,000 were killed in the twenty greatest wars of the last +century and a quarter, all combined. In the Battle of Gettysburg only +3,000 were killed. England's casualty list during a vigorous offensive +averages over 3,000 every day. In the first ten days alone of the +battle of the Somme, the British lost 200,000 in killed or wounded. +France as a whole has lost even more heavily, while Germany's casualty +list during the great battles of the Somme and in Flanders has averaged +200,000 a month. When our own relatives are at the front, and our own +boys are in the line, we realize what these statistics mean. In +Germany alone the number of men killed now totals far over 1,000,000. +Think of the many millions of mothers and wives in the nations of +Europe scanning that crowded page of the newspaper, with several +thousand names on the casualty list every day, each looking to see if +her boy's name is there. +</P> + +<P> +During that fateful day of July 1st when the great drive on the Somme +began, when the English along a front of twenty-five miles and the +French on a front of ten miles leaped out of the trenches and sprang +forward in that terrible charge, men were mowed down like ripened +grain. Regiments on both sides were cut to pieces. The writer's +brother-in-law, a young colonel, went in with 1,100 men of his +battalion—only 130 came out. Only one officer was unscathed and he +has since been killed. The young colonel was shot within an inch of +the heart and fell into a shellhole. Two of his men fell dead on top +of him. There he lay under a terrible fire for sixteen hours, and +finally at midnight gained strength to struggle from under the two +bodies that lay upon him, and crawled on his hands and knees for over a +mile back to the nearest dressing station. In the first year of the +war he lost nearly half his men with trench foot, the men's feet being +frost-bitten or frozen in the muddy trenches. In the second year he +was wounded in seven places by shrapnel, and later, after recovery, was +almost killed. He has now again returned to the service. +</P> + +<P> +Another red-cheeked boy told the writer that his battalion had gone in +with 960 men and had come out with only eighty. In another battalion +all the officers were killed or wounded and the remaining handful was +left with a lance-corporal in command: the colonel, the majors, +captains, lieutenants, sergeants, and corporals had all been killed or +wounded. At Bradford the writer was told that their favorite sons in +the "Bradford Pals" had to be sacrificed, and every man that went into +action in this battalion was either killed or wounded within a few +hours. An unusual proportion of British officers have fallen. The +university students and the flower of the land who have gone into the +officers' training corps have oftentimes been among the first to fall. +</P> + +<P> +Let us now turn from the numbers of killed, wounded, and prisoners and +estimate if we can the cost of the conflict. The present war, more +than any in previous history, has been a warfare of attrition, that is, +by the killing and maiming of men and the destruction of resources to +attempt to wear out the enemy. +</P> + +<P> +Already the cost of the war has mounted to over $130,000,000 a day, or +more than $100,000 every minute of the twelve hours that the sun shines +upon us. Contrast, for instance, the total cost, the lives lost, and +the numbers of men called to the colors in the twenty principal wars +during the last century and a quarter, from the Napoleonic Wars of +1793, with the figures for the present war to August 4, 1917, at the +end of the third year of the conflict.[1] +</P> + +<CENTER> + +<TABLE WIDTH="70%"> +<TR> +<TD> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right"> Twenty previous years </TD> +<TD ALIGN="right"> Present War </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD> Total cost</TD> +<TD ALIGN="right"> $26,123,546,240</TD> +<TD ALIGN="right"> $75,000,000,000</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD> Total killed</TD> +<TD ALIGN="right"> 6,498,097</TD> +<TD ALIGN="right"> 5,000,000</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD> Called to the colors</TD> +<TD ALIGN="right"> 18,562,200</TD> +<TD ALIGN="right"> 40,000,000</TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +</CENTER> + +<BR> + +<P> +We have said that the cost of the war has now risen to the almost +unbelievable total of over $130,000,000 a day.[2] That is more than +the total cost of the whole war between Russia and Turkey in 1828. In +a single great day in the battles on the Somme, or in Belgium, the +British have used as much ammunition as they were able to manufacture +in the entire first ten months of the war in 1914. +</P> + +<P> +Even before the end of 1915 the five great powers had more than doubled +their national debts. When will these debts be paid? Great Britain, +the wealthiest of the nations of Europe, after one hundred years of +peace still owes much of the debt incurred in the American Revolution +and all of the debt incurred in the Napoleonic Wars. The whole cost of +the American Civil War was only $5,000,000,000, and of the Napoleonic +Wars $6,000,000,000, while this war will cost over six times the amount +of either during this single year. +</P> + +<P> +Great Britain's war debt at the end of the third year has reached the +enormous total of more than $20,000,000,000, or twenty times the +national debt of the United States at the beginning of the war, yet +even this does not begin to exhaust her resources. At the close of the +Napoleonic Wars Great Britain's debt was one-third of her national +resources. She can almost double her present enormous war debt before +utilizing a third of her wealth. +</P> + +<P> +We have not in this calculation reckoned on the economic value of the +lives destroyed. That would average about $3,000 for each man. Five +million men killed means an economic loss to the countries concerned of +$15,000,000,000. But the economic value of the lives destroyed +represents only a small fraction of their potentiality—socially, +morally, and spiritually. No human brain can calculate, no heart can +fathom the cost or loss of this terrible conflict. +</P> + +<P> +The cost of less than one month of the present war would equal that of +the entire Franco-Prussian War of 1870. Another month would pay for +the whole Russo-Japanese War; twelve days would pay for the Boer War, +while the cost for three days would dig the Panama Canal. At the +beginning of 1918 the war debts of the warring countries will exceed +$90,000,000,000, or more than one-fifth the wealth of all the warring +nations of Europe. The daily cost of the war is equal to half the +earning power of these European nations, and the interest on their war +debts will be equal to one-half their budgets as they stood at the +beginning of the war. The wealth of more than twenty nations is being +rapidly drained, and the world's financial reserves are being consumed +in this vicious and sinful struggle which an autocratic militarism has +forced upon the world. +</P> + +<P> +Although late in entering the war, America's expenditure has been out +of all proportion to that of any other nation. Upon arrival in this +country the writer finds the statement in our press that the nation +will have spent or sanctioned before the end of 1917, the enormous +total of $19,000,000,000. That is more than twenty per cent of the +entire cost of the war to date for all the European nations. That sum +is as great as Germany spent on land and sea for the conduct of the +first three years of the war. It represents more than twice our total +wealth in 1850, and one-twelfth of our present national wealth of +$328,000,000,000. +</P> + +<P> +In order to estimate further the cost and realize the suffering of the +war, let us turn for a moment to the nations devastated in Europe. In +Belgium and Northern France 9,500,000 were being fed by the Commission +for Relief in Belgium until Germany forbade it. Of 7,000,000 +inhabitants of Belgium, 3,000,000 were early left destitute by the war +and were drawing daily one meal consisting of the equivalent of three +thick slices of bread and a pint of soup. Mr. F. C. Wolcott writes: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"I have seen thousands of people lined up in snow or rain, soaked and +chilly, waiting for bread and soup. I have returned to the +distributing stations at the end of the day and have found men, women, +and children sometimes still standing in line, but later compelled to +go back to their pitiful homes, cold, wet, and miserable. It was not +until eighteen weary hours afterward that they got the meal they +missed. The need will continue to be great for many months after peace +is declared. Factories have been stripped of their machinery. There +is a complete stagnation of industry. It will take months to +rehabilitate these industries and to start the wheels again." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +In Serbia more than 4,000,000 people were deprived of their living by +the war. In Poland the suffering has been more terrible than in either +Belgium or Serbia. The population fleeing behind the retreating +Russians were not able to keep up because of the women and children, +the aged and the sick. They were overtaken by the German army and left +in the charred remains of their burned dwellings. Some 200 cities and +15,000 towns and villages were destroyed in Poland. Already 2,000,000 +have died of starvation there. In some districts all the children +under six years of age have perished. +</P> + +<P> +Armenia has suffered relatively more than any of the other nations. +Mr. Henry Morgenthau, the American Ambassador to Turkey, said: "One +million of these people have either been massacred or deported and +unless succor reaches them shortly, those remaining will be lost." In +all history there is no record more sad than that of the persecution +and extermination of the Armenians. University professors educated in +the United States have had their hair and nails torn out by the roots +and have been slowly tortured to death. Women and girls were outraged +and brutally killed. Little children perished of hunger. It is said +that probably 1,000,000 of the 2,000,000 Armenians in Turkey have been +slain, or have been driven into the country to starve, or have been +forced to accept Islam. +</P> + +<P> +The American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief reports: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Men in the army were the first to be brutally put to death. These and +civilians, after being subjected to horrible tortures, were shot. Even +priests were made victims of brutal murder. Women, children, the sick +and aged, were forced at a moment's notice to start on foot on a +journey of exile. Mothers, torn from their children, were compelled to +leave the little ones behind. Women giving birth to children on the +road were forbidden to delay, but, under the whiplash, were made to +continue their march until they dropped from exhaustion to die. A +United States Consul reported that he saw helpless people brained with +clubs, while children were killed by beating their brains out against +the rocks. Other children were thrown into rivers and those who could +swim were shot down as they struggled in the water. Crimes that have +been, and are being, practiced upon Armenian women are too cruel and +horrible for words. The mutilated corpses of hundreds bear testimony +to this inhuman reign." [3] +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Who was responsible for these outrages, and how long will the world +permit them to continue? +</P> + +<P> +Whichever way we turn, whether we survey the number of killed, wounded, +or prisoners, the cost of the conflict, or the suffering of the +devastated nations, we realize that <I>the war means sacrifice</I>. It is +difficult for us at home in America to appreciate the spirit in which +the men in this great struggle in Europe are fighting, and the +sacrifices they are making. In all these months in many lands, the +writer has not heard from the lips of a single soldier who had actually +seen service at the front, words of hatred or of boasting. Quietly and +often with sadness most of these men are going forward to face death. +</P> + +<P> +Here is a letter from a young officer who fell on that fatal first day +of July on the Somme. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"I never felt more confident or cheerful in my life before, and would +not miss the attack for anything on earth. Every officer and man is +more happy and cheerful than I have ever seen them. My idea in writing +this letter is in case I am one of the 'costs' and get killed. I have +been looking at the stars, and thinking what an immense distance they +are away. What an insignificant thing the loss of, say, forty years of +life is compared with them! It seems scarcely worth talking about. +Well, good-bye, you darlings. Try not to worry about it, and remember +that we shall meet again really quite soon. This letter is going to be +posted if …" +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +A friend of the writer, a young chaplain whom he met recently at the +front, went out to find his brother's mangled body on the battlefield. +The boy who fell was the son of the Bishop of Winchester, and one of +the finest spirits in Oxford. Canon Scott Holland writes: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"The attack had failed. There was never any hope of its succeeding, +for the machine guns of the Germans were still in full play, with their +fire unimpaired. The body had to lie where it had fallen. Only, his +brother could not endure to let it lie unhonoured. He found some +shattered Somersets, who begged him to go no further. But he heard a +voice within him bidding him risk it, and the call of the blood drove +him on. Creeping out of the far end of the trench, as dusk fell, he +crawled through the grass on hands and knees, in spite of shells and +snipers, dropping flat on the ground as the flares shot up from the +German trenches. At last he found what he sought. He could stroke +with his hand the fair young head that he knew so well; he could feel +for the pocket-book and prayer-book, the badge and the whistle. He +could breathe a prayer of benediction and then crawl back on his +perilous way in the night." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The writer has just come from visiting a group of a dozen British and +American military hospitals in one French town, with from one to four +thousand patients in each, where at this moment the trains are arriving +in almost a steady stream, bearing the wounded from the front in the +great drive in Flanders. He has stood by the operating tables and +passed down those long, unending rows of cots. Some of these tragic +hospital wards are filled with men, every one of whom is blinded for +life by poison gas or shrapnel. They, like all the other wounded, are +brave and cheerful, but it will take great courage to maintain this +cheer, groping a long lifetime in the dark. One man counted 151 trains +of twenty cars each, or 3,000 carriages, filled with German wounded +passing back in a steady stream through Belgium. Behind all the active +fronts these train loads of wounded are daily bearing their burden of +suffering humanity. The cities and towns of Europe are filled with +limping or crippled or wounded men today. +</P> + +<P> +Opposite the writer at the ship's table sat a young man with the lower +part of his face carried away. His chin and jaw were gone, yet he must +live on for a lifetime deformed. Another young fellow had spent seven +long weary months in training. The moment his regiment reached the +front it was ordered immediately into action. He sprang to the top of +the trench, but never got over it. He fell back wounded. Within three +days he was back in England again, but with only one leg. Seven months +of training, five minutes in action, then crippled for life! The +writer saw one young fellow whose face was left contorted by shrapnel, +which had carried away one eye and the bridge of his nose. He was a +quiet, earnest Christian. He said, "Of course, they cannot send me +back again into the line or compel me to go with only one eye, but I am +going just the same. I am going to give all that I have left to the +country and the cause." [4] +</P> + +<P> +Hear that young soldier of France, Alfred Casalis, a brilliant student +of philosophy and theology, a Student Volunteer for the African mission +field, as he writes home to his father and mother at the age of +nineteen: "I volunteered of course. I know with an unalterable +knowledge and with an unconquerable confidence that the foundation of +my faith is unshakeable, it rests upon the Rock. I shall fight with a +good conscience and without fear (I hope), certainly without hate. I +feel myself filled with an illimitable hope. You can have no idea of +the peace in which I live. On the march I sing inwardly. I listen to +the music that is slumbering inside me. The Master's call is always +ringing loudly in my ears. I am not afraid of death. I have made the +sacrifice of my life. I know that to die is to begin to live." And +the last sentence of the unfinished letter written before the charge in +which he fell, "The attack cannot but succeed. There will be some +wounded, some killed, but we shall <I>go forward</I> and far—" In the +other pocket of his coat, at the end of his will were the words, "'I +have fought the good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the +faith.' And I would that all my friends, all those who are every +moment with me, and whose hearts beat with mine, should repeat the word +of our hope, 'Because I live, ye shall live also.'" [5] +</P> + +<P> +Professor Gilbert Murray, of Oxford, writes thus of the sacrifice of +the men for us: "As for me personally, there is one thought that is +always with me—the thought that other men are dying for me, better +men, younger, with more hope in their lives, many of whom I have taught +and loved. The orthodox Christian will be familiar with the thought of +One who loved you dying for you. I would like to say that now I seem +to be familiar with the feeling that something innocent, something +great, something that loved me, is dying, and is dying daily for me. +That is the sort of community we now are—a community in which one man +dies for his brother." +</P> + +<P> +Yes, these boys are making the great sacrifice for us. With 5,000,000 +who have already been killed, with 10,000,000 of our own sons enrolled. +as subject to their call to the colors when needed, with hundreds of +American army camps at home and in France already crowded with men, +what sacrifice can we make for them? How can we surround their lives +with the best influences of home, that they may come back to us even +better men than when they went away? +</P> + +<P> +We have seen the terrible ordeal to which they will be subjected at the +front, the temptations to which they are exposed in France, in the +training schools, and the base camps; we have seen something of the +havoc which demoralizing forces have already wrought in other armies in +the camps of the prodigals, and we have seen the deadly dangers and +perils, both physical and moral, which the soldier must face. We have +spoken of the enormous sums voted to carry on a great war of +destruction. Is there not a yet more urgent need that we should supply +the great constructive forces for fortifying the physical and moral +manhood of our nation? Two organizations have been recognized by our +own and the other allied governments in the war zone—the one bearing +the symbol of <I>the red cross</I> for the wounded, and the other <I>the red +triangle</I> for the fighting men. +</P> + +<P> +The nation has already generously responded to the needs of the wounded +even before the first battle was fought, giving more in one week than +any other nation in a year for the same purpose. And not a dollar too +much has been given for this great cause. But we shall soon have +several millions of fighting men under arms. What are we to do for +these men? We have already seen that they present a threefold need. +There is the physical need of these millions who will soon be training, +fighting, and suffering. Only the men at the front know what it really +is. There are the mental and social requirements of men who must have +recreation, healthy amusement and occupation. There is also the moral +and spiritual need of men who will face the greatest temptations of +their lives, when they will be farthest from the help of home and +friends, while old standards seem to be submerged or swept away "for +the period of the war." +</P> + +<P> +We have already seen that the building that bears the red triangle of +the Y M C A at the front is at once the soldier's club, his home, his +church where his own denomination holds its services, his school, his +place of rest, his recreation center, his bank and postoffice where he +writes his letters, his friend in need that stands by him at the last +and meets his relatives who are called to his bedside in the hospital. +If there is anything which safeguards the physical, social, and moral +health of the men who are dying for us, can we do less than provide it +for them? While billions are being spent for destruction, must we not +at least invest an infinitesimal fraction of one per cent of our +expenditure, in construction, in that which is the greatest asset of +any nation—its moral manhood? Can we not provide a home away from +home for our own sons and the other boys with them whose parents may be +too poor to do so? +</P> + +<P> +Here is a unique contribution which America can also make to her hard +pressed allies who have been exhausted by three terrible years of +fighting. Britain has already set us a wonderful example and will not +need our help. But there is France to which we owe so much and whose +war weary soldiers sorely need just such centers for recreation and +rebuilding. General Petain, the Commander in Chief, and the French +authorities have asked for the help of our Movement in their camps. +General Pershing, after surveying the field, has declared that the +greatest service which America can <I>immediately</I> render France, even +before our own men can reach the trenches in large numbers, is to +extend the welfare work of the Y M C A to the entire French Army. Can +we do less than this for the nation that gave all that Washington asked +in our own hour of crisis? Then there is Italy, with all her deep need +and great possibilities. What can we do to minister to the wants of +her great army? +</P> + +<P> +But let us turn to Russia, which represents the deepest need of +all—the nation which has undergone the greatest suffering, both within +and without its borders, of any of the belligerents. Think of its vast +area, greater than all North America, or one seventh of the land area +of the entire globe. Think of its population, almost twice our own, +and more than one tenth of the entire world. Think of these people, +who have the greatest capacity for suffering of any nation on earth, +suddenly released, like their own prisoners, with steps unsteady and +eyes unaccustomed to the blinding light of freedom. Think of what such +a movement of hope and cheer and re-creation may mean to troops hard +pressed or demoralized, facing another winter in the trenches. +</P> + +<P> +Add to all these the suffering prisoners of war, and we have over +24,000,000 men who deeply need the ministry of this Movement, and need +it now. Here are millions who have already suffered or who are going +forward ready to make the great sacrifice for us. What sacrifice shall +we make for them? +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +[1] See World Almanac 1916, p. 488. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +[2] The cost of the war has been calculated by various writers on both +sides of the Atlantic. Mr. Wm. Rossiter writes on "The Statistical +Side of the Economic Costs of the War," in the <I>American Economic +Review</I> for March, 1916. Mr. Edmund Crammond's paper in <I>The Journal +of the Royal Statistical Society</I>, Sir George Paish in the various +issues of the <I>London Statist</I>, and others, have given careful +estimates of the direct cost of the war to nations and individuals. +During the first and cheapest year, according to Mr. Rossiter, the +total cost of the war, not including the economic value of the lives +lost, rose to forty billion dollars. That is equal to all the national +debts of the world. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +[3] See Appendix II on "The Treatment of Armenians," by Viscount Bryce. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +[4] Publishers' Note: The whole problem of the meaning of suffering and +its relation to the present war, especially for those who have suffered +bereavement, is dealt with by the author in his book, "Suffering and +the War." +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +[5] "For France and the Faith," Letters of Alfred Eugène Casalis, +Association Press. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +APPENDIX I +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +EXTRACTS FROM "ETERNAL PEACE" +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +BY +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +IMMANUEL KANT +</H3> + +<P> +"No conclusion of peace shall be held to be valid as such when it has +been made with the secret reservation of the material for a future war. +No State having an existence by itself—whether it be small or +large—shall be acquired by another State through inheritance, +exchange, purchase, or donation. A State is not to be regarded as +property or patrimony, like the soil on which it may be settled. +Standing armies shall be entirely abolished in the course of time. For +they threaten other States incessantly with war by their appearing to +be always equipped to enter upon it. No State shall intermeddle by +force with the constitution or government of another State. +</P> + +<P> +"No State at war with another shall adopt such modes of hostility as +would necessarily render mutual confidence impossible in a future +peace—such as the employment of assassins or poisoners, the violation +of a capitulation, the instigation of treason, and such like. These +are dishonorable stratagems. For there must be some trust in the habit +and disposition even of an enemy in war. +</P> + +<P> +"The civil constitution in every State shall be republican. The law of +nations shall be founded on a federation of free States. People or +nations regarded as States may be judged like individual men. If it is +a duty to realize a state of public law, and if at the same time there +is a well-grounded hope of its being realized—although it may be only +by approximation to it that advances ad infinitum—then perpetual peace +is a fact that is destined historically to follow the falsely so-called +treaties of peace which have been but cessations of hostilities. +Perpetual peace is, therefore, no empty idea, but a practical thing +which, through its gradual solution, is coming always nearer its final +realization; and it may well be hoped that progress toward it will be +made at more rapid rates of advance in the times to come." [1] +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +[1] English Edition—Pages 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 76, 81, 127. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +APPENDIX II +</H3> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +EXTRACTS FROM "THE TREATMENT OF ARMENIANS" +<BR><BR> +BY +<BR><BR> +VISCOUNT BRYCE +</H3> + +<P> +From Four Members of the German Missions Staff in Turkey to the +Imperial German Ministry of Foreign Affairs at Berlin: "Out of 2,000 to +3,000 peasant women from the Armenian Plateau who were brought here in +good health, only forty or fifty skeletons are left. The prettier ones +are the victims of their gaolers' lust; the plain ones succumb to +blows, hunger, and thirst. Every day more than a hundred corpses are +carried out of Aleppo. All this happened under the eyes of high +Turkish officials. The German scutcheon is in danger of being smirched +for ever in the memory of the Near Eastern peoples." +</P> + +<P> +Events in Armenia, published in the <I>Sonnenaufgang</I>, and in the +<I>Allgemeine Missions-Zeitschrift</I>, November, 1915: "Twelve hundred of +the most prominent Armenians and other Christians were arrested; 674 of +them were embarked on thirteen Tigris barges, the prisoners were +stripped of all their money and then of their clothes; after that they +were thrown into the river. Five or six priests were stripped naked +one day, smeared with tar, and dragged through the streets. For a +whole month corpses were observed floating down the River Euphrates, +hideously mutilated. The prisons at Biredjik are filled regularly +every day and emptied every night—into the Euphrates." … +</P> + +<P> +From a German eye-witness: "In Moush there are 25,000 Armenians; in the +neighborhood there are 300 villages, each containing about 500 houses. +In all these not a single male Armenian is now to be seen, and hardly a +woman. Every officer boasted of the number he had personally +massacred. In Harpout the people have had to endure terrible tortures. +They have had their eyebrows plucked out, their breasts cut off, their +nails torn off. Their torturers hew off their feet or else hammer +nails into them just as they do in shoeing horses. When they die, the +soldiers cry: 'Now let your Christ help you.'" +</P> + +<P> +Memorandum forwarded by a foreign resident at H.: "On the 1st of June, +3,000 people (mostly women, girls, and children) left H. accompanied by +seventy policemen. The policemen many times violated the women openly. +Another convoy of exiles joined the party, 18,000 in all. The journey +began, and on the way the pretty girls were carried off one by one, +while the stragglers from the convoy were invariably killed. On the +fortieth day the convoy came in sight of the Euphrates. Here they saw +the bodies of more than 200 men floating in the river. Here the Kurds +took from them everything they had, so that for five days the whole +convoy marched completely naked under the scorching sun. For another +five days they did not have a morsel of bread, nor even a drop of +water. They were scorched to death by thirst. Hundreds upon hundreds +fell dead on the way, their tongues were turned to charcoal, and when, +at the end of five days, they reached a fountain, the whole convoy +naturally rushed towards it. But here the policemen barred the way and +forbade them to take a single drop of water. At another place where +there were wells, some women threw themselves into them, as there was +no rope or pail to draw up the water. These women were drowned, the +dead bodies still remaining there stinking in the water, and yet the +rest of the people later drank from that well. On the sixty-fourth +day, they gathered together all the men and sick women and children and +burned and killed them all. On the seventieth day, when they reached +Aleppo, there were left 150 women and children altogether out of the +whole convoy of 18,000." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +APPENDIX III +</H3> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +LINES WRITTEN BY A SOLDIER IN THE +<BR> +ENGLISH ARMY ABOUT MARCH, 1916. +</H3> + +<BR> + +<CENTER> +<P> +<I>Christ in Flanders</I> +</P> +</CENTER> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"We had forgotten You or very nearly,<BR> +You did not seem to touch us very nearly.<BR> + Of course we thought about You now and then<BR> +Especially in any time of trouble,<BR> +We know that You were good in time of trouble<BR> + But we are very ordinary men.<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +And there were always other things to think of,<BR> +There's lots of things a man has got to think of,<BR> + His work, his home, his pleasure and his wife<BR> +And so we only thought of You on Sunday;<BR> +Sometimes perhaps not even on a Sunday<BR> + Because there's always lots to fill one's life.<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +And all the while, in street or lane or byway<BR> +In country lane in city street or byway<BR> + You walked among us, and we did not see.<BR> +Your feet were bleeding, as You walked our pavements<BR> +How did we miss Your foot-prints on our pavements;<BR> + Can there be other folk as blind as we?<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +Now we remember over here in Flanders<BR> +(It isn't strange to think of You in Flanders)<BR> + This hideous warfare seems to make things clear,<BR> +We never thought about You much in England<BR> +But now that we are far away from England<BR> + We have no doubts--we know that You are here.<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +You helped us pass the jest along the trenches<BR> +Where, in cold blood, we waited in the trenches,<BR> + You touched its ribaldry and made it fine.<BR> +You stood beside us in our pain and weakness.<BR> +We're glad to think You understand our weakness.<BR> + Somehow it seems to help us not to whine.<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +We think about You kneeling in the Garden<BR> +Ah! God, the agony of that dread Garden;<BR> + We know you prayed for us upon the Cross.<BR> +If anything could make us glad to bear it<BR> +'Twould be the knowledge, that You willed to bear it<BR> + Pain, death, the uttermost of human loss.<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +Tho' we forgot You, You will not forget us.<BR> +We feel so sure that You will not forget us.<BR> + But stay with us until this dream is past--<BR> +And so we ask for courage, strength, and pardon,<BR> +Especially I think, we ask for pardon,<BR> + And that You'll stand beside us to the last."<BR> +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +APPENDIX IV +</H3> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +LETTER FROM LORD KITCHENER TO HIS MEN +</H3> + +<P> +"You are ordered abroad as a soldier of the King to help our French +comrades against the invasion of a common enemy. You have to perform a +task which will need your courage, your energy, your patience. +Remember that the honor of the British Army depends upon your +individual conduct. It will be your duty not only to set an example of +discipline and perfect steadiness under fire, but also to maintain the +most friendly relations with those whom you are helping in this +struggle. The operations in which you are engaged will, for the most +part, take place in a friendly country, and you can do your own country +no better service than in showing yourself, in France and Belgium, in +the true character of a British soldier. +</P> + +<P> +Be invariably courteous, considerate, and kind. Never do anything +likely to injure or destroy property, and always look upon looting as a +disgraceful act. You are sure to meet with a welcome and to be +trusted; and your conduct must justify that welcome and that trust. +Your duty cannot be done unless your health is sound. So keep +constantly on your guard against any excesses. In this new experience +you may find temptations both in wine and women. You must entirely +resist both temptations, and while treating all women with perfect +courtesy, you should avoid any intimacy. +</P> + +<P> +Do your duty bravely. +</P> + +<P> +Fear God. +</P> + +<P> +Honor the King." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Kitchener,<BR> +Field-Marshal.<BR> +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> +<hr class="full" noshade> + +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WITH OUR SOLDIERS IN FRANCE***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 18325-h.txt or 18325-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/3/2/18325">http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/3/2/18325</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: With Our Soldiers in France + + +Author: Sherwood Eddy + + + +Release Date: May 6, 2006 [eBook #18325] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WITH OUR SOLDIERS IN FRANCE*** + + +E-text prepared by Al Haines + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 18325-h.htm or 18325-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/3/2/18325/18325-h/18325-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/3/2/18325/18325-h.zip) + + + + + +WITH OUR SOLDIERS IN FRANCE + +by + +SHERWOOD EDDY + +Author of "Suffering and the War," "The Students of Asia," etc. + + + + + + + +[Frontispiece: The American Y.M.C.A. Headquarters in Paris.] + + + + + +Association Press +New York: 124 East 28Th Street +1917 +Copyright, 1917, by +The International Committee of +Young Men's Christian Association + + + + +To M. H. E. + +AND THE REAL HEROES OF THE WAR + +THE MOTHERS WHO HAVE GIVEN THEIR SONS + +AND THE WIVES WHO HAVE GIVEN THEIR HUSBANDS + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER + + FOREWORD + + I. AT THE FRONT + II. WITH GENERAL PERSHING'S FORCE IN FRANCE + III. A DAY IN THE "BULL RING" + IV. WITH THE BRITISH ARMY + V. LIFE IN A BASE CAMP + VI. THE CAMP OF THE PRODIGALS + VII. RELIGION AT THE FRONT + VIII. THE WORLD AT WAR + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + +The American Y.M.C.A. Headquarters in Paris . . . . . . _Frontispiece_ + +The "Eagle Hut" in London + +Harry Lauder Singing at a Y.M.C.A. Meeting. The officer + seated at the extreme right is Captain "Peg" + +Wholesome and Entertaining, + Home Refreshments in London + +Three Thousand Soldiers in the Crowded Hut + + + + +FOREWORD + +The world is at war. Already more than a score of nations, +representing a population of over a thousand millions, or two-thirds of +the entire human race, are engaged in a life-and-death struggle on the +bloody battlefields of Europe, Asia, and Africa. No man can stand in +the mouth of that volcano on a battle front, or meet the trains pouring +in with their weary freight of wounded after a battle, or stand by the +operating tables and the long rows of cots in the hospitals, or share +in sympathy the hardship and suffering of the men who are fighting for +us, and remain unmoved. The man must be dead of soul to whom the war +does not present a mighty moral challenge. It arraigns our past manner +of life and our very civilization. It gives us a new angle of +observation, a new point of view, a new test of values. It furnishes a +possible moral judgment by which we can weigh our life in the balance +and see where we have been found wanting. + +These brief sketches are only fragmentary and have of necessity been +hastily written. The writer has been asked to state his impression of +the work among the men in France. He did not go there to write but to +work. He has tried simply to state what he saw and to leave the reader +to draw his own conclusions. A mere statement of the grim facts at the +front, if they are not sugar-coated or glossed over, may not be +pleasant reading, but it is unfair to those at home that they should +not know the hard truth of the reality of things as they are. + +Before the war broke out, it was the writer's privilege to make an +extended tour for work among students in Russia, Turkey, Bulgaria, +Serbia, and Greece, and to visit Germany. Since the declaration of +war, he has visited France, Italy, and Egypt, and has observed the +effect of the war throughout Asia, in tours extending over nearly the +whole of China and India. Last year he was in the British camps among +the soldiers of England, Scotland, and Wales. Since America declared +war he has been working with the various divisions of the British and +American armies in France, from the great base camps, where hundreds of +thousands of men are in training, up to the front with the men in the +trenches. + +For the sake of those who will follow with deep interest the boys who +are already in France, or who will shortly be there, brief accounts are +given of the various phases of a soldier's life in the base camps, the +training school of the "Bull Ring," at the front, and in the hospitals. + + + + +CHAPTER I + +AT THE FRONT + +In the midst of our work at a base camp, there came a sudden call to go +"up the line" to the great battle front. Leaving the railway, we took +a motor and pressed on over the solidly paved roads of France, which +are now pulsing arteries of traffic, crowded with trains of motor +transports pouring in their steady stream of supplies for the men and +munitions for the guns. Now we turn out for the rumbling tank-like +caterpillars, which slowly creep forward, drawing the big guns up to +the front; then we pass a light field-battery. Next comes a battalion +of Tommies swinging down the road, loaded like Christmas trees with +their cumbrous kits, sweating, singing, whistling, as they march by +with dogged cheer toward the trenches. + +We have crossed the Somme with its memories of blood, on across +northern France, and now we have passed the Belgian frontier and are in +the historic fields of Flanders, where the creaking windmills are still +grinding the peasants' corn, and the little church spires stand guard +over the sleeping villages. A turn of the road brings us close within +sound of the guns, which by night are heard far across France and along +the coasts of England. Soon we enter villages, which lie within range +of the enemy's "heavies," with their shattered window glass, torn +roofs, ruined houses, tottering churches, and deep shell holes in the +streets. Now we are in the danger zone and have to put on our +shrapnel-proof steel helmets, and box respirators, to be ready for a +possible attack of poison gas. + +Another turn in the road, and the great battle field rises in grim +reality before us. Far to the left stands the terrible Ypres salient, +so long swept by the tide of war, and away to the right are the blasted +woods of "Plug Street." Right before us rises the historic ridge of +Messines, won at such cost during the summer. We are standing now at +the foot of the low ridge where the British trenches were so long held +under the merciless fire of the enemy. From here to the top of the +ridge the ground has been fought over, inch by inch and foot by foot. +It is blasted and blackened, deep seamed by shot and shell. The trees +stand on the bare ridge, stiff and stark, charred and leafless, like +lonely sentinels of the dead. The ground, without a blade of grass +left, is torn and tossed as by earthquake and volcano. Trenches have +been blown into shapeless heaps of debris. Deep shell holes and mine +craters mark the advance of death. Small villages are left without one +stone or brick upon another, mere formless heaps, ground almost to +dust. Deserted in wild confusion, half buried in the churned mud, on +every hand are heaps of unused ammunition, bombs, gas shells, and +infernal machines wrecked or hurriedly left in the enemy's flight. + + +Here on June 7th, at three o'clock in the morning, following the heavy +bombardment which had been going on for days, the great attack began. +In one division alone the heavy guns had fired 46,000 shells and the +field artillery 180,000 more. The sound of the firing was heard across +France, throughout Belgium and Holland, and over the Surrey downs of +England, 130 miles away. + +The Messines ridge is a long, low hill, only about 300 feet in height, +but it commands the countryside for miles around, and had become the +heavily fortified barrier to bar the Allied advance between Ypres and +Armentiers. Since December, 1914, the Germans had seamed the western +slopes with trenches, a network of tunnels and of concrete redoubts. +Behind the ridge lay the German batteries. For months this ridge had +been mined and countermined by both sides, until the English had placed +500 tons of high explosive, that is approximately 1,000,000 pounds of +amminol, beneath nineteen strategic points which were to be taken. At +the foot of the ridge, along a front of nine miles, the British had +concentrated their batteries, heavy guns, and vast supplies of +ammunition. Day and night for a week before the battle began, the +German positions had been shelled. At times the hurricane of fire died +down, but it never ceased. By day and by night the German trenches +were raided and explored. A large fleet of tanks was ready for the +advance. Hundreds of aviators cleared the air and dropped bombs upon +the enemy, assailing his ammunition dumps, aerodromes, and bases of +supplies. The battle had to be fought simultaneously by all the forces +on the land, in the air, and in the mines underground. All the horrors +of the cyclone and the earthquake were harnessed for the conflict. + +In the early morning, a short, deathly silence followed the week's +terrific bombardment. At 2:50 a. m. the ground opened from beneath, as +nineteen great mines were exploded one by one, and fountains of fire +and earth like huge volcanoes leaped into the air. Hill 60, which had +dealt such deadly damage to the British, was rent asunder and +collapsed. It was probably the greatest explosion man ever heard on +earth up to that time. Then the guns began anew to prepare for the +attack and a carefully planned barrage dropped just in front of the +English battalions as they advanced. As the men came forward, the +barrage was lifted step by step and dropped just ahead of them, to +pulverize the enemy and protect the British troops. By five o'clock +Messines itself was captured by the fearless Australians. There was a +most desperate struggle just here where we were standing at Wytschaete. +All morning the battle raged along this line, but by midday it was in +the hands of the dashing Irish division. Seven thousand prisoners were +taken, while the British casualties, owing to the effective protection +of their terrific barrage, were far less than the German and only +one-fifth of what they had calculated as necessary to take this +strategic position. + + +We make our way up to the crest of the Messines ridge where we can look +back on the conquered territory and forward to the new lines. The +great guns are in action all about us. They are again wearing down the +enemy in preparation for the next advance. For the moment we feel only +the grand and awful throb of vast titanic forces in terrible conflict. +Day and night, in the air, on the earth, and beneath it, the war is +slowly or swiftly being waged. The fire of battle smolders or leaps +into flames or vast explosions, but never goes out. + +Above us the very air is full of conflict. Hanging several hundred +feet high are half a dozen huge fixed kite-balloons, with their +occupants busily observing, sketching, mapping, or reporting the +enemy's movements. Each of these is a target for the attacking +aeroplanes and the occupants must be ready, at a moment's notice, to +leap into a parachute when they are shot down. High above these +balloons a score of British planes are darting about or dashing over +the enemy's lines, acting as the eyes of the huge guns hidden away +behind us. We are looking at one far up seemingly soaring in peace +like a graceful bird poised in the air, when suddenly we see it +surrounded by a dozen little white patches of smoke which show that it +has come within range of the enemy's anti-aircraft guns and the clouds +of shrapnel are bursting about it. Most of them break wide of the mark +and it sails on unscathed over the enemy's lines. Just above us is +hanging a German _taube_, obviously watching us and the automobile +which we had left below in the road, while the British huge +anti-aircraft guns near by are feeling for it, shot after shot. + +We duck into our little Y M C A dugout, just under the crest of the +ridge. It is an old, deserted German pit for deadly gas shells, which +even now are lying about uncomfortably near, in heaps still unexploded. +Here the men going to and from the trenches, come in for hot tea or +coffee and refreshments night and day. A significant sign forbids more +than thirty men to congregate at once in this exposed spot, as +sometimes these Y M C A dugouts are blown to atoms by a shell. The one +down below in "Plug Street" has been blown to bits, and the man in the +one just up the line has been under such fire for several days that he +will have to abandon his dugout. + +Just in front of us over the ridge is the first line of the present +British front. There is no time to build trenches now or to dig +themselves in. They just hold the broken line of unconnected shell +holes, or swarm in the great craters which are held by rapid fire +machine guns. The men go out by night to relieve those who have been +holding the ground during the previous day. It is harder for the +enemy's artillery to locate and destroy men scattered in these +irregular holes and craters than if they were in a clear line of +trenches. The British front faces down the slope toward the bristling +German lines, dotted with hidden snipers and studded with sputtering +machine guns. As the evening falls the batteries behind and all about +us open fire. Flash after flash of spurting flame leaps out from the +great guns. Boom upon boom, deep voiced and varied, follows from the +many calibred guns in the darkness, till the night is lurid and the +ground beneath us quivers with the earthquake of bombardment. + +High above we hear the piercing shriek of the shells speeding to their +fatal mark, and below the crash of the exploding shells of the enemy, +which toss the earth in dark waves into the air in the black surf of +war. Gun after gun now joins the great chorus, swelling and falling in +a hideous symphony of discordant sounds. The whole horizon is lit up +and aflame. The sky quivers and reflects the flash of the great guns, +as with the constant vibration of heat lightning. Flares and Verey +lights of greenish yellow and white turn the night into ghastly day, +and like the lurid flames of an inferno light up the battlefield, while +the rifles crackle in the glare. Here a parachute-light like a great +star hangs suspended almost motionless above us, lighting up the whole +battlefield, and now a burning farmhouse or exploding ammunition dump +illuminates the sky as from some vast subterranean furnace flung open +upon the heavens. All the long sullen night the earth is rocked by +slow intermittent rumbling, till with the silent dawn the birds wake +and the war-giants sink for a few hours in troubled sleep. Then the +new day breaks and the war-planes climb in the clear morning air to +begin the battle afresh. + +But let us turn from the hard-won ground of Messines to some of the men +who fought over it and survived. Here is a young American, Fred R----, +a graduate of Johns Hopkins, who fought in this battle with the +Canadians, and who told us in his own words the story of those brief +hours. + + +"Our opening barrage lasted about twenty minutes, but in that short +time some two million shells were dropped on the enemy from about nine +thousand of our guns. We could hear no distinct reports, just one +steady roar of continuous explosion. The ground shook beneath us and +fragments from the trenches and dugouts caved in about us from the +shock. The air was oppressive and you felt difficulty in breathing, as +if you were in a vacuum. + +"About three o'clock in the morning the order came to 'Stand to!' and +shortly after the word rang out 'Up and over! Over the top boys, and +the best of luck!' With one foot on the fire step we climbed out of +the deep trench and with our rifles we started forward at a walk, +behind our advancing barrage. I was tense now and all of a tremble. +At a time like this every man is driven to his deepest thoughts. It is +not fear exactly, but apprehension and dread of the unknown. + +"As we started forward, one young boy fell at my side. I heard him +call, 'O, Mother!' as he fell. Another cried, 'O, God!' and sank down +on the other side. Then my partner, a boy of eighteen, fell, both legs +blown away above the knee. I bound up his wounds and carried him on my +back to the nearest dressing station. 'Fred,' he said, 'would you mind +kissing me just once? So long!' and with that he was gone. Then I got +mad and began to see red. In the first trench I ran amuck and with +rifle, bayonet, and bombs I suppose I accounted for twenty men in the +hour that followed. + +"I've been gassed three times, twice with the old gas and once with the +new, and I've had my share. Would I like to go home now? Say, I'd +rather be a lamp-post at the foot of Michigan Boulevard in Chicago than +the whole electric light system in all the rest of the universe!" + + +We turned from this young American to Sapper W---- of Western Canada, +who had just been through the same battle underground, and asked him to +tell us his own story. + + +"Well, sir, long before the battle we were digging under Hill Number +60. A chance shell exploded on the surface above us and buried us all +underground. Three of us were killed and the other two left alive. I +had one man across my chest and another across my legs, one dead and +the other wounded. We could not move hand or foot. We were buried in +there for seven hours and they finally dug us out unconscious. + +"Then we started another sap to lay a mine. My pal was listening, with +an iron rod driven in the ground and two copper wires leading from it +to a head piece, such as a wireless operator uses, so that we could +hear the approach of the enemy's sappers, who were countermining +against us. My pal asked me to come and listen. But I had hardly got +the headpiece on when I said, 'O Lord, they're on us!' and before I +could get the thing off my ears the end of our sap fell through and the +Germans were at us. There was only room to use revolvers and bayonets +in that dark hole and the Germans seemed to get nervous and could not +shoot straight in the panic. We lost only one of our men, but we +killed seven and took the rest of the twenty prisoners. Then, before +they found out what had happened, we crawled through to the German end +of the tunnel and blew up their sap. + +"You say was I a Christian? Not me! I was wild and going to the +devil. But one night I was wounded and lay in a deserted shell hole, +shot through the thigh, and unable to move for fifteen hours. I was +feeling for a cigarette in my pocket to ease the pain a bit, but all I +could find was a little pocket testament which someone had given me, +but which I had never read. I managed to get it out and, thinking it +might be my last hour, and that I might never be found, I started to +read to try and forget my wound. I read the twenty-seventh chapter of +Matthew, and sir, that little book changed my life. I have read a +chapter every day since then. I was picked up by the infantry and +carried to a hospital. One night when I could not sleep for the pain, +the nurse asked me if she could do anything for me, and I asked her to +read the Bible to me. She said she had never read it in her life, and +I said it was about time she began, if that was so. After she read it, +she said it helped her too. Yes, I say my prayers on my knees in the +tent now. Another boy has joined me this week; and the language in the +tent is getting better. I'm off to the front tomorrow to take my turn +again. But I'm no longer alone up there in the trenches. It's +different now." + + +We have heard the story of one in the infantry and of a sapper +underground. Here is the experience of a young Canadian student from +McGill University in the artillery: + + +"The past weeks have been ten thousand hells. It is nothing but death, +noise, blood, and mud. There are only two of our sergeants left now +and we have to keep up our spirits. You often feel as if your brain +would burst. I couldn't begin to describe the inferno human beings +pass through every day. 'Happy' was shot to pieces with a shell a few +nights ago while in bed, both arms and one leg off. I carried him for +over four hours to the nearest dressing station and then stayed and +watched him die. He never whimpered. Though in terrible agony, he +died game, as he always was. That is about the hardest knock I have +ever had in my life. He is only one of my many friends that have gone. +Believe me, war is Hell." + + +Here is the account of a simple Australian boy in the front trench: + + +"Fritz had a machine gun to nearly every ten yards. I don't know what +became of my friends Hugh and Bill. They were just beside me, but when +I looked around both were gone. A shell landed just at the side of me, +and I think Hugh and Bill were blown to pieces. I got my wound in the +chest and the fragment came out through my back. I thought my last day +had come. I dropped into a hole, and no sooner had I got in, than Mack +got it through the face. He was able to go back, but I was simply +helpless, as my legs refused to move. Anyhow, I pulled the shovel off +my back and dug a little ridge in the side of the trench. No sooner +had I done this than Fritz started to bombard. One shell fell in the +hole in which I was, but exploded in the opposite direction. Then +another came and landed just above my head, but it failed to go off. +Had it gone off I never would have been here now. I had prayed hard to +my God to deliver me from my enemies and when those things happened I +felt my prayer was heard and that I was going to come through. I was +there in that hole all day and the next night before anyone came near +me. At last one of the 19th Battalion chaps came along and went for a +stretcher for me." + + +Such are the varying impressions which a battle makes upon various men. +It is no romance, but a grim reality of life and death. Far into the +night we lie awake and ask ourselves, what is the meaning of it all? + +At first on the field of battle one thrills at the sound of mighty and +unearthly forces loosed, but in the din we suddenly realize that boys +are dying all about us, and that these guns bear swift death and +mangling to suffering men. Between us and the enemy are just a few +deep shell holes and a thin red line of flesh and blood, as a human +rampart, formed of men who hold their lives in their hands, ready to +make the great sacrifice. Behind us are the hidden guns and the +support trenches in the narrow strip of hard-won territory. Behind +these are the moving columns on the long roads, the pulsing arteries of +traffic, and the moving troop trains on the rails. Behind these in +turn are the plying ships, the millions of toiling workers, and the +suffering hearts of the nations in arms. Whole nations--yes, almost +the whole of humanity--are organized for war and dragged into deadly +conflict as by some devil's behest, instead of being organized for +brotherhood and the building of a better world. Oh, not for this +devil's work were men made. Surely mankind must come to its own in +these birth pangs of a new era. Never, never again must a whole +humanity of the free-born sons of God be dragged into the hell of war +to sate the pride or pomp of kings, or to glut the ambition of scheming +secret groups who have taught men that they are created as obedient +slaves. + +Far behind us, marking the slow advance up this ridge of death, are the +sheltered cemeteries of white crosses that tell the price that has +already been paid. There are five thousand crowded graves in yonder +acre alone. Great is the price, awful in its solid weight of agony. +This is no longer a war between two peoples, but between two +principles; it is as much to free the German people as to protect +ourselves. It is not for this narrow strip of hard-won soil, but for +every foot of a world that from henceforth must be free. The men who +are fighting on grounds of moral principle would rather pay any price +than lie at ease under the false shadow of militarism, materialism, and +grasping greed. These men are fighting, and many of them know that +they are fighting, for a new world. Not only military oppression, but +industrial oppression, must go. Not only German militarism, and +Russian autocracy, and Turkish cruelty must be done away; but American +materialism must be purged in the fiery furnace of this war. Its +purposes will reach far beyond our ken, and though man's sin alone has +caused the war, its issues are in the hands of God. The whole war has +been a demonstration of the result of leaving God out of His world. +The world with God left out leaves war; and life with God left out +leaves hell. + +There must be a turning to God in our own national life. We speak of +the menace of German militarism, but what is militarism but armed and +aggressive materialism, the deeper principle which lies behind it? And +what is materialism but organized selfishness? Materialism and +selfishness are the dangers of our own land as well as of Germany. And +the war is a call to set our own house in order. + +America can no longer live to herself alone. She is fighting for the +freedom of humanity. Here on the very field of battle, at the +throbbing heart of the conflict, we ask ourselves, What is the real +issue of the war? What are they fighting for? + +Away there in Austria a young crown prince, Francis Ferdinand, was +murdered. It was the spark which set off the powder mine of Europe. +But not for him are they fighting. Behind him stood the two contending +forces of the growing nationalism of Serbia and the expanding +commercialism of Austria. These two forces clashed in conflict, but +not for them are they fighting. Behind these stood two greater powers, +those of pan-Germanism and pan-Slavism, a growing Germany and a rising +Russia, which like a vast glacier for a thousand years had sought the +open sea. The ambitions of these two powers clashed in conflict at +Constantinople and elsewhere. But not for them are they fighting. + +On the western front there were two deeper principles in conflict, +those of autocracy and democracy, the question whether one man and a +sinister, hidden group of plotting militarists could drag the whole +world into war and crush its liberties and its laws beneath the iron +heel of despotism, or whether man as man should stand erect in his +God-given right of freedom and work out his own destiny in friendly +brotherhood. + +But behind even the great conflict between autocracy and democracy lay +a yet deeper issue. In the last analysis the final question in human +life is between a material and a spiritual interpretation of the +universe, whether might makes right and the strong are to rule, or +whether right makes might and the moral order is supreme. There is a +material and a spiritual side of life. On this side is the brute +struggle for life; on that, the struggle for the life of others; on the +one hand, the fight for the survival of the fittest, and on the other, +the fight to make men fit to survive. On the left hand is selfishness +and on the right service; on the one side are the red battlefields of +the enemy, and on the other is a cross red in sacrifice of a life laid +down in the serving and saving of men. There is a final issue in the +world between passion and principle, between wrong and right, between +darkness and light, between mammon and God, between self and Christ. + +This ultimate issue must be faced by individuals and by nations. It is +the challenge which confronts men in this war. Seventy years ago a +crushed Europe faced the issue in the prophetic words of Mazzini, +written in the hour of darkness and defeat: + + +"Our victory is certain; I declare it with the profoundest conviction, +here in exile, and precisely when monarchical reaction appears most +insolently secure. What matters the triumph of an hour? What matters +it that by concentrating all your means of action, availing yourselves +of every artifice, turning to your account those prejudices and +jealousies of race which yet for a while endure, and spreading +distrust, egotism, and corruption, you have repulsed our forces and +restored the former order of things? Can you restore men's faith in +it, or think you can long maintain it by brute force alone, now that +all faith in it is extinct? Threatened and undermined on every side, +can you hold all Europe forever in a stage of siege?" [1] + + +Pasteur sees the same issue looming even in his day and states it in +burning words at the close of his life: + + +"Two contrary laws seem to be wrestling with each other nowadays, the +one a law of blood and of death, ever seeking new means of destruction +and forcing nations to be constantly ready for the battlefield; the +other a law of peace, work, and health, ever evolving new means of +delivering man from the scourges which beset him. The first seeks +violent conquests, the other the relief of humanity. The latter places +one human life above any victory, while the former would sacrifice +hundreds and thousands of lives to the ambition of one. Which of these +two laws will ultimately prevail God only knows. We will have tried, +by obeying the laws of humanity, to extend the frontiers of Life." [2] + +Lincoln faced the same issue in the midst of the war weariness of our +own great conflict with words which come back to the nation now with a +prophetic call: + + +"The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it +can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, +to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here +have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here +dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from these +honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they +gave the last full measure of devotion--that we here highly resolve +that these dead shall not have died in vain--that this nation, under +God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the +people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth." + + +[1] Life and Writings of Mazzini, vol. v, pp. 269-271. + +[2] Life of Pasteur, p. 271. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +WITH GENERAL PERSHING'S FORCE IN FRANCE + +We are in the midst of an American army encampment in a French village. +For miles away over the rolling country the golden harvests of France +are ripening in the sun, broken by patches of green field, forest, and +stream. The reapers are gathering in the grain. Only old men, women, +and children are left to do the work, for the sons of France are away +at the battle front. The countryside is more beautiful than the finest +parts of New York or Pennsylvania. In almost every valley sleeps a +little French hamlet, with its red tiled roofs and its neat stone +cottages, clustered about the village church tower. It is a picture of +calm and peace and plenty under the summer sun. But the sound of +distant guns on the neighboring drill grounds, a bugle call down the +village street, the sight of the broad cowboy hats and the khaki +uniforms of the American soldiers, arouse us to the realization of a +world at war and the fact that our boys are here, fighting for the soil +of France and the world's freedom. + +We are in a typical French farming village of a thousand people, and +here a thousand American soldiers are quartered. A sergeant and a +score of men are in each shed or stable or barn loft. The Americans +are stationed in a long string of villages down this railway line. +Indeed it is hard to tell for the moment whether we are in France or in +the States. Here are Uncle Sam's uniforms, brown army tents, and new +wooden barracks. The roads are filled with American trucks, wagons, +motors, and whizzing motorcycles, American mules, ammunition wagons, +machine guns, provisions, and supplies, and American sentinels down +every street. + +These are the men of the First Division, scattered along behind the +French lines, being drilled as rapidly as possible to take their place +in the trenches for the relief of the hard-pressed French. The nucleus +is made up of the men of the old army, who have seen service in Cuba, +Porto Rico, the Philippines, Texas, or along the Mexican border. And +with them are young boys of nineteen, twenty, or twenty-one, with clear +faces, fresh from their homes, chiefly from the Middle West--from +Illinois to Texas. + +The first thing that strikes us as we look at these men is their superb +kit and outfit. From the broad cowboy hat, the neat uniform close +fitting at the waist, down to their American shoes; from the saddles, +bits, and bridles to the nose bags of the horses; from the guns, +motors, and trucks down to the last shoe lace, the equipment is +incomparably the best and most expensive of all that we have seen at +the front. The boys themselves are live, clean, strong, and +intelligent fellows, probably the best raw material of any of the +fighting forces in Europe. The officers tell us that the American +troops are natural marksmen and there are no better riflemen in the war +zone. The frequency of the sharpshooters' medals, among both the +officers and the men, shows that many of them already excel in musketry. + +The second impression that strikes us is the crudeness of the new men, +and the lack of finish in their drill, as compared with the veteran +troops of Britain and France. The progress they have made, however, in +the past few weeks under their experienced American officers of the +regular army has been truly remarkable. + +The next impression we receive is the enormous moral danger to which +these men are exposed in this far-away foreign land. During the whole +war it is the Overseas Forces, the men farthest from home influences, +who have no hope of leave or furlough, who are far removed from all +good women and the steadying influence of their own reputations, that +have fared the worst in the war. The Americans not only share this +danger with the Colonials and other Overseas Forces, but they have an +additional danger in their high pay. Here are enlisted men who tell us +that they are paid from $35 to $90 a month, from the lowest private to +the best paid sergeants. When you remember that the Russian private is +allowed only one cent a day, that the Belgian soldier receives only +four cents a day, the French private five cents, the German six cents, +and the English soldier twenty-five cents a day, most of which has to +go for supplementary food to make up for the scantiness of the rations +supplied, you realize what it means for the American soldier to be paid +from one to three dollars a day, in addition to clothing, expenses, and +the best rations of any army in Europe.[1] + +Some of these men tell us that they have just received from two to +three months' back pay in cash. Here they are with several hundred +francs in their hands, buried in a French village, with absolutely no +attraction or amusement save drink and immorality. In this little +village the only prosperous trade in evidence is that in wines and +liquors. The only large wholesale house is the center of the liquor +trade and the only freight piled up on the platform of the station +consists of wines and champagnes, pouring in to meet the demand of the +American soldiers. There are a score of drinking places in this little +hamlet. Our boys are unaccustomed to the simple and moderate drinking +of the French peasants, and they are plunged into these _estaminets_ +with their pockets full of money. Others under the influence of drink +have torn up the money or tossed it recklessly away. Prices have +doubled and trebled in the village in a few weeks, and the peasants +have come to the conclusion that every American soldier must be a +millionaire; as the boys have sometimes told them that the pile of +notes, which represents several mouths' pay, is the amount they receive +every month. Compare this with the $1.80 a month, in addition to a +small allowance for his family, which the French private gets, and you +will readily see how this false impression is formed. + +Temptation and solicitation in Europe have been in almost exact +proportion to the pay that the soldier receives. The harpies flock +around the men who have the most money. As our American boys are the +best paid, and perhaps the most generous and open-hearted and reckless +of all the troops, they have proved an easy mark in Paris and the port +cities. As soon as they were paid several months' back salary, some of +them took "French leave," went on a spree, and did not come back until +they were penniless. The officers, fully alive to the danger, are now +doing their utmost to cope with the situation; they are seeking to +reduce the cash payments to the men and are endeavoring to persuade +them to send more of their money home. Court martial and strict +punishment have been imposed for drunkenness, in the effort to grapple +with this evil. + +Will the friends of our American boys away in France try to realize +just the situation that confronts them? Imagine a thousand healthy, +happy, reckless, irrepressible American youths put down in a French +village, without a single place of amusement but a drinking hall, and +no social life save such as they can find with the French girls +standing in the doorways and on the street corners. Think of all these +men shut up, month after month, through the long winter, with nothing +to do to occupy their evenings. Then you will begin to realize the +seriousness of the situation which the Young Men's Christian +Association is trying to meet. + +Here on the village green stands a big tent, with the sign "The +American Y M C A," and the red triangle, which is already placed upon +more than seven hundred British, French, and American Association +centers in France. Inside the tent, as the evening falls, scores of +boys are sitting at the tables, writing their letters home on note +paper provided for them. Here are men playing checkers, dominoes, and +other games. Other groups are standing around the folding billiard +tables. A hundred men have taken out books from the circulating +library, while others are scanning the home papers and the latest news +from the front. + +Our secretaries have been on the ground for a week, working daily from +five o'clock in the morning until midnight. They have unpacked their +goods and are doing a driving trade over the counter, to the value of +some $200 a day. In certain cases goods are sold at a loss, as it is +very hard indeed to get supplies under present war conditions. The +steamer "Kansan" was torpedoed, and sank with the whole first shipment +of supplies and equipment for the Y M C A huts in France. + +Outside a baseball game is exciting rivalry between two companies; +while near the door of the tent a ring is formed and the men are +cheering pair after pair as they put on the boxing gloves and with good +humor are learning to take some rather heavy slugging. Poor boys, they +will have to stand much worse punishment than this before the winter is +over. Just beside the present tent there is being rushed into position +a big Y M C A hut which will accommodate temporarily a thousand men, +before it is taken to pieces and shipped to some new center. The +Association has ordered from Paris a number of permanent pine huts, 60 +by 120 feet, which will accommodate 2,000 soldiers each, and keep them +warm and well occupied during the long cold winter evenings that are to +come. On the railway siding at the moment are nine temporary huts, +packed in sections for immediate construction, and a score of permanent +buildings have been ordered to be erected as fast as the locations for +the camps are selected by the military authorities. Indeed, the aim is +to have them on the ground and ready before the boys arrive and take +the first plunge in the wrong direction. + +What is the life that our boys are living here at the front? Let us go +through a day with the battalion quartered in this village. At five +o'clock in the morning the first bugle sounds. The boys are quickly on +their feet, dressing, washing, getting ready for the day's drill. In +half an hour they are tucking away a generous breakfast provided by +Uncle Sam, of hot bacon, fried potatoes and coffee, good home made +bread, and as much of it as a man can eat. They get meat twice a day, +and we have found no soldiers in Europe who receive rations that +compare with the food that our boys receive. + +By 6:40 a. m. the men have reached the drill ground on the open fields +above the village and are ready to begin the eight or nine hours of +hard work and exercise that is before them. Half of each day is spent +with the French troops, learning more quickly with an object lesson +before them, and the remaining half day is spent in training by +themselves. The French squad goes through the drill or movement; then +the American battalion, after watching them, is put through the same +practice. They are trained in bayonet work and charges, in musketry +and machine gun practice, in the handling of grenades, and the throwing +of bombs. There is evidence of speeding up and an apparent pressure to +get them quickly into shape, in order to take their place in the +trenches before the winter sets in. A few weeks at the front with the +French troops will soon give them experience, and after a winter in the +trenches, the men of these first divisions will doubtless form the +nucleus for a large American army, and provide the drill masters +quickly to train the men for the spring offensive. + +On the day we were there, after a hard morning's drill, the Colonel +assembled three battalions and put them through the first regimental +formation and the first regimental review since landing in France. The +men of the First, Second, and Third battalions marched by, and one +could quickly contrast the disciplined movements of the veterans or old +soldiers with the crude drill of the new recruits, some of whom could +not keep step or smoothly execute the movements. + +At the noon hour, after the men had taken their midday meal and had +rested for a few minutes, the Colonel asked us if we would address the +troops. Some two thousand men were marched in close formation around +the large military wagon on which we were to stand. The mules were +unhitched and the men seated themselves on the grass, while the band +played several pieces. A great hunger of heart possesses any man with +half a soul as he looks into the faces of these boys, beset by fierce +temptations and facing a terrible winter in the trenches. At the +beginning we reminded them of the words of Lord Kitchener to his troops +before they left for France: "You are ordered abroad as a soldier. . . +Remember that the honor of the Army depends upon your individual +conduct. . . Your duty cannot be done unless your health is sound. So +keep constantly on your guard against any excesses. In this new +experience you may find temptations both in wine and women. You must +entirely resist both temptations, . . . treating all women with perfect +courtesy." [2] Kitchener's words furnish a text for the two-fold +danger which confronts these men. Here for an unhurried hour, with the +generous backing of the officers, we plead with the men on military, +medical, and moral grounds, for the sake of their own homes and +families, for the sake of conscience and country, on the grounds of +duty both to God and to man, to hold to the high ideals and the best +traditions of the homeland. Here, with no church save the great dome +of God's blue heaven above us, seated on the green grass, under the +warm summer sun, we have the priceless privilege of trying to safeguard +the life of these men in the grave danger of wartime. + +We were encouraged alike by the splendid support of the officers and +the warm-hearted and eager response of the men as they broke into +prolonged applause. The General in command attended one meeting and +pledged us his support for our whole program for the men. He had +already cooperated with us most generously on the Canal Zone, in the +Philippines, and in Mexico. Three colonels presided at three +successive meetings, and gave the work their strong moral support. +Three bands were furnished in two days. The official backing of the +authorities placed the stamp of approval on the whole moral effort for +the welfare of the men. In no other army in Europe that we have seen +have the officers taken such a keen interest in the highest welfare of +the troops, or offered such constant and efficient cooperation with +every effort to surround the men with the best moral influences. + +After the meeting, the regimental parade and the strenuous physical +drill of the morning, the Colonel called for a short break, and the men +gathered to learn some popular songs. Major Roosevelt assembled his +battalion, and Archie Roosevelt enthusiastically led the men in singing +Julia Ward Howe's "Battle Hymn of the Republic" and the modern soldier +songs of the war. + +After nine hours of hard drill, the men swung cheerfully down the +hillside into the village street. Now they have lined up, and with +ravenous appetites are waiting for the evening meal. We are almost as +hungry as they, and are glad to share the meal with them. Here on the +table are huge piles of good home-made bread. It is almost the first +white bread we have seen after months of brown war bread in England and +France. Here are heaping plates of good pork and beans, tinned salmon, +plenty of fried potatoes, and piping hot coffee. This is followed by a +delicious pudding, as good as the men would have had in their own +homes. Well fed, well clothed, well equipped, sleeping under Uncle +Sam's warm blankets, on comfortable "Gold Medal" cots, our boys are +well cared for. + +In another village, at the close of the day, the Colonel commanding two +battalions of the infantry called the men together in the open square +of the market place, and after a band concert invited us to address the +troops on the moral issues of the war. The next day almost the same +program was repeated, and at noon in an open field on a grassy hillside +the Major of another battalion marched out his men for a similar +lecture. Every commanding officer seemed eager to arrange for +meetings, to summon the men, and to back up the messages given to them. +Not only have General Pershing, General Sibert, and the Colonels +commanding the various regiments, met us half way in every plan for the +welfare of the troops; but they have taken the initiative in insisting +that every provision should be made for the physical, mental, and moral +occupation and safeguarding of the men. + +Probably more men are led astray in the war zone when they go on leave +than at any other time, in reaction from the deadly monotony of camp +life, or the inferno of the trenches. London and Paris are the chief +centers of danger. In London, just before sailing for the States, we +visited the finely equipped American "Eagle" Hut in the Strand. It +would be difficult to devise a more homelike or attractive place for +soldiers. In addition to sleeping accommodations for several hundred +men, the lounge and recreation rooms, the big fireplaces and +comfortable chairs suggested the equipment of an up-to-date club, in +marked contrast to the surroundings of a cheerless soldiers' barracks. + +[Illustration: The "Eagle Hut" in London.] + +In Paris, in addition to the permanent headquarters at 31 Avenue +Montaigne, we are hoping to provide hotels and hostels and guides for +supervised parties to see the chief points of interest, and to plan +such healthy occupation for the soldiers that the evils of the city may +be counteracted. Better still we are planning resorts in the French +Alps, where summer and winter sports, athletics, mountain climbing, and +physical and mental recreation will obviate altogether the necessity of +leave to Paris for many of the soldiers of the United States and +Canada. In the first resort we are arranging for special rates and +moderate charges at the hotels and have the pledge of the civil +authorities to keep the place wholesome and absolutely to prevent the +incoming of camp followers. The Association is planning to take over +the best hotel, which can be made into an attractive social center for +the entire camp. A score of American and as many Canadian ladies will +help to provide social recreation and amusement for the men, which will +prove a greater attraction than the dangerous leave in Paris. + +A glance at one or two typical meetings held in various camps will show +how we are trying to help our boys face the pressing problems of a +soldier's life. + +We enter a large hut filled with a thousand soldiers. Here are many +men who have been driven toward God and who are face to face with the +great realities of life, death, and the future as never before in their +lives, eager for any message which may help them. But here are several +hundred others who have fallen victims to evil habits and who are +determined you shall not force religion down their throats. How are we +to capture the attention of this mass of men and hold them? Will they +bolt or stand fire? The time has come to begin the meeting and we +plunge in. "Come on, boys, let's have a sing-song; gather round the +piano and let's sing some of the old camp songs." Out come the little +camp song books, and we start in on a few favorite choruses. A dozen +voices call for "John Brown's Body," "Tennessee," "Kentucky Home," "A +Long, Long Trail," etc. Soon we have several hundred men seated around +the piano and the chorus gathers in volume. Now we call for local +talent. A boy with blue eyes and a clear tenor voice sings of home. A +red-headed humorist climbs on the table; and at his impersonations, his +acting, and comic songs, the crowd shouts with glee. + +Our heart sinks within us as we look over this sea of faces and wonder +how we are going to hold this crowd that this man seems to have in the +hollow of his hand. Somehow these men must be gripped and held to the +last. "Boys, what was the greatest battle of the war?" we ask. "Was +it the brave stand of little Belgium at Liege? Was it the splendid +retreat of the little British army from Mons? Was it the battle of the +Marne, when the French and British struck their first offensive blow? +Was it the great stand at Ypres, or the defense of Verdun, or the drive +on the Somme? What is _your_ hardest battle? Is it not within, in the +fight with passion? Now is the time to challenge every sin that +weakens a man or the nation. How about drink? Is it a friend or foe? +How about gambling? How about impurity?" Here we mass our guns on the +greatest danger of the war. In five minutes the room is quiet, in ten +minutes we have the ear of every man in the hut, the last man has +stopped talking, and now the battle is on. They are gripped on the +moral question; how can we get them to the religious issue? These men +have the root of religion in their souls, but they do not know it. +They believe in strength, in purity, in generosity. We show that they +are often falling before temptation, but the very things that they most +admire are all found in their fulness in Jesus Christ. + +Now we make use of a simple illustration. We hold up a gold coin +hidden in our hand and offer it as a gift. "Who will take me at my +word and ask for this gift?" At last a man rises in the back of the +hall, there is a little scene, and then a burst of applause as he +receives it and goes to his seat. "Now why didn't _you_ come? Some of +you didn't believe me, some were ashamed to come up before everybody +and ask for it, some were just waiting; and so all lost your chance. +Once again I offer a gift. Here is something more valuable than all +the gold on earth--heaven to be had for the asking; the free gift of +God is eternal life. Why don't you come? For the same three reasons. +Some of you don't believe, some are afraid to show their colors, some +are just waiting. You will soon start for the front to take your place +in the trenches. Are you ready for life or death? What will you do +with Jesus Christ?" + +We have had them forty minutes now and many a man is listening as for +his life. We hold up the pledge card of the war roll. "How many of +you are willing to take your stand against drink, gambling, and +impurity, to break away from sin, and to sign the war roll, which says: +'I pledge my allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ as my Saviour and +King, by God's help to fight His battles and bring victory to His +Kingdom'? Who will take his stand for Christ and sign tonight?" Here +and there all over the house men begin to rise. A hundred come forward +to get cards and sign them. Then every head is bowed and in the +stillness we pray for these boys; for they are mere lads, with ruddy +checks, fresh from the farm or the city. + +Now the meeting breaks up and we move down into the crowd. Men come up +and ask for private talks, some to confess their sins and others to +request prayer. Here is a boy who is friendless and homeless and in +need; the next man has just lost his wife, his home, and his money, but +here in the war he has been driven to prayer and has found God. He has +lost everything, but he tells us with a brave smile that he has gained +all, and now wishes to prepare for the ministry to preach the Gospel. +Next is a young atheist, an illegitimate child, a circus actor, who has +now found God and wants to know how to relate his life to Christ. The +next man is a jockey, who in the midst of his sins enlisted in order +that he might die for others and try to atone for his past life. + +Later, we were holding evangelistic meetings among the boys of another +regiment. One Sunday evening we were in a big hut where the meeting +was about to begin. Many of the men were writing to the old folks at +home. Captain "Peg" of Canada, who was with us to lead the singing, +stepped on the platform and announced a hymn. Immediately several +hundred men flocked to the seats and began singing the Christian hymns +they knew at home. Eyes lit up and faces were aglow as they sang +"Nearer, My God, to Thee," "Lead, Kindly Light," and "Fight the Good +Fight." Gradually the numbers increased until a thousand men were +singing. Then we began the address. Here were open-hearted boys some +of whom had gone down before the temptations of the port cities and who +now have to face the dangers of a camp in France. We began on moral +themes. Within half an hour it seemed as if the better nature of every +man was with us. The Christian ideals of home, of the Church, and of +their own best selves surged up again, until we had seated and standing +nearly twelve hundred men, many of whom were ready to make the fight +for purity with the help of Jesus Christ. One can never forget that +closing hymn as the men rose to sing "God Be With You Till We Meet +Again." We saw tear-stained faces before us as nearly the whole +company joined in the song "Tell Mother I'll Be There." + +Here was one poor fellow who felt he could not sign the decision card. +He sent up this little note: "I am the worst man in the tent--a man who +robbed his old father of his life's savings. How can I hope to be any +good again without any prospect of ever being able to repay this +money?" But before he left he had accepted God's forgiveness, and the +dawn of a new eternity breaks upon his happy face. There was another +man, the worst character in the regiment. Finally, touched by the +secretary's kindness, he had read his little pocket Testament in +prison, had yielded his life to Christ, and was now witnessing among +the soldiers in the camp. Another, broken down, came up to say he had +wronged a girl at home, and to ask if there was any hope for him. The +last man, Bob A----, serving at present with a British regiment, tells +us he was a Christian in Cleveland, Ohio, before the war. He lay all +last night drunk in the fields, but, convicted of his profligate life, +he repented and turned back again to God. There was another boy who +stopped to tell us that ever since a previous meeting he had knelt in +prayer every night before all the men. + +At the close of the meeting another man stepped up and handed in a +letter, saying: "Thank you for that message tonight, sir. I will be +true to the little girl I left at home. Here is a letter I had just +written to a bad woman. God helping me I will not go. I have signed +the War Roll tonight and I am going to be true to it." Hundreds of men +filed past and shook hands in gratitude. + +We were facing an average of some five hundred men every night in the +week and a thousand or more on Sunday. One humble private who had been +a pilot out at sea, handed us a poem which he had just written, the +last lines of which are typical of the verses many of the men are +writing these days: + + "And if I fall, Lord, take an erring mortal + Into those realms of peace and joy above; + And, by-and-by, at Thy fair mansion's portal, + Let me find there the little girl I love." + + +In all our meetings our aim has been to enable men to find themselves +by coming into a personal and vital relation with God as Father, +through Jesus Christ. Our purpose is to evangelize, but not to +proselytize. We aim to make each man more loyal to his own church. +During the three years of the war, we have never known of a man +changing his church or being asked to do so. Our aim is not to change +any man's ecclesiastical position, but to make him a truer and stronger +man in the church where he is. The great outstanding issue in war time +is not between creed and creed, between sect and sect, but between God +and mammon, between right and wrong, purity and impurity. We have no +contention concerning the questions that divide us; we are fighting for +the great fundamentals upon which we are all united, for God and moral +manhood. + + +[1] According to the War Bulletin of the National Geographic Society, +issued in Washington in September 1917, a first class American private +drawing $26.60 a month receives more than a Russian colonel or a German +or Austrian lieutenant. An American lieutenant receives more than a +British lieutenant colonel, a French colonel, or a Russian general. + +[2] See Appendix IV. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +A DAY IN THE "BULL RING" + +Just before going into the trenches the British, French, and American +troops take a final course for a few weeks in a training school, where +the expert drill masters put them through a rigorous discipline, and +the finishing touches are given to each regiment. At the moment of +writing our American boys are going through such a course, "somewhere +in France." The men commonly call this training school, or specially +prepared final drill ground, the "Bull Ring." It is a thrilling +spectacle to see many thousands of men across a vast plain going +through the various maneuvers of actual warfare as it is practiced +today at the front. Perhaps a brief description of such a drill ground +may be of interest to those who are following the fortunes of our +soldiers. + +At six the bugle sounds and the whole camp is astir. Outside there is +the clatter of feet as the men fall in after a hasty breakfast. The +shrapnel-proof steel helmets are donned, the heavy seventy-pound kits +and rifles are swung to the broad backs, the band strikes up "Pack Up +Your Troubles," and our battalion is on the march for the "Bull Ring." + +First comes the ceremonial parade. A whole brigade swings into line +and must prove that it can move as one man, as a perfect machine, +without flaw or friction. One master mind directs every motion, and at +the word of command thousands of feet are moving in exact time, +wheeling, marching, maneuvering with a precision that proves the long +months of patient practice. This finish of discipline and perfection +of unity have their part to play in the winning of the battle raging at +this moment up the line. + +Next the men must pass through the deadly gas chambers, to be ready to +meet the attack of the enemy fully prepared. More fatal than the +prussic acid which the Prussian has occasionally employed, is the +deadly mixture of chlorine and phosgene, which has been most commonly +used. In a gentle favoring wind it is put over invisible in the +darkness, and if it catches the foe unprepared, can kill from ten to +fifteen miles behind the lines. The mixture is squirted as a liquid +from metal generators. It quickly forms a dense greenish yellow cloud +of poison vapor, which floats away in the darkness. Its success must +depend on the element of surprise, taking the enemy unprepared and +choking him, awake or asleep, in the first few moments before the +horns, gongs, and whistles send the alarm for miles behind the trenches. + +Recently a new so-called "mustard gas" has been used by the enemy with +deadly effect, owing to the fact that it is both invisible and +odorless. It is sent over in exploding shells, and sinks in a heavy +invisible vapor about the sleeping men, creeping into their dugouts and +trenches or enveloping them around the guns or in the shell holes. The +effects do not manifest themselves for several hours. With stinging +pain the man's eyes begin to close, and for a time he may go almost +blind. He is then taken violently sick. The surface of the lungs and +the entire body, especially where it is moist with perspiration, is +burned. The skin may blister and come off. Many cases have proved +fatal and many more suffer cruelly for weeks in hospital. With the men +we attended a lecture on the nature of the various gases used by the +enemy and the proper methods of meeting them. The lecture throughout +was unconsciously couched almost in theological language. The +instructor first disposed of what he called superstitious "heresies" +concerning the gas, in order to prevent the men from having panic and +"getting the wind up." There is a foolish rumor which says, "One +breath and you are ruptured for life, or you fall dead the next +morning," etc., etc., but he warns the men of its deadly nature and +tells them they are to be saved from its fatal effects by knowing the +truth. + +The instructor explains that if they take four deep breaths it will +prove fatal: "One breath and you catch the first spasm, two and you are +mad, three and you are unconscious, four and you are dead. If you keep +your presence of mind and hold your breath you will have six seconds to +get on your gas helmet or respirator." The attack, remember, is a +surprise in the dark; brain-splitting gas shells are dropping on all +sides, and it is hard to keep cool and hold one's breath in the moment +of sudden surprise and panic. We are told that there are fifteen +mistakes which are easily possible in getting on this complicated +helmet, or if there is one big blunder in the sudden surprise the man +is done for. + +Before going through the death chamber, helmets are inspected, to see +that they are sound and unpunctured, and the men are drilled in the +open to practice putting them on quickly. Suddenly the warning whistle +of an imaginary gas attack sounds. One backward fling of the head and +the steel helmet falls off, for there is no time to lift it off. A +dive into the bag carried on the chest and the respirator is grasped +and with one skilful swoop it is drawn over the face. Your nose is +pinched shut by a clamp, your teeth grip the rubber mouthpiece, and, +like a diver, you must now get your one safe stream of pure air through +the respirator. You draw in the air from a tube which rises from a tin +of chemical on your chest. Then you can breathe in the dense, deadly, +greenish chlorine vapor, for as it passes through the respirator filled +with chemicals, it is absorbed, neutralized, oxidized, and purified +into a stream of pure air. All about you may be choking fumes of death +which would kill you in four seconds, yet you will be completely +immune, breathing a purified atmosphere. + +The soldiers are now marched up to this chamber of horrors to walk +through the poison gas. Many have "the wind up" (i. e., they are +afraid inside, but are ashamed to show it). Reliance on the guide, the +expert who has been through it all, and the sense of companionship, the +stronger ones unconsciously strengthening the weak, have a steadying +effect upon all the men. The soldiers have had four hours' drill to +prepare them, but the "padre" and I, who are now permitted to go +through, have had but four minutes. I am trying to remember a number +of things all at once. Above all I must keep cool and assure myself +that there is no danger if only I trust and obey what the expert has +said. I fling on the helmet and we start into the death chamber, but +suddenly a string is loose--will the respirator work? There seems to +be something the matter with my nosepiece which should be clamped shut. +I would like to ask the instructor just one question to make sure, but +I can no more talk than a diver beneath the sea. It is too late, we +are moving, I can only hope and trust the helmet will hold. We have +left the sunlight and are in a long dark covered chamber, like a +trench, groping forward, and looking at a distant point of light +through the dim goggles. We are alone in these deadly fumes, the +instructor is not here, there is a tense silence, and all about us is +the poison of death. Oh, what was that fourth point that I was to +remember? Why has the guide turned back? I thought we were to go out +at the further end, where last week the poor fellow fell who lifted his +helmet a moment too soon after he got out and caught one whiff which +sent him to the hospital, but instead we seem to be turning around and +going back. But there is no time for explanations or questions now; we +just plod on through the darkness and soon we are out in the sunlight +again--safe!--in God's pure air. Oh, why did man ever want to pollute +it and poison his brother with these deadly fumes of hell! + +As a special favor, the instructor allows us, without a mask, to take +one swift look into the fumes as we hold our breath. That yellow green +chlorine will corrode the lungs and fill them with pus and blood. The +phosgene is much more deadly and will strike the man down with sudden +failure of the heart. + +We were also sent through a chamber of the invisible "tear gas," +without a mask. The object of this is to take away the fear of the gas +from the men. This particular gas has no effect upon the lungs, but +sends a stinging pain through the eyes, so that one weeps blindly for +some minutes and could not possibly see to shoot or to defend himself. + +We are now ready to return to another lecture with more understanding. +No wonder these tired boys under the heavy, hot steel helmets, which +absorb the heat of the scorching sun, are listening with all their +ears, yet one or two fall asleep for very weariness and may again be +caught napping by the enemy's poison gas up the line. The instructor +is in dead earnest, for the life of every man during the coming +conflict may depend upon his message. His words are still in my ears, +for they were strangely like a sermon: + +"Men, I am going to tell you the truth about this deadly gas and you +must believe it, for your life will depend upon it. It can kill and no +doubt about it. But for every poison of the enemy there's an antidote +and we have found it. Your helmet is perfect and you simply must +believe in it, you must trust to it. We have made full provision for +your safety. If you go under it will be your own fault from one of +four causes--unbelief, disobedience, carelessness, or fear. If you +carelessly go without your helmet it means death. During an attack, +after putting on the respirator, just stand and wait. There is nothing +you can do for yourself except to keep your helmet on. Your skill, +your strength are nothing. Now if you are caught in an attack unawares +remember if you're still alive at all, there's hope. Don't lose +courage. If your confidence goes, you lose ninety per cent of your +defense, for the sole hope of the enemy in gas is surprise and panic. +If you are gassed, don't move. Keep still, keep warm, don't worry, and +wait. To move or try to save yourself will be fatal. + +"The enemy will put over three or four waves with a break between. The +gas may come for some hours. To remove your helmet before the attack +is over will be fatal. Within a quarter of an hour after the gas has +ceased, the charge of the enemy will come and you must never let him +get past your barbed wired entanglements. After exposure to gas, all +food, water, and wells are poisonous. The heavy gas must be expelled +from the trenches by fans before the charge comes. Only remember, you +must believe what I say, keep your helmet on in time of danger and you +are perfectly safe." + +There is a vast difference between the warning and the preparatory +exposure to the gas by your guide and the deadly surprise of the enemy. +The former is a trial to prepare you, the latter is an effort to +destroy you. The whole experience was so obviously parallel to the +deadly moral dangers which surround the soldier in war time that it +needs no comment. The one and only safety in the time of temptation is +to put on the whole armor of God, especially the "helmet of salvation," +then to trust and obey and stand fast. + +The writer has just come from a ward in the hospital filled with +patients suffering from the new gas which the enemy has lately put +over. It is, as we have said, invisible and odorless, so the men +receive no warning, and consequently do not put on their masks. They +do not know that they are being gassed until hours afterwards, when +they find they are burned from head to foot. Here are twenty men lying +in this tent, suffering from this new torture. This first boy, with a +wan smile that goes right to your heart, can only whisper from his +burnt-out lungs and cannot tell us his story. The next man was taken +with vomiting five hours after the gas shells exploded. Seven of his +fourteen companions sleeping in the dugout were killed outright, the +others were gassed. He does not know where they are. He lay +unconscious for several days, and now his eyes and skin are burned as +though he had passed through a fire. The next boy is badly burned in +his eyes and chest. Half the men of his battery were killed by gas +while asleep at night. On the next cot is a boy who has been suffering +for seventeen days; the burns on his body have been improving, his +lungs also are better, but he is still blind and fears he may lose his +sight. He asks me to write a letter for him to his mother. "Only," he +says, "don't tell her about my eyes." Together we make up a cheerful +letter, and the boy rests back on his cot to pray for his returning +eyesight. The next two beds are empty. Both the men died in the +night, falling an easy prey to pneumonia in their weakened condition. +The next boy is from the infantry. Out of his squad nine were killed +by the explosion of the shell, eight wounded, and the rest badly +burned. The neck, chest, arms, and legs of this boy are burned and +blistered. The deadly gas fumes have burned right through his clothing. + +Such is the effect of this new and latest triumph of modern science, +which will shatter the hopes and happiness of thousands of homes. + +After passing through the gas chambers, we visited the bombing section +of the training school. Here each man has to throw one or more live +bombs and receive his final coaching. The bomb is about the size of a +lemon, and is made to break into small fragments. It contains enough +of the high explosive to kill a whole group of men. The boy advances +and grasps the bomb; he draws out the pin and holds down the lever. +Once this is released, it explodes in just five seconds. The man +heaves his bomb over a parapet at a dummy dressed in German uniform. +The whistle blows and we all duck. There is a terrific explosion like +a small cannon and you hear the pieces whizzing through the air. Every +man is holding in his hand and wielding a terrible power. Wrongly +used, it is death to himself and his comrades. The other day a boy's +hand was moist with perspiration and the bomb slipped, killing the +group. Another prematurely exploded as it was being thrown, carrying +away the man's own hand and killing the instructor. So it is a +dangerous business. During the morning there were only four "duds," or +bombs that would not go off. + +After the bombing section, we pass with the men to the trenches. +Bayonets are drawn and rifles loaded. After firing several rounds, +comes the command, "Advance." At a bound they are "over the top" and +off, heads down; they run very slowly and keep together. A breathless +man who outruns his comrades is useless and is soon killed by the +enemy. The drill sergeant shouts to the men "Keep together, keep +together, men, one man can't take a trench," and my friend the "padre" +notes his words to tell to his congregation when he goes home, where +the minister can't do all the work. When they are near the enemy's +trench, the final word "Charge" is shouted, the whole line leaps +forward with a wild yell, and the bayonets are driven into the stuffed +sacks which are suspended as dummies to serve in the place of men. + +For miles across the great plain the "Bull Ring" is alive with men. +Here in one section they are doing physical drill and learning to go +over all kinds of obstacles--trenches, fences, barbed wire, shell +holes, and ditches. There they are practicing musketry and advancing +under cover. In one place the artillery is in full swing, and in +another you hear the sputter of the machine guns. In one section they +are taught to dig trenches and in another to take them. + +Before a great advance where a system of trenches is to be taken, a +"rehearsal" often takes place. From a height of thousands of feet +above the lines the aircraft with powerful telescopic cameras +photograph every foot of the battlefield covered by the enemy's lines. +These photographs are developed and studied and diagrams drawn from +them of the enemy's system of trenches. These diagrams are reproduced +far behind the front in elaborately prepared earthwork and trenches +which are an exact replica of the enemy's lines. The divisions which +are to take part in the attack are sent back to rehearse their exact +duties at just the point corresponding to that which they will have to +take. Each officer knows every nook and crevice, each bay and angle of +the trenches he will have to capture. When all is ready the men are +placed in their exact positions and they execute in reality what they +have rehearsed in theory behind the lines. The lesson of preparedness +and organization is studied and mastered with infinite care. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +WITH THE BRITISH ARMY + +I + +In sheltered America we cannot realize what war means, but when we +entered the warring countries of Europe, in an instant we were in a +different atmosphere. We landed in England upon a darkened coast, we +entered a darkened train, where every blind was drawn lest it furnish a +guide to London for invading Zeppelins or aeroplanes. We passed +through gloomy towns and villages, where not a single light was showing +from a window, where every street lamp and railway station was darkened +or hidden. Automobiles with a dim spark of light groped through the +black streets of the metropolis. + +In London we saw a great Zeppelin brought down in flames. It was a +sight never to be forgotten. At half-past two in the morning we were +awakened by the roar of the anti-aircraft guns in and around the city. +After traveling all night from Germany, one Zeppelin had arrived over +London and a whole fleet of them was scattered over the coasts and +counties of England. + +We sprang to the window and found the sky swept by a score of +searchlights with their great shafts of piercing light, shooting from +the dark depths of the city high into the sky, where they all converged +on a single bright object that hung nine thousand feet above us. Long, +and shining like silver with its flashing aluminum, the Zeppelin seemed +held as if blinded by the fierce light. Bombs were dropping from it +and explosions followed in rapid succession in the city beneath. + +It was a battle to the death, high in the air with all London looking +on. The guns were in full play and the shell and shrapnel were +bursting all about the Zeppelin. Sometimes you could trace the whole +trajectory of a projectile, as a spark of light swept through the sky +toward the Zeppelin and then burst to the right or left, above or below +it. Most of the shots seemed to go wide of the mark. More than a +score of aeroplanes had been sent up to attack it, with one plane to +guide the rest and signal to the guns below by wireless or lights. The +battle finally developed into a duel to the death between the machine +guns of the Zeppelin and Lieutenant Robinson of the Flying Corps, who +was up for two hours in his aeroplane after the enemy--one man fighting +for a city of five millions. He attacked from below and bombs were +thrown at his plane; then he attacked from the side as he circled about +the monster, but he was driven off by their machine guns. At last, +mounting high in the sky, he attacked from above. The guide-plane +flashed down the signal for the guns to cease firing and give him a +chance. + +For a few moments all was silent; the battle seemed to be over. The +great airship, which had swung sharply to the left, was triumphantly +leaving for home. Then it was that Robinson dropped his incendiary +bomb. Suddenly there was an explosion. A flame of burning gas leaped +into the sky. London was lit up for ten miles round-about. Our room +was instantly as bright as though a searchlight had flashed into the +window. Far above us was the Zeppelin in flames. Now it began to +sink--first it was in a blaze of white light, then its outline turned +to a dull red, finally it crumpled to a glowing cinder, sank from +sight, and fell crashing to the earth. Then all was dark again. Death +had fallen suddenly upon the men in the Zeppelin and upon some in the +sleeping city below. + +As we drove through London we passed the draper's shop, near St. Paul's +Cathedral, where George Williams and a group of twelve young men met in +a little upper room on June 6, 1844, to organize the first Young Men's +Christian Association. A dozen young men with little wealth, +influence, or education might not seem a very formidable force, but +twelve men have upset the world and changed the course of history +before now. They had only thirteen shillings, or $3.25, in the +treasury, and were too poor even to print and send out a circular +announcing their little organization. But George Williams brought his +fist down on the table, with the confident words, "If this movement is +of God, the money will come." + +It has come. The twelve men have been multiplied now to a million and +a half, scattered in forty lands. Girded with new strength and with +the dauntless optimism of youth, the movement has risen up to minister +not only to the millions of British and American soldiers and munition +workers, but also to the men in the camps, hospitals, or prisons in +most of the nations now at war. The thirteen shillings have been +multiplied until now the permanent Y M C A buildings are worth over a +hundred million dollars. An average of two new huts or centers have +been erected and opened by the British or American Associations every +day since war was declared; while two permanent buildings in brick or +stone rise each week in some part of the world. + +Wars are the birth-pangs of new eras. A new day dawned for the Young +Men's Christian Association with the present war. At midnight on +August 4, 1914, the British Association as it had been for seventy +years was buried and forgotten, and a new movement arose on the ruins +of the old. Ninety per cent of its former workers left to join the +colors, but a new army of over thirty thousand men and women was +mustered and trained within its huts for the service of the British +soldiers. The Y M C A had suddenly to "think imperially," and to +minister to a world at war. + +Seventy years ago George Williams was the man of the hour, but a leader +of the British war work of the Y M C A was found in the present crisis +in the person of Mr. A. K. Yapp, General Secretary of the National +Council of Great Britain, who has recently been knighted by virtue of +his distinguished service for the nation. He had spent Sunday, August +second, in deep searching of heart and had caught a vision of what the +war would mean, and the opportunity that would be presented to an +organization that was interdenominational, international, readily +mobile, and adaptable enough instantly to meet a great national crisis. + +Within a fortnight the British army and the whole British navy were +mobilized for war. During that time the Y M C A was represented in +four-fifths of the camps of the territorial forces and 250 centers were +opened. In six months 500 centers were occupied; at the end of the +first year there were 1,000, and after two years of the war 1,500 such +centers were in full swing. The area of operations includes the +British Isles, Egypt, the Dardanelles, Malta, the Mediterranean ports, +India, Mesopotamia, East and South Africa, Canada, Australia, and out +to the last limits of Britain's far flung battle line. + +The Y M C A has a strong homing instinct, aiming to provide "a home +away from home." In the dugouts behind the trenches, in the deserts of +Egypt, or in the jungles of Africa, it has been forced to make a home +in every kind of shelter. It was significant that its first three +successive dwelling places seventy years ago were a little bedroom, a +coffee house, and a room in a tavern. During the present war, one may +see Associations in actual operation along the fighting line in France, +in a cowshed, a pigsty, a stable, a hop-house, dugouts under the earth; +in battered and ruined buildings in Flanders; in tents in the Sahara +and on the ancient Peninsula of Mt. Sinai; at the bases of the big +battle fleets; in the rest houses of the flying corps; on the Bourse in +Cairo; in hotels taken over in Switzerland and France, and in the great +Crystal Palace of London. In four centers it has used and transformed +a brewery, a saloon, a theater, and a museum. Its dwellings stretch +away from the tents of "Caesar's Camp," where the Roman Julius lauded +in 55 B. C., on the southern shores of Britain, to the far north, in +the new naval institute at Invergordon, erected for the sailors of the +Grand Fleet at a cost of more than $20,000. They range from the +battered dugouts at the front in France to the Shakespeare hut in +London, costing more than $30,000. They stretch from the rest huts of +the great metropolis, with sleeping and feeding accommodations for some +ten thousand men a day during the dangerous period of leave in London, +away to the hut in "Plug Street" Woods, recently blown to atoms by a +shell, where the secretary escaped by a few seconds and returned to +find literally nothing left save the rims of his spectacles and two +coins melted and fused together by the terrific heat of the explosion. +Several of the secretaries and workers have been killed by shell fire, +or in transit by torpedoes from submarines, while other Association men +have received the Victoria Cross for heroism in action. + +Let us visit a typical hut to grasp the significance of its work, in +order that we may realize what is going on in the fifteen hundred +similar centers. We are on the great Salisbury Plain, in the midst of +thirty miles square of weltering mud during the long winter months. To +realize what a hut means to the men in such a place, we must understand +the unnatural situation created by the conditions of war. Here are +multitudes of men far from home, shut out from the society of all good +women, taken away from their church and its surroundings, weary and wet +with marching and drilling, often lonely and dejected, in an atmosphere +of profanity and obscenity in the cheerless barrack rooms, and tempted +by the animal passions which are always loosed in war-time. The men +need all the help we can give them now, and need it desperately. + +Now can you measure just what a big warm hut means to these men as a +home, far away from home? The red triangle at the entrance gleams +across the whole camp and stands for the three things the soldier most +needs. + +It stands, in the first place, as a pledge for supplying the _physical +need_ of these hungry, lonely, and fiercely tempted men. A dry +shelter, a warm fire, a cheerfully lighted room, the bursts of song, +and the hum of conversation make the men forget the wind and rain and +mud outside. Supper and a hot cup of coffee satisfy their hunger. On +the notice-board is the announcement of the outdoor sports, football +tournaments, and the games, where the thirty thousand men of the +division will compete in open contest on the coming Saturday, under the +direction of the Y M C A. Whatever the soldier needs for his physical +life, whether it is to eat or to sleep, a bed in London, a cool drink +in the thirsty desert, or hot coffee in the trenches, it is furnished +for him by the Association. + +The hut also provides for the soldier's _intellectual_ and social +needs. The piano and the phonograph, the billiard tables, draughts and +chess boards, tables for games, library, and reading room keep him +busy; and the concerts, stimulating lectures, moving pictures, +educational classes, and debating societies provide him with +recreational and mental employment. + +The far deeper _moral and spiritual needs_ of the soldier are also met. +As the evening draws to a close, one sees the secretary in his military +uniform stand up on the table; hats are off and heads are bowed at the +call for evening prayers, which are held here every night. On Sunday +the parade services of the different denominations take place in turn +in the Association hut. Weekly voluntary religious meetings are also +held. At one end of the building is the "quiet room," where groups of +Christian soldiers can meet for Bible classes or for prayer. At +regular intervals evangelistic meetings are held. On our last night at +this hut, on a Sunday evening, twelve hundred men gathered to listen to +the Christian message. + +Of the three bars of the triangle, it is this which stands at the top, +which unites the other two and which is the dominating factor of the +whole. And yet nowhere is religion forced down the throats of the men. +Rather it is the aim to make it the unconscious atmosphere of the whole +hut. It is a striking fact, to which every soldier will testify, that +while the language of the barrack room and beer canteen is often +reeking with the profane and the obscene, the whole tone of the +Association hut is entirely different. As one soldier says: "You don't +realize the enormous difference of atmosphere between this and any +other place where soldiers congregate. A man simply does not talk bad +language and filth here; he learns to control himself." Thus the +threefold work of the Association stands for the whole man and for the +whole manhood of the nation. + +In many ways the Y M C A hut seeks to meet the soldier's every need. + +1. It is his _club_, where he meets his comrades and in the freedom and +friendship of the place forgets the irksome drill, the endless +restraints, and the stern discipline of military life. + +2. As we have already seen, it is his _home_, the place where he writes +his letters and keeps in touch with his family and distant friends. +Nearly twenty million pieces of stationery are sent out free for the +soldiers each month from the London central office, and the sign of the +red triangle on the letter head brings weekly joy and cheer to the +broken circle in the distant home. It is here that the lad is helped +to "keep the home fires burning" in his heart and to hold true to those +high ideals. One little girl when visiting the Crystal Palace, upon +seeing the sign of the red triangle, said: "My daddy always makes that +mark on his letters when he writes to us at home." + +3. It is his _church_, for out on the desert, or in the jungle, or at +the front, there is usually no other church building for religious +services. The following is taken from a typical Sunday program in one +of the huts: "6:30 a. m., Roman Catholic Mass; 7:30 Nonconformist +service; 9:00 Anglican service; 2-3 p. m., Bible class; 6:4:5-8 United +Song Service." Thus each denomination is allowed to have its own +service in its own way on Sunday morning, while the evening meeting is +interdenominational and open to all. + +In one place where the young Hebrews were being sadly neglected and +were falling away from their former moral standards, the secretary +arranged with the Jewish rabbi to have a weekly service in the Y M C A +tent for his men. It has been held ever since. The Jews of the +neighboring city were so grateful that they started a campaign to raise +a fund of $10,000 for Y M C A huts. The Rev. Michael Adler, the head +Jewish rabbi with the forces in France, has time and again expressed +his cordial appreciation of the help rendered to the men of his faith. +The doors of the Association will always remain open for men of all +creeds. As wide as the needs of men, as broad as democracy, as unified +as humanity, and as tolerant as its Lord and Master, the movement will +ever aim to be. + +4. The Association hut is the soldier's _school_. Here his classes are +held. A program taken at random from a single hut will show the scope +of a week's work: "Bible classes; religious services; lecture on The +Town Where We Are; lecture on South America; lantern lecture on Russia; +debating society; impromptu speeches; history class." + +5. The Association hut is also his place of _rest_, and the shop where +he buys his supplies. Here he can procure almost anything he needs +that is decent, and read anything that is wholesome. Usually this hut +is the only clean place of recreation in the camp, and without it he is +left to choose between the cheerless tent and the beer canteen. + +6. The Y M C A is the center of his _recreation_, and his entertainment +bureau. Under the leadership of Miss Lena Ashwell and scores of +others, concerts and entertainment parties have been organized and have +toured continuously in France, Great Britain, Egypt, and the more +distant camps. The six artists of each party are received with +tremendous enthusiasm and become the fast friends of Tommy Atkins. One +writes: "Last time the party came here the press of men waiting on the +verandah to go into the second performance was so great that our brand +new verandah collapsed with the sound of a bomb explosion! Luckily the +mass was so tightly packed that they fell through in a solid heap; no +one was hurt, and all were able to enjoy the concert thoroughly." + +7. It is the soldier's _bank_, and his _postoffice_. We were in one +hut alone where more than fifteen thousand dollars were on deposit in +the savings bank. The sale of stamps in this hut amounts to fifteen +hundred dollars a month, and of postal orders for the remittance of +money home to more than four thousand dollars. Every week an average +of 28,000 letters are written and posted in this one room, while +thousands more are received and handed to the men. + +8. The Association is the soldier's _friend_ and tourist guide, while +he is visiting London, Paris, or the other great cities. In some +places one table is set apart where a chaplain or secretary is always +on duty to help the soldiers make their wills, find out their trains to +London, answer their questions, or give them the friendly help they +need. + +The Y M C A stands by the soldier to the last and even after he falls. +After the boy has fought his last fight and lies wounded or crippled or +dying in the hospital in France, it meets his parents and relatives and +provides for their entire stay in the country. Each relative of the +wounded proceeding to France receives printed instructions from the War +Office that the Y M C A will meet all the boats and provide +transportation and accommodations for all who need it while at the +front. Our friend, Mr. Geddes, broke down as he tried to tell us how +he and his wife had been met on the lonely shores of France by the Y M +C A secretary and motored quickly to the bedside of their dying son, +only to find that they were just too late. The funeral was arranged, +even to the providing of flowers. The last ministry was performed for +the young man away from home and for the loved ones left behind, under +the triangle that will forevermore be red. + +Thus the Association is at once the soldier's club, his home, his +church, his school, his place of rest, his entertainment bureau, his +bank and postoffice, his tourist guide, and the friend that stands by +him and his bereaved parents at the last. Fifteen hundred just such +huts and centers stretch away from Scotland to East Africa, from France +to Mesopotamia, from Egypt to India. Could any other single +organization have met all these needs of the men under arms, mobilized +so quickly, united all denominations, entered all lands, and embraced +all forms of work secular and religious? + +We conducted meetings for several months throughout the camps in the +British Isles. At our last parade service with the brigade out in the +open field there were several thousand seated on the grass, with their +eight bands drawn up in front. In every service the battle was on +between good and evil, between God and mammon, between sacrifice and +sin. + +One night we visited the sailors' training camp. It was a great +meeting, with two thousand of the sailor boys crowded in a big theater. +The concert was going on when we arrived and the jeers and yells of the +crowd drowned some of the voices of the performers; it was evident that +we were going to have a hard time to hold the audience. Captain "Peg" +stepped to the stage and soon had them singing, "We'll Never Let the +Old Flag Fall." Roars of applause followed and they clamored for more. +Out in the glare of the footlights and looking into that sea of faces, +we began to fight for that audience. There were two thousand tempted +men whom we should never see again. In five minutes the whole theater +was hushed--you could hear a pin drop. After half an hour the meeting +was interrupted by the noise of the band outside. Surely the men will +bolt and leave the meeting. We said to them: "Boys, there is the band. +Let everybody go now who wants to go! We are going on. Every man that +wants to make the fight for character, the fight for purity with the +help of Jesus Christ, stay with us here." There was a shout from the +audience, and not a man left the theater. The band thundered on, but +the crowd was with us now, and the hopes of hundreds of hearts for the +things that are eternal surged to the surface. Several hundred men +signed the War Roll, pledging their allegiance to the Lord Jesus +Christ. One sailor boy came up to thank us, saying that he had all but +fallen the week before; and simply for the lack of a sixpence he had +been saved from sin. With God's help he would now live for Christ. +Another came up who had been drinking heavily and had quarreled with +his wife. He did not have the price of a postage stamp to write to +her. He wanted to know how he could be saved from drink. Man after +man came forward, hungry for human help and longing for a better life. + +[Illustration: Harry Lauder Singing at a Y. M. C. A. Meeting. The +Officer seated at the extreme right is Captain "Peg."] + +On another occasion we were with the army of Australian and New Zealand +troops, as they were marching by the King at their last review before +going to the front. Fortunately, we had secured standing room near the +King's side, where we could watch every smile and action as he saluted +each passing battalion, and we could even hear him speak a kind word +now and then to some officer. There were generals to the right of us +and to the left of us, colonels, majors, captains, officers of every +rank, and prominent civilians; but the greatest man on that field was +the soldier himself. With what a swing those clean-cut young +Australian boys marched past; every man was a volunteer and part of +that great first army of over four millions of men who came forward for +the defense of the Empire without conscription. + +Hundreds were playing in the massed bands, as the long file of men +marched by. But time and again the firm columns seemed to fade before +us, and we could not see them for tears, as we realized that many of +these brave boys were going forward to die for us. Above, a great +aeroplane was looping the loop and warplanes were darting to and fro. + +Away on the horizon stood the great boulders of Stonehenge, erected +long before the time of the Saxons, the Britons, or even the ancient +Druids, by the sun-worshippers, who offered their human sacrifices on +the ancient altar there nearly forty centuries before. We looked at +those stones, where through a mistaken conception of God and an +inadequate conception of man, human sacrifices were offered long ago. +Suddenly we heard the crack of the rifles of a body of troops at +practice, moving forward in open line of battle. Today, through a +mistaken conception of God and a low conception of man, over 5,000,000 +of men have already been killed, offered in human sacrifice; while many +millions in lands devastated are homeless, starving, or ruined in body +or soul--these are part of the offering, forced upon humanity by a +godless materialism, while a divided Christian Church stands by +impotent. + + +II + +Let us now visit Egypt where we shall witness very different scenes. +Away on the distant horizon are the two triangular points, which grow +as we approach into the outlines of the great pyramids. Beyond are the +fifty-eight centers which have risen along the banks of the Nile, in +the metropolis of Cairo, and in the harbors of Port Said and +Alexandria, and which line the Suez Canal and dot the desert even out +into the peninsula of Mt. Sinai. The sun is setting as we climb the +great pyramid, which stands a silent witness to forty centuries of +history which have ebbed and flowed at its base, but surely no stranger +sight has it ever seen than these armed camps about it, engaged in this +titanic struggle of the world. Away to the south towards far Khartoum, +like a green ribbon in the yellow desert, stretches the irrigated basin +of the Nile. Beyond it is the bottomless burning sand of the Sahara. + +Here on the site of Napoleon's ancient battlefield is the largest +concentration camp in Egypt. The white tents of the Australasians +shelter a population as numerous as many a city, with three Association +buildings for the men. From out the great pyramid there is a constant +stream of soldiers passing to and fro. And there under the shadow of +the Sphinx are two more Y M C A huts. Jessop, the former secretary at +Washington, has been in charge here, with a large staff of secretaries +from Australia and New Zealand. General Sir Archibald Murray, in +command of the Egyptian Expeditionary Forces, says: "First of all, the +men must have mess huts; then we want the Y M C A." + +Cairo is the throbbing center of Egypt's life, where vice does not lurk +in secret, but flaunts itself in open effrontery. Our secretaries have +been at work there in the long lines of men that stand outside the +places of vice, handing them Testaments and urging them to come away. +The Y M C A has taken over a large amusement center in the Ezbekieh +Gardens in the very heart of Cairo; and in spite of the public saloon +nearby, with its attraction of music and wine, from two hundred to two +thousand men are constantly thronging the Association rooms. The +attractive equipment of a garden, an open-air theater, a skating rink, +baths, supper counters, and a meeting place, but most of all the +personal touch of the two earnest secretaries, make the whole work +effective. The Association has also rented the spacious Bourse, where +it houses several hundred men who are in the city on short leave, while +its lobby is used for concerts and entertainments. During the last +action five of the Y M C A huts on the Canal Zone were under fire. But +there is no day passes but that the men under canvas in this hot land +of Egypt are under fire from temptations more deadly than Turkish +bullets. + +Leaving Egypt, we passed over the hot and stifling Red Sea, across the +Indian Ocean, toward the sunny plains of India. Away from the snowy +ridge of the Himalayas, down across the bare plains of the north and +the rice fields and cocoa-nut palms of the tropic south, India lies +like a vast continent, embracing one-fifth of the human race. It was +held before the war by some 75,000 British and twice as many Indian +troops. The numbers are completely altered now. Almost the whole +regular force, both Indian and British, are away fighting in +Mesopotamia, East Africa, France, and Egypt, while a new territorial +force of Kitchener's army of London clerks and English civilians has +taken its place. + +One hundred and fifty secretaries in India were ready upon the outbreak +of the war. All across India the Y M C A has opened huts, buildings, +or tents for the territorial and other forces.[1] A writer in the +Journal of the Royal Sussex Regiment, at Bangalore, said: "Somehow the +very letters, Y M C A have gathered to themselves an implication of +comfort, pleasure, and welcome; we instinctively feel among friends." + +We visited one night the great tent generously given by the Viceroy for +the work of the territorials in Delhi. General Sir Percy Lake took the +chair and the men gathered in the large marquee for the meeting. +Sherwood Day, of Yale, had been in charge of this work during the +winter, providing a home for the men of the territorials in this +ancient Indian capital. A series of lectures by leading Indians served +to interpret Indian life and thought to these soldiers, who were seeing +at once the needs and greatness of the Indian Empire at first hand, +while leading Indian Christians of the type of Mr. K. T. Paul, Dr. +Datta, and Bishop Azariah told them the fascinating story of Indian +missions and the history of Christianity in Asia. A new sense of race +brotherhood is taking the place of the old antagonism and prejudice, +and Indian secretaries stationed with English Tommies have become +exceedingly popular with them. + +From India as a base, the Association has gone forward with the +advancing columns into Mesopotamia and East Africa. As we cross the +Persian Gulf and follow the winding courses of the Tigris and the +Euphrates up into the heart of Mesopotamia, we find a group of +Princeton men and some sixty secretaries stationed here with the +troops, under Leonard Dixon of Canada. The men affectionately call him +the "padre"; anyone who has ever boxed with Dixon and felt the force of +his right, knows that he is a man who has both drive and "punch." The +troops in Mesopotamia have been fighting often under terrible +conditions, marching through ooze and slime, drinking the yellow +unfiltered water, decimated by the attacks both of sickness and of the +enemy. In summer the alkali dust lies four inches deep on the floors +of their tents, and the thermometer stands at 120 degrees in the sultry +shade. Dixon racked his brain to provide recreation and helpful +entertainment for these hard fighting men. A bioscope, competitive +concerts, a Christmas tree, a New Year's treat, football and hockey +tournaments, and entertainments of various kinds have been improvised +to make the men forget the awful hardship of the march and of the +battle. On Sunday the writing tables are full from dawn till dark and +tons of stationery have been used to keep these men in touch with their +distant homes. + +The secretaries have been kept busy handling the big convoys of wounded +as they come down the rivers in the boats from the fighting at the +front. One colonel got up from his sick bed to give his testimony +unasked as to what the work of the Association had meant to these +wounded men. He said that it was not only the big kettles of hot +coffee and the caldrons of soup which the secretaries brought aboard +the boats, not only the warm blankets, beef tea, and other comforts +which had helped the men so much, but the fact that when those men +entered that barge with its weight of human suffering and misery, it +seemed that the touch of Another hand unseen was resting on the hot +brow and feverish pulse of those wounded soldiers. + +Bovia McLain, an American secretary, gives us a glimpse of a night on a +hospital barge, with a cold wind and rain-storm sweeping down the +river. The canvas tarpaulin began to leak like a sieve and most of the +wounded were cold and drenched to the skin. Soon the men were lying +not only under wet blankets, but actually in two or three inches of +water on the undrained decks. They were packed in like sardines, +without pillows or comforts. "The whole thing was ghastly and +terrible. Men wanted to change their position or have a broken limb +slightly moved, and a dozen other wants seemed to demand attention all +at once. At times I felt the strain so that it seemed to me I could +not control myself longer, but must break down and weep, it was so +appalling." After the men had been made comfortable, the workers were +ready in the morning with supplies of chocolate and tobacco and other +luxuries. It is no wonder that up at the front when the secretary +invites the men to remain for evening prayers sometimes nearly the +whole battalion stays, and one can understand the new interpretation +given by some soldiers to the letters Y. M. C. A.--"You Make +Christianity Attractive." + +When the war broke out the Association was ready to enter Africa also. +With the first contingent of 60,000 South African troops a number of Y +M C A secretaries were sent. They erected large marquees in local +training camps, and there prepared the way for the even greater +opportunity which was to follow in the East African campaign under the +Northern Army. The military authorities cabled the Association +headquarters at Calcutta, offering to hand over the army canteens of +East Africa to the Y M C A and to cut out liquor if the Association +would take them over and be responsible for the welfare work among the +troops, looking after their physical, social, and moral needs. +Instantly, Mr. E. C. Carter, the National Secretary of India, cabled +back accepting the offer. + +The first score of men were sent over to open up nineteen centers with +the advancing column in the jungles of Africa. The 20,000 troops were +then occupying Swakopmund, a desolate little town surrounded by a sea +of burning sand. There were no trees, not a blade of grass, nor even +the song of a solitary bird to relieve the monotony. The men called it +"the land of sin, sand, sorrow, and sore eyes." Soon, however, the +large hall of the Faber Hotel was procured, with accommodations for a +thousand men. It became the social center of the whole camp. So +popular was the place that the men fairly fought and struggled to get +into the building. Every night at 7:30 the war telegrams were read, +and as it was the only way to hear the news from the front, each tent +appointed one man to be at the Y M C A at that hour. On the occasion +of the opening of the work, one man wrote home: "Two great events have +happened today--the Y M C A has commenced and I have had a bath." The +story will never be written as to what the Association meant in the +hearts of those men who laid down their lives fighting in East Africa. +On the cross at the head of every grave in one section of the dark +continent is the sentence: "Tell England, ye that pass by, that we who +lie here, rest content." Thus, from Cairo in the north, from +Swakopmund in the east, clear to Cape Town in the south, the red +triangle has followed the army to its last outposts. Space will not +permit us to describe the huts which have been opened at Salonica, the +twelve centers at Malta, and others dotted along the ports of the +Mediterranean. + + +III + +A new development has now been undertaken by the Association among the +thousands in the munition works in Great Britain. With the whole +nation organized for war, there are millions of workers busily engaged +on ten and twelve hour shifts, turning out that steady stream of +munitions which must ever flow up to the guns at the front, to supply +the army fighting there. Here are men and women without the excitement +and the adventure of the front, toiling all day under a strain, far +removed from home, congested in unattractive surroundings, and it is of +the utmost importance that these workers be kept healthful and happy. + +We motored down one afternoon to see the work that is going on in the +great arsenal at Woolwich. Outside, where a year ago were orchards and +pastures, are long rows of permanent buildings which have sprung up on +every side. To meet this situation the Y M C A has within recent +months erected more than a hundred huts in the different munition +centers, which can provide meals for thousands of tired workers. These +huts have already placed the Association in touch with half a million +workers. In the first hut we visited, three thousand of them were +seated at meals in two relays, while two thousand soldiers were +accommodated in the hut during the afternoon and evening. A platform +at one end had been put up for musical concerts and entertainments. +The price of meals varies from twelve to twenty-five cents. Lady Henry +Grosvenor and other leaders have marshalled a force of fifteen hundred +voluntary workers in this group of huts. + +So appreciative has the government been of this new development, that +in addition to providing their own government welfare workers to look +after the women and girls, they are permitting the munitions +manufacturers to build new Y M C A huts at government expense for the +accommodation of the men. We passed down long rows of dormitories, +erected almost in a night, where thousands of weary workers were +sleeping during the day, preparing for their night shift. It was +almost a sad sight to see whole huts filled with hundreds of boys from +fourteen to sixteen years of age, all sound asleep at midday. The +secretaries look after these boys in their rest and play and provide +healthful surroundings, a clean moral atmosphere, and attractive +religious influences. + +The Young Women's Christian Association has entered the open door for +work among the women. In one place where a young girl from the country +had been led astray by the temptations of this new and monotonous life +and had committed suicide, the Young Women's Christian Association has +erected a large hut to provide for the moral welfare of thousands of +other girls faced by the same temptations. Oh, the dreary drudgery +that faces these tired women! + + "Rattle and clatter and clank and whirr, + And thousands of wheels a-spinning-- + Oh, it's dreary work and it's weary work, + But none of us all will fail or shirk; + Not women's work--that should make, not mar, + But the Devil drives when the world's at war; + And it's long and long the day is." + +The Y W C A has adopted the sign of the blue triangle, to distinguish +it from the red triangle of the Y M C A. The huts bore the touch of +deft women's hands in the decorations, flowers, and signs of cheer and +comfort which the ladies have provided for these hard worked girls. +Before the huts were erected some girls had to sleep in the streets all +night in the unsanitary communities about the works. + +Both the government authorities and the Association workers have seen a +large open door for social service among these millions of munition +workers. For the work here is permanent. These great buildings will +remain as manufacturing centers of some kind after the war. The huts +will still be occupied. Already a new and growing body of legislation +is being introduced to improve the conditions of the toilers of old +England. + +It is little wonder that the whole nation has responded to this work so +boldly undertaken on such a large scale. From the first gifts have +been pouring in unsolicited. His Majesty the King, patron of the Young +Men's Christian Association in Britain, has inspected many of the +buildings, and sent in his contribution, with the following note: "His +Majesty congratulates the Association on the successful results of its +War work, which has done everything conducive to the comfort and +well-being of the armies, supplying the special and peculiar needs of +men drawn from countries so different and so distant. It has worked in +a practical, economical, and unostentatious manner, with consummate +knowledge of those with whom it has to deal. At the same time the +Association, by its spirit of discipline, has earned the respect and +approbation of the Military Authorities." + +The Queen Mother donated the Alexandra Hut in London, which makes +provision for the accommodation of soldiers on leave in the city. She +was seen recently serving tea behind the counter in the Association hut +to the happy Tommies who had come back strained and tired from the +front to "Blighty" once more. The Princess Victoria has been most +tireless in opening Y M C A huts, and has given unsparingly of her time +and effort for the men. + +No one has been more appreciative than the military authorities +themselves. Lord Roberts, four days before his death, wrote expressing +his appreciation of the work being accomplished. His secretary adds: +"He hears on all sides nothing but praise for what the Y M C A is doing +at the camps." Lord Kitchener, who had inspected the huts of the +Association in England, France, and Egypt, wrote: "From the first the Y +M C A gained my confidence, and now I find they have earned my +admiration and gratitude." Mr. Asquith, when Prime Minister, after +visiting the Association huts and attending the religious meetings +said: "The Y M C A is the greatest thing in Europe." Lloyd George, the +present Premier, said recently: "I congratulate the Y M C A. Wherever +I go I hear nothing but good of the work they are doing throughout the +country, and we owe them a very deep debt of gratitude." + + +[1] In addition to the existing work at Bangalore, Maymyo, and Poona, +Association privileges have been provided for soldiers in Lahore, +Delhi, Multan, Forozepore, Jhansi, Lucknow, Mhow, Trimulgherry, +Jubbulpore, Calcutta, Bombay, Madras, Ahmednagar, Rangoon, Dalhousie, +Naini Tal, Karachi, Allahabad, and Jutogh. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +LIFE IN A BASE CAMP + +The man who inaugurated Y M C A army work in France was Joseph Callan. +In 1903 he became a secretary of the International Committee in +Allahabad, North India, and later in Colombo. Ten years ago in +Bangalore he began his wonderful work for soldiers, which, in time, was +to set the pace and furnish the standard for the Association work of +the present war. + +When the British troops were out in camp, Callan opened his big Y M C A +tent and beat the army canteen in open competition, so that at the end +of the maneuvers the contractors had to haul back much of the liquor +unsold. While the canteen was being drained of men, Callan was running +a full show almost every evening. He had powerful arc lights placed +over the athletic field, and night after night tournaments were played +off, company against company, regiment against regiment, until the +closing hour of the canteen had passed. Lectures, moving pictures, and +concerts were followed by straight religious meetings, with lasting +results. The cooperation of the Bishop, clergy, and chaplains, helped +to relate permanently these results to the Church. + +As soon as the commanding officers saw the value of this work, they +began to cooperate and insisted upon its being carried on in every +camp. In the great maneuvers at Dacca, Callan was invited to Bengal to +run the institutional work for the troops at the expense of the +government, which he did with striking results. Each success made the +work known to a widening circle of officers and men. + +When the war broke out, Callan and Carter approached the Viceroy and +Commander-in-Chief to ask if they could serve the Indian Army as it was +to start as an expeditionary force to France. Since the Mutiny of +1857, with its religious superstition and prejudice about the greased +cartridges, etc., no Christian work had been permitted in the Indian +Army. Finally, however, permission was given to the Association to +begin work with the troops before embarkation. Upon arrival in Bombay, +our secretaries called upon the Commanding Officer, who had wired to +the General at Headquarters to know what he could do to hold his +discontented troops together in the flooded and crowded quarters about +the docks. The general had just wired, "Consult the Y M C A and ask +them to send for their army department." He had known of Callan's work +at Bangalore, Dacca, and other centers, and believed it would supply +just the missing link with the dissatisfied men. When our secretaries +called, the Colonel had just received the telegram and was prepared to +give them a chance to see what they could do for the troops. + +Within twenty-four hours a work was organized which kept the sepoys +occupied for all their leisure time. Football and hockey and outdoor +athletics, excursions down the harbor, sea bathing, lectures, and +entertainments were soon in full swing. This was the first work of the +kind ever done for the Indian Army. So instantly and obviously +invaluable did it become that the Commanding Officer insisted that the +secretaries should accompany the troops on the long and much dreaded +trip to France, which was a bold and untried venture for Indian +soldiers. + +It was a historic event when that great fleet of some seventy-five +ships, the largest assembled since the Spanish Armada, freighted with +about 25,000 troops bound for France, East Africa, and Persia, weighed +anchor, and sailed out of Bombay harbor with the first twelve Y M C A +secretaries on board. Arrived in France, permission was finally +obtained from the Commander-in-Chief to land and begin work on French +soil. + +Here the moral problem made the work of the Association a crying +necessity. Soon there were some 25,000 Indian troops concentrated +around Marseilles. These men could neither safely be let out of bounds +nor kept contented within bounds. A cordon of troops around the camp +could not keep vice out. The Y M C A was needed as a counter +attraction. Upon an outbreak of drinking and immorality on the part of +a group of Sikh soldiers, the whole garrison was called out to witness +these men stripped and flogged in exemplary punishment. The Sikhs felt +this to be such a public disgrace that they asked for the use of the Y +M C A hut in which to hold a council meeting. They finally decided to +ask one of the secretaries to address the whole body of Sikhs on the +subject of intemperance and impurity, for the Association was already +tacitly recognized by all as the dominant moral force in the camp. + +One of the Indian secretaries, Mr. Roy, addressed the soldiers at their +own request for an hour and a half, and a remarkable scene of +repentance was witnessed. Men arose on all hands, confessing their +sins in respect to these two special failings and requested that +penalties be imposed upon them by their own priest in accordance with +the custom of their religion, as a punishment for the past and as a +guarantee for the future. For nearly two hours the men filed by their +priest receiving penalties. Later on they held a service of their own +in the Y M C A hut on Christmas day and took up a large collection of +copper coins as a thank-offering to the Association. They felt that it +had been their one friend in a strange land. + +It should be clearly understood, however, that of necessity, in the +very nature of the case, the Government of India imposed upon the +secretaries the strict obligation of silence regarding the propagation +of Christianity. They entered the work on the understanding that the +men could live out the spirit of Christ and express it in silent +ministry under the motive of Christian love. + +It was striking to see how much real Christianity could be packed into +_life_ when speech was forbidden. The pent-up prayer and love and +sympathy of the workers was forced into the single channel of silent +service. It reminded one of those thirty years in our Lord's life, in +simple secular toil, which could only minister to the needs of men over +a carpenter's bench. + +It is no small task to undertake to occupy all the leisure time of +25,000 men far from home, shut up in irksome camps, easily aroused by +rumor or superstition. The numbers increased until there were finally +some 50,000 men to be cared for. Athletic fields were secured and +games were started. Football and hockey were more played by the +Indians than by the British troops. Badminton and volley ball, races +and track events, were also useful. Indoor games, the gramophone, +cinemas and concerts, and especially Indian dramas, were popular in the +evening. Lectures on geography, history, and moral subjects were well +attended, and French classes were of practical benefit. + +An incalculable service has also been rendered in writing letters for +the great mass of ignorant soldiers to their families in the far-off +Indian villages, miles away from a railway. Illiteracy, superstition, +and false rumors existed at both ends of the line. Here is a man who +has had no word from home since he left a year or more ago. He hears a +baseless rumor or heeds some inborn fear that his child is sick, or his +wife unfaithful, or that he has been cheated out of his property. +Hundreds of homesick men whose whole lives have been bound up in the +family circle pour in upon the secretaries, begging that they will +write letters home for them. Here you may see six or eight secretaries +writing for hours each day, as fast as the men can dictate their +messages and tell their stories. + +Then there arose the problem of how to keep these men in touch with +their households in isolated and illiterate villages in India. Mr. +Hume, one of the secretaries in Lahore, devised a far-reaching plan +whereby every letter was forwarded through missionaries or Christian +workers or officials to the distant home of the soldier. The whole +community gathers to hear the news from the Indian regiment on the +other side of the world, and a shout goes up from the village street +when they learn that their brave Sepoy is not dead, as rumor had +whispered. A message is sent back in eager gratitude from the wife, +children, and neighbors, and from the united heart of the little +village to the distant soldier and his fighting comrades. The Red +Triangle has spanned the gulf from the winter cold and the dreary +trenches in France to the little village on the plains of sunny India, +and the grateful hearts at both ends somehow dimly know that all this +silent ministry is in the name of the White Comrade who is the Friend +of man. + +Here in France the hut must stand as the friendly home that gathers up +all the best traditions of Indian life. It takes the place of the +banyan tree in the heat of the day, the village well, and the meeting +place for the men in the cool of the evening. Even beyond all hopes it +has proved a potent factor for unity, harmony, and peace in a time of +unrest. It draws the British officers and the Indian men closer +together, and the Indian secretaries have served time and again as the +mediators between the two, who could so easily have misunderstood each +other. It provides a common meeting place between the caste-ridden and +divided Indians themselves, who had no other ground of unity. + +Here are men of different languages and races and traditions, from the +Gurkhas, the brave little hill men, to the stalwart Pathans, who come +as fighting men from far beyond the borders of India for the sheer joy +of battle. The chances for supposed loot in the fabled wealth of the +West and the accumulation of merit by slaying the "unbelievers" of the +enemy, prove an added attraction to men born and bred in border +warfare. Here also are men of three separate creeds, who have often +fought with one another over the issues of their faiths--the big +bearded Sikhs, with a soldier's religion, the warlike Mohammedans, who +fight according to their Koran, and the caste-ridden Hindus. + +As you walk among the tents the smoke of the fires hangs heavy over the +camp; there is the familiar sound of the bubbling rice pots, the smell +of pungent curry, the babel of many oriental tongues, and you seem to +be back in the very heart of India itself. We gather with the reverent +Sikhs for their religious worship. They meet morning and evening for +their prayer service, and turn out almost in a body for the weekly +Sunday meeting. The service consists principally of singing and the +reading of their sacred scripture, the Granth. Seated on the ground, +the men show deep reverence, and seem to have a sense of the presence +of God in their midst. Their religion has a real restraining influence +and there is at present little immorality amongst them. + +A little further on in the camp one comes upon an improvised Mohammedan +mosque. Five times a day a devout soldier calls the faithful to +prayer, and on Friday about three-fourths of them come out to their +voluntary service. The Hindus, on the other hand, dependent upon +ceremonial rites, without their temple or priest and with no organized +public worship, have not a religion which holds them in such a vital +grip in this distant land. + +As you pass down the camp, the band is playing for the draft that is +marching off to take its place in the trenches. The last good-bys are +being said and little groups are round the secretaries. The stalwart +Sikhs are wringing their hands or kneeling down to wipe the dust from +their shoes, or thanking them with tears of gratitude. They are great +child-like men, simple of heart, affectionate, but lonely and homesick +in a distant land. Here is a man who was once a hard drinker, living +an immoral life, but today he is keeping straight. Here is another who +has resolved to go back to India to lead a different life. There were +tears in the eyes of the secretaries themselves as they came back after +bidding good-by to the draft, and there was compensation after long +months of service in the gratitude of the men and in that inner voice +which says, "I was a stranger and ye took me in." + +After Callan had launched the work among the Indian troops, he was +called upon to open up the work at a large British base camp behind the +lines in France. Here, beside the vast drill ground where Napoleon +used to marshal his troops, is a white city of tents, and between +100,000 and 200,000 men are always encamped there for training. + +Life in the trenches for the moment drives men to God, but the life in +a base camp is one of fierce and insidious temptation. To hold the men +in the face of such temptations, Callan has erected his buildings in +the thirty principal centers of this base. Here is a typical hut +before us, built of plain pine boards, 120 feet long and 60 feet broad. +It accommodates from 2,000 to 3,000 men a day and is used by +three-fourths of the men in the camp, by practically all, in fact, +except those who are confined to their hospital beds. These thirty +huts will be filled all winter with an average of 60,000 men a day. +Each night at least 15,000 men will be gathered in meetings, lectures, +and healthy entertainments. Twice each week there are 12,000 men in +attendance at religious meetings, and not a week passes without +hundreds of decisions being made for the Christian life. In the course +of the year a million men will pass through these camps, or one-sixth +of the manhood of the nation now marshalled under arms. These are the +men who are to be made or marred by life in the army, and who will go +back to build the new empire in the great era of reconstruction that is +to follow the war. + +[Illustrations: Wholesome and Entertaining; Home Refreshments in +London.] + +To minister to these 60,000 men who daily crowd these thirty huts, +there are 167 workers sent over from England, 100 of them men and 67 of +them women. The latter are nearly all self-supporting and not only +receive no salary but pay all their own expenses. The self-sacrificing +toil of these helpers, who form part of a vast army of 30,000 heroic +women who are voluntarily serving without compensation in the +Associations of England and France, is beyond all praise. Their very +presence in the camps is the greatest single moral factor for the +creation of that indefinable atmosphere which pervades every hut. Even +rude and coarse men never think of swearing or speaking an indecent +word within these walls. Nor do they forget to be grateful for the +tireless service of these women, who stand for hours day and night +serving them and providing for their physical necessities. The women +workers are under the direction of Lady Rodney, who has had four sons +fighting at the front, one of whom has already fallen in action. The +men have been thrilled and moved to the depths as Lady Rodney has +addressed them on "What Are We Fighting For?" and by her message to the +men from the women at home. Several hundred of the choicest women of +America will be needed for service among our own troops. They should +be women who can stand for the whole principle of the red triangle. +They must be ready for tireless and exhausting physical service, able +to work with others without friction, prepared to meet the social needs +of the men and to give a sympathetic hearing to the tales that will be +poured into their ears, but above all they must be able to give a +definite Christian message to men fiercely tempted and beset by doubts +and difficulties. The soldier cannot live by bread alone, nor by the +tea and coffee of a Y M C A counter; he needs God, and the friendship +of good women, and the spirit of home which they carry with them. + +The hundred men who are working in these thirty British huts are worthy +of note. A score of them are clergymen, who have resigned their +churches for the period of the war. Many others are well-known +ministers, laymen, or professors who have come over for a period of +several months of service. The list of the men who have been serving +here contains many distinguished names. There is Professor Burkett, +the New Testament scholar of Cambridge, in charge of one of the huts; +Professor Bateson, the great biologist of Cambridge, who has been +lecturing on his subject, and who was swept off his feet by the +response which he received from the troops. He stated that he was able +to learn more from these men than in months of research in his +laboratory, where he had been shut up for most of his life. Professor +Holland Rose, also of Cambridge, has been lecturing to the troops on +European history, interpreting the war to the soldier. Professor Oman, +of the same university, has been dealing in his lectures with the +historical problems of the war. Rev. E. A. Burroughs, of Oxford, has +been giving religious lectures. Principal D. S. Cairns, of Aberdeen, +has had crowded meetings night after night for his apologetic lectures, +and the questions raised in the open discussions would make one think +he was in a theological seminary. Principal Kitchie, of Nottingham, +has been lecturing on European history and the Balkan situation. +Bishop Knight is giving his time seven days a week to looking after the +spiritual and ecclesiastical needs of the men, as many seek +confirmation and partake of the Holy Communion before going up to the +front. Here are Scotch ministers, Anglican clergymen, and laymen, +working side by side in a great ministry of service. + +A series of missionary lectures has helped to give the men a new world +view of Christianity. It has lifted the simple villager, and the man +who has never known anything save the narrow ruts of his own +denomination, above the petty interests and divisions of his former +life to face world problems and the wide extension of the Kingdom of +God. Four lecturers have followed each other to present a great world +view to the men in these thirty huts: Butcher of New Guinea showed the +effect of the impact of the Gospel upon primitive native races; +Farquhar of India showed the power of Christianity over the great +ethnic religions of India; Lord Wm. Gascoyne Cecil came next on the +transformation of China, and was followed by Dennis of Madagascar and +Dr. Datta, a living witness of the power of Christianity in the great +Indian empire. John McNeill and Gipsy Smith, the well-known +evangelists, have spoken to thousands and have brought the challenge of +the Christian Gospel to the men, calling upon them for decisions and a +change of life in harmony with the teachings of Christ. + +Here are some of the finest spirits of England, some of its +intellectual and spiritual leaders, brought into daily contact with the +manhood of the nation in this formative period and epoch-making crisis. +Before us hangs the program for the week. It looks like the schedule +of classes and lectures for some great university. It is drawn up in +seven columns for the seven days of the week, and includes a score of +centers, with an average of three events for each hut per day. It +would cover several closely printed pages. Here are some of the events +scheduled for a single night: + +Hut No. 1, lecture on "The Meaning of Christianity," by Mr. A. D. Mann; +choir rehearsal; devotional meeting. No. 2, Rev. Butcher of New +Guinea, lecture on "The Failure of Civilization"; French class; Clean +Talk League. No. 3, lecture by Lord Wm. Cecil on China; French class; +hobby class. No. 4, cavalry band orchestra; Communion Service; evening +prayers. No. 5, Lena Ashwell Concert Party from London. No. 6, Rev. +N. H. M. Aitken, Bible lecture and discussion; orchestral band. No. 7, +concert party; general hospital show. No. 8, lecture on Napoleon by +Mr. Perkins; Mrs. Luard's concert party. No. 9, concert given by the +men of the auxiliary park camp; draughts tournament. No. 10, religious +discussion class; Lord Wm. Cecil; service conducted by Chaplain Berry. +No. 11, Professor Thos. Welsh's Bible class; mid-week rally. No. 12, +fretwork and carpentry class; games; letter writing. No. 13, mid-week +service; Bible class; letter writing. No. 14, cinema show; indoor +games. No. 15, lantern lecture on "India in the Trenches." No. 16, +ladies' concert party; Hindi and Urdu classes; letter writing; games. +All of this covers only the program for half of the huts on a single +night! + +Principal Fraser, of Ceylon and Uganda, but equally conversant with +present-day problems in Britain, has been conducting a weekly +parliament in different camps on the great questions of reconstruction +after the war. For here are men away from home, lifted above the toil +and narrow drudgery of their former cramped lives, and they have +learned to think. + +There is evidence of wide industrial and social unrest. The men are +conscious not only of world wrongs which threaten their country from +without, but of wrongs within as well, and they are going to demand +that these wrongs shall be righted. A deep tide of feeling runs +through the audience, as these men, blunt of speech but clear of brain, +openly and frankly discuss the future, and they hang eagerly upon the +words of Principal Fraser as he guides their thought to higher ideals +for the period of reconstruction that is to follow. + +One night they are discussing the present social order, and what is +wrong with it; they are dealing with bad housing, employment, low +wages, the cleavage between the rich and the poor, industrial +oppression, and social injustice. The next night they consider the +dangers of demobilization. What will be the effect upon hundreds of +thousands of women workers? Here are more than five million soldiers +in the army, and a large number of men and women, boys and girls, +working on government orders. What steps must be taken to minimize the +dislocation of industry and to prevent unemployment? On the night +following, they discuss the question of industrial reorganization. +They resolve that "the time has come, as the only means of averting +social disaster, to grant a constitution to the factory, and quite +frankly to recognize and insist that the conditions of employment are +not matters to be settled by the employer alone, any more than by the +workmen alone, but in joint conference between them; and not even for +each establishment alone, but subject to the National Common Rules +arrived at for the whole industry by the organized employers and +employed, in consultation with the representatives of the community as +a whole." + +At the next parliament they discuss the future of education in England. +What should be its aim, how far should it be technical, and how far +should it aim at the development of personality? Should the +school-leaving age be raised to fifteen, or half-time education be +given up to the age of eighteen? One night in the parliament they +discuss the problem of drink and the war; on another night, gambling; +and on another, the social evil. The men who attend the lectures and +parliaments of these camps will almost get a liberal education during +the three years. + +We have spoken of the vast work going on in the thirty huts conducted +by 167 workers in this single base camp. Let us now pass into a +typical center and observe the work a little more in detail. For our +first illustration, let us take the Y M C A hut in the Convalescent +Camp. We select this because it is the model of the new huts for the +American army which are now being constructed. It is a moving sight +simply to step inside its doors. Here are two parallel structures of +simple pine boards, each 120 by 30 feet. They may be used separately, +in eight different departments, including the lecture hall which will +seat 500, or with the partitions raised they may be thrown into one +large audience hall, holding 1,200 men. + +A glance at the crowd within, or at the great city of white tents +without, shows that even this building is utterly inadequate for this +convalescent camp holding 4,000 men. It is a center for a dozen +surrounding hospitals, each containing from 1,000 to 4,000 patients. +As the men are cured in these hospitals they are sent up to the +Convalescent Camp to be made fit to return to the trenches. It is +worth remembering that every one of these 4,000 patients is a wounded +man, all of whom have seen service and suffering. + +Let us enter first of all the large social hall. Several hundred men +are seated at the tables, playing games or chatting over a cup of tea. +At one end is the counter, where three women and five men take their +turn serving during the day and evening. Two or three thousand of +these men will pour in every day this winter. They will stand in a +long queue filing by the counter for more than two hours. Here are +large urns, each holding ten gallons of tea. Cup after cup is rapidly +pushed across the counter without turning off the tap; as 160 men are +served in ten minutes, and there is no stop save to place a fresh urn +full of tea. As fast as the workers can move, not only hot tea and +coffee, but bread and biscuits, cake and chocolate, tobacco, matches, +candles, soap, bachelor buttons are furnished, and every other need of +the soldier is supplied. The aim is to meet his every demand, so that +he will not have to go into the city to places of temptation and evil +resorts. + +While these men are being served or are seated in the social room, +meetings and lectures are conducted at the same time on the other side +of the partition in the audience hall, which is occupied several times +a day, and is used for social purposes between the meetings. We now +pass into the lounge, which is filled with men, busy at their games. +Next is the Quiet Room, where no talking or writing is allowed. Men +come into this room for quiet meetings or private prayer, and here +small group prayer meetings and Bible classes are held. + +Just outside the hut is a wide wooden platform which accommodates +several hundred men. There nearly a dozen different games are in full +swing, all at the same time. Each one is designed to help the patient +recover his health. Here are badminton, tennis, volley ball, indoor +baseball, quoits, deck billiards, bagatelle, ping-pong, and other +games. The front of this platform forms a grandstand for the cricket +field beyond. + +Here for three nights we conducted meetings, with five or six hundred +men in attendance. More than a hundred men signed the decision cards +each night, and when asked it was found that one-third of them had made +the decision for the first time, about one-third of them were +back-sliders who had been living as Christians before the war but who +had gone down before temptation, while the remaining third had been +maintaining a consistent Christian life during the war. + +In a second after-meeting in the Quiet Room one night, men from almost +every quarter of the globe spoke and gave testimony. Here was one poor +fellow who had come over after several years in the States. He had had +delirium tremens three times, and showed the effects of it on his face. +He had formerly been the center of the foul talk and vulgar language of +his tent. He had now come straight out for Christ and had boldly +witnessed for Him before the men. The second boy, the son of a +prominent officer in South Africa, arose under deep emotion. He had +been living a wild and reckless life and was known as the "Red Light +King." After his conversion, he went out and brought in another +comrade who openly decided for Christ. There were boys from Canada, +Australia, and England who followed, many of them with tragedies in +their past lives. + +It is impossible to calculate the vast influences for good that have +been flowing from this hut to the thousands of men who pass through it. +The aim of the young Scotch minister who is the leader has been to make +it for all the men "a home away from home." The life in the army, with +its irksome toil, daily drill, cold and wet and mud, the horror of +battle and the pain of wounds, is all for the moment forgotten as the +men enter the place. + +We tell the leader that we are taking this building as the model for +our new American camps. He says: "Large as this hut is, it is not +large enough or good enough for the men. Daily we have need for better +equipment. This hut as it stands will serve from two thousand to three +thousand men in a day, but nothing is too good for these boys who are +coming here to suffer and die in this faraway land. You will send your +sons over from America to spend this cold winter on the bleak plains of +France in open bell tents. They will be fed on canned goods and corned +beef, and they will be housed in the most unattractive towns of France, +where there is absolutely no interest or diversion apart from drink and +women. You can hardly realize what it means to sit down in a homelike +place, to get a hot cup of tea served on a white tablecloth. This is +the only home these boys will see in France, and they will either come +here or go to the red light resorts. I wish I could tell the men of +America what their boys will face here, what they will suffer, what +temptations will assail them. The best equipment you can give them is +not good enough, for the people at home little realize to what a life +their boys are coming, and what hardships will face them here in +France." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE CAMP OF THE PRODIGALS + +We are in a natural amphitheater of the forest, near a big base +hospital, about seventy miles behind the lines in France. Always in +the stillness of the woods, even at this distance, one can hear the +intermittent boom of the big guns at the front, and the air is vibrant +on this summer evening. Beyond the wood lies the old drill ground of +Napoleon, which is used today as a field for final training for the +reenforcements for the front line. + +In this wide open space in the woods at sundown the patients of the +hospital in their blue uniforms are gathering for the meeting. It is a +picturesque sight to see about eight hundred of them seated on the +grass, while an orchestra composed of their own men is playing before +the opening of the meeting. Who are these men before us? They are not +the wounded who have fallen on the field of honor, but the sick, and, +quite frankly, they all have venereal disease. The war has dragged +this moral menace so into the light of day that the times of prudish +silence and of fatal ignorance should have passed for all who are truly +concerned for the welfare of the soldier and who want to know his +actual conditions. We shall, therefore, in this chapter call a spade a +spade. + +The eight hundred men gathered here are a small part of some thousands +of similar cases in France. The _London Daily Mail_ of April 25th, +1917, referring to the report of the military authorities to the House +of Commons, stated that there had been some two hundred thousand cases +of venereal disease in the British Army in France alone. This does not +include England or the men on the other fronts. The British Army is +not worse than others. Professor Finger, at a meeting of the Medical +Society in Vienna early in the war, estimated that over 700,000, or +some ten per cent of the Austrian troops, had contracted venereal +disease. More ominous still is the fact that in almost every place yet +investigated the majority of the men were confessedly living in +immorality amid the temptations of the base camps in France. + +As we visit the hospitals in France, we are saddened by the fact that +for one of the two venereal diseases no cure has yet been found, that a +large proportion of these cases suffer a relapse, and that over seventy +per cent will develop complications. As one Commanding Medical Officer +said, "There is enough venereal disease in these military camps now to +curse Europe for three generations to come." + +One young major said: "Every day I am losing my boys. I've lost more +men through these forces of immorality than through the enemy's shot +and shell." The recent report of the Royal Commission shows the grave +menace of the disease to Britain, where twenty per cent of the urban +population has been infected. Flexner's terrible indictment in his +"Prostitution in Europe" proves how particularly dangerous and +pernicious is the system of inspection and regulation which legalizes +and standardizes vice as a "necessary evil" and spreads disease through +the false sense of security which it vainly promises. Even if the +inspection and regulation of vice were physically perfectly successful, +it might still lead to national degeneration, but instead of being a +success it has proved, especially in France, a miserable failure. We +cannot place all the blame upon local conditions, for the presence of +an army in a foreign land in wartime creates its own danger. + +Among the men in the venereal hospitals of France are musicians, +artists, teachers, educated and refined boys from some of the best +homes, and in another camp we find several hundred officers and several +members of the nobility. What was the cause of their downfall? A +questionnaire replied to by several hundred of them revealed the fact +that six per cent attributed their downfall to curiosity, ten per cent +to ignorance, claiming that they had never been adequately warned by +the medical authorities, thirteen per cent to loss of home influences +and lack of leave, thirty-three per cent to drink and the loss of +self-control due to intoxication, while the largest number of all, or +thirty-eight per cent, attributed it to uncontrolled passion when they +were unconverted or had no higher power in their lives to enable them +to withstand temptation. But perhaps the chief cause of the spread of +immorality is the unnatural conditions under which the men are +compelled to live in a foreign land in war time. + +Donald Hankey, the brilliant young author of "A Student in Arms," who +fell at the front, speaks thus of the moral problem in the soldier's +life: + + +"Let us be frank about this. What a doctor might call the 'appetites' +and a padre the 'lusts' of the body, hold dominion over the average +man, whether civilian or soldier, unless they are counteracted by a +stronger power. The only men who are pure are those who are absorbed +in some pursuit, or possessed by a great love; be it the love of clean, +wholesome life which is religion, or the love of a noble man which is +hero-worship, or the love of a true woman. These are the four powers +which are stronger than 'the flesh'--the zest of a quest, religion, +hero-worship, and the love of a good woman. If a man is not possessed +by one of these he will be immoral. . . . Fifteen months ago I was a +private quartered in a camp near A----. . . . The tent was damp, +gloomy, and cold. The Y M C A tent and the Canteen tent were crowded. +One wandered off to the town. . . . And if a fellow ran up against 'a +bit of skirt' he was generally just in the mood to follow it wherever +it might lead. The moral of this is, double your subscriptions to the +Y M C A, Church huts, soldiers' clubs, or whatever organization you +fancy! You will be helping to combat vice in the only sensible way." + + +We agree with Donald Hankey that the appetites hold dominion over the +average man, whether civilian or soldier. We do not wish to make any +sweeping generalizations or accusations. We have no means of knowing +how many men are immoral in peace time, as we have in war time. We +only know that conditions of ordinary times are intensified, +aggravated, and multiplied; and they are revealed in war time as never +before, and thrown upon the screen of the public gaze. The writer also +desires to guard against any possible impression that the British army +is worse than our own or any other. It is too early to know what +record our men will make, but we find it difficult to believe that they +could have maintained a higher standard if placed in equal numbers in +the same circumstances. + +But to return to our meeting. Every one of these eight hundred men in +this audience has a history. Tired or hardened or haggard faces are +relaxed as they join in singing the hymns on this Sunday evening, +"Nearer, My God, to Thee," "Lead, Kindly Light," "Tell Me the Old, Old +Story," and "Where is my Wandering Boy Tonight?" There is a tragedy in +every heart, and each man has experienced the bitterness of sin and +bears its scars branded in his body. Look into the faces of some of +these men. Here in front, this very first one, is an American cowboy +from Texas, Frank B----. As a "broncho-buster" he became the star +rider in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show and was finally adopted as his +son. At the age of fifteen he started to go wrong in New Orleans. At +an early age he joined the American army, and later, at the outbreak of +the war, he served in the Flying Corps of the British army. Here he +broke a leg and was smashed up in action. After that he joined an +infantry division. In one of the meetings this week he accepted +Christ. He has since been standing firm and goes out tomorrow to begin +a new life. Near him is a young theological student with a sad look on +his face, who has learned here in bitterness the deepest lesson of his +life. Next to him is a heartbroken married man with a wife and +children at home. + +After the crowd has assembled, we speak to them of Christ as the Maker +of Men. We tell them of the transformation of others like themselves, +of Augustine, Francis of Assisi, Loyola and the saints of old, of John +B. Gough, Jerry McAuley, Hadley, and the men of Water Street whom God +raised out of the depths, and of men right in their midst who have come +out for Christ in the meetings this week. After speaking for an hour, +we go into the Y M C A for an after-meeting. + +We had a wonderful time with them here one Saturday night. Five +hundred of them crowded the hall and listened for an hour as we spoke +on the good news of the free offer of life. When the invitation was +given, over two hundred stayed to the after-meeting as desiring to +follow Christ. After we had spoken one of the men came forward and +asked if he could say a word. He had been an earnest Christian before +the war, and as he began to speak of his fall and of his trusting wife +and children at home, the poor fellow broke down in utter wretchedness. +It seemed to strike a responsive chord in the hearts of the married men +all over the room. Many a one buried his head in his hands and wept +bitterly. A second after-meeting was held and God seemed to be moving +in the heart of every man present. Man after man rose to tell of his +fall, or of his repentance, or of his new acceptance of Christ. The +feeling was deep but controlled. It was one of the saddest and yet one +of the gladdest meetings I have ever attended. One minister present +said he had seen nothing like it all through the Welsh revival. + +During their stay in this hospital great changes have taken place in +many of these men. Here is Dan, a young chauffeur, a strong-willed, +self-sufficient young fellow who thought he needed no help and no +religion. He has a Christian wife at home to whom he has been untrue, +for the temptations of the war swept him off his feet like a flood. In +the meetings this week he turned to Christ and has been working right +and left bringing in others ever since. Beside him is a poor fellow +whom he has just brought to the meetings. He went on leave to England, +only to find his three children deserted by his wife, who had run away, +untrue to him. At last he found her, and brought her home. On his +return to the army, he finds that now he has to bear here in the +hospital the vicarious result of her fall. He came to me as a +non-Christian struggling with the problem of forgiveness. Could he +forgive her all this and his broken home? At last in Christ he found +the power to forgive and took up his heavy cross. He knelt at the +altar of the little chapel and yielded up his life to God. Tomorrow he +leaves the hospital to begin a new life. + +Here is a young Australian who was untrue to his wife. When we first +saw him he was hardened by sin. That night he yielded to Christ. The +next Sunday we knelt beside him at the Lord's Supper. He was a new +man; his very face was changed. He said, "I have read of miracles in +the past, but there was never a greater miracle than the change which +has taken place in my heart and life. I am a new man. I can look any +one in the face today!" + +Beside him at that communion table knelt a young gunner, "Joe," of the +Royal Field Artillery. He was a strong, red-cheeked six-footer, +winsome and good to look upon, the most popular man in his battery. +Away from home among bad companions he was swept off his feet and fell. +He has found Christ here among the prodigals in a far country. Before +leaving he came up to bid us good-by, saying, "I'm going out to warn +other men and to witness for Christ to the end of my days." + +Here is M----, a young sergeant, who came up after the meeting, with +tears in his eyes. "Sir," he said, "I was never drunk but once in my +life, when my pals were home on leave, and that once, under the +influence of drink, I fell. Here I am in the hospital, yet I am +engaged to a little girl at home who is as white as snow. What is my +duty in the matter?" He has accepted Christ and is a changed man. + +Oh, it is a wonderful sight to see men transformed by this inward moral +miracle, wrought by the touch of the living God. Here in the very +center of this venereal camp stands the Y M C A, endeavoring to meet +their every need, and even here the red triangle shines with the hope +of a new manhood for body, mind, and spirit. Every day at the hour of +opening there is a scurry of feet as the men rush in to the one center +in the whole camp where they can congregate. Martin Harvey has just +been here to cheer them up, and they were enthusiastic over a fine +lecture and recital last night on Chopin. The Colonel in command takes +particular pride in the Y M C A for his men, and states that crime +among them has been reduced ninety per cent since it started. + +But even greater than the privilege which the Association has in +ministering to the fallen, is its work of prevention in the other +camps. Just up the road is a swearing old major in command of a unit +which has always had the worst record for immorality and disease of any +camp on the plain. He finally came in and demanded a Y M C A hut for +his men. A few weeks later he came to the Association headquarters and +said, in punctuated language which could not be printed, "For a year +and a half my camp has led all the rest as the worst in venereal +disease, with some twenty-five fresh cases every week. The first week +after the Y M C A was opened we had only ten cases, the next week six, +the third week only two, and it has not risen above that since. Your +Association is the ---- best cure for this evil." + +Nothing less than reaching the whole man can meet this gigantic +problem. You must take physical precautions and build up a strong, +clean, athletic body. Better than all repressive rules and +regulations, you must provide healthy and happy occupation for the +minds of the men. But beyond the reach of medical and military +restrictions you have got to grip and strengthen their spiritual and +moral nature. Otherwise, in the artificial and unnatural conditions +consequent upon a vast concentration of men in a foreign land, away +from all home influences, and in the poisonous atmosphere of a land of +"regulated" immorality, where the government still regards it as a +"necessary evil," you must see your men fall in ranks before the +machine guns of commercialized vice, controlled by the vested +interests, or fall a prey to the harpies who walk the streets. In the +face of all this we must lay bold claim to the whole of manhood for God +and for the high ends for which it was created. + +The writer recently walked through a French street of licensed vice, +where strong young fellows were tossing away their birthright for a +mess of pottage. He passed on the main street of the city two young +Americans from a medical unit who were reeling along in the possession +of two harpies. They were shouting to all the passers by, trying to +hold up the carriages, and widely advertising their uniform and their +nation. We recognize the difficulty of maintaining a high moral +standard in a foreign land in war time, but we believe it can be done. +A plan has recently been suggested by the Association for dealing with +this menace. + +First of all, it is proposed to conduct a campaign of education on the +highest moral grounds by a select group of lecturers, capable of +presenting wisely the danger of immorality from both the medical and +moral standpoints. This will involve the preparation of lectures, +charts, lantern slides, films, and everything needed for the effective +presentation both to the ear and eye. It is hoped that these lecturers +will be able to instruct chaplains, Y M C A secretaries, and all who +are responsible for the moral leadership of the troops, in order that +they may be better able to cope with the situation. It is proposed +that these lecturers conduct meetings for three days in each center, +with a parade lecture for each battalion and voluntary meetings in the +evening, which will include addresses on hygiene, lantern lectures, and +moral talks. Healthy literature will be prepared and distributed to +the men, and similar campaigns will be conducted in the camps in the +United States and on shipboard before the troops reach France. + +Second, a positive program for the occupation and amusement of the men +will be provided. Athletic sports, games, tournaments, track meets, +and other events will offer adequate physical facilities. Amusements, +entertainments, concerts, classes, and lectures will be arranged for +the mental occupation of the men. Meetings, personal interviews, and +services will be planned to keep before them the moral and spiritual +challenge and the call for clean living. Special campaigns will be +carried on in all Y M C A huts from time to time. + +Third, we would favor strict regulations and penalties to cope with +immorality. We are glad that the selection of camp sites for the +American troops in France is being made at places as far removed from +the temptations of the cities as possible, where the men will be kept +under closer supervision than could be done if the troops were located +near large centers of population. Other means are being provided which +cannot here be mentioned. + +In the fourth place, we favor adequate medical provisions, coupled with +the highest moral restraints. We will take our stand against any +league with vice, against any recognition of immorality as a "necessary +evil." We will stand against all notices, lectures, or medical talks +such as are given in some quarters, which practically serve as an +invitation or solicitation to immorality. We would oppose any +provision on the part of the authorities to provide in advance for +immorality, to standardize it, accept it, and attempt to render it +safe, and we would oppose any mention of it which tends to advertise +and increase the evil. We would strenuously oppose the running of +supervised houses of prostitution by our own military authorities, as +was done by some of them on the Mexican border. Conceivably a system +of inspected government houses and of prophylactic measures might be +devised which would eliminate disease altogether, and yet demoralize +the young manhood of our nation by a cynical scientific materialism +such as we are fighting against in the powers that dragged the world +into this war. We are more opposed to immorality than to disease, +which is its penalty. We fear not only the impairment of the physical +fitness of the men as a fighting force, but much more the menace of the +moral degradation of the manhood of the nation, under the unnatural +conditions of wartime. + +We believe that the hearty cooperation of the medical and moral +agencies and of the military and voluntary forces which have to do with +the men, can greatly reduce both immorality and disease. We feel sure, +moreover, that the solid backing of public opinion in America will +support every effort to surround our camps with a zone of safety and to +keep the men clean and strong in the multiplied dangers of a foreign +land, as well as in the military camps of our own country. It is +reassuring to know that our military authorities abroad have taken a +strong stand and that in no army in Europe are drunkenness and the +contraction of venereal disease more instantly court-martialled or more +severely punished. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +RELIGION AT THE FRONT + +The war, like a great searchlight thrown across our individual and +national lives, has revealed men and nations to themselves. It has shown +us the nation's manhood suddenly stripped of the conventionalities, the +restraints, and the outward respectability of civil life, subjected to +the trial and testing of a prodigious strain. It has shown us the real +stuff of which men are made. It is like the X-ray photographs now +constantly used in all the military hospitals, and placed in the windows +of the operating rooms, to guide the surgeon in discovering the hidden +pieces of shrapnel or shattered bones which must be removed in order to +save the patient. + +The war has been a great revelation of things both good and bad. In the +light of this terrible conflict, we may well ask what it shows us of the +present virtues and vices of the men, and of our past failure or success +in dealing with them, and to what future course of action it should +summon us? In other words, what lessons has the war to teach us? Large +numbers of young clergymen and laymen of the churches of England and +Scotland have gone to the war zone with the men as chaplains, Y M C A +workers, or in the army itself, and have learned to know men as they +never knew them before. We would covet this opportunity for every young +minister or Christian worker in America. Mr. Moody once stated that the +Civil War was his university. It was there he learned to understand the +human heart and to know and win men. + +During the summer of 1917 a questionnaire was sent out to representative +religious workers throughout the armies in France and Great Britain by a +committee under the chairmanship of the Bishop of Winchester and +Professor D. S. Cairns, with Mr. E. C. Carter of the Y M C A, and the +Rev. Tissington Tatlow of the Student Christian Movement, as secretaries. +Although the results and findings of this committee are not yet +published, the writer has before him the reports of numbers of workers in +France. In the base camp where he was last working, the questions were +taken up by more than a hundred of the workers and discussed in +conferences with groups of the soldiers and officers of the various +regiments. These were summarized in findings and the reports were +compared with the returns made from other centers. The writer has had +the privilege of talking with hundreds of the soldiers regarding their +own religious lives and difficulties. In this chapter he will try to +form a composite photograph of all these impressions and to state +impartially the results of his own experience and those of others. + +We shall confine ourselves to three outstanding questions: I. What are +the moral standards and actions of the men in war time? II. What is +their attitude to religion and what is their religious life at the front? +III. What is their attitude to the churches, and what lessons may the +Church learn from the men at the front? + +The questionnaire has been answered mainly by men of the British army, +but the writer could observe no radical difference between the British +and American forces as regards their religious life. As in other things +connected with the war, we in America may learn much from the experience +of Britain and other nations. + + +I + +_What are the moral standards and actions of the men in war time_? At +the very beginning, we must recognize the difficulty and danger of +generalizations. No two men in the army are precisely alike. All +sweeping generalizations are likely to be misleading. Regiments differ +from one another and workers receive differing impressions of the front. +Most of all we must distinguish between the different classes in the army. + +It has been repeatedly affirmed that not more than 20 per cent of the men +now under arms among the British troops were connected with the churches +in any vital way before the war, or were regular in attendance at their +services. Of this minority perhaps a half--those who were weak or +nominal Christians before the war or have lost the higher standards of +peace time or have hidden whatever religion they may have had--would not +now be classed as definitely Christian men. But the remaining half, or +one-tenth of the total number in the army, would probably be out-and-out +Christians, strengthened by the severe discipline of the war and living +under distinctly Christian standards. + +At the other or lower extreme, there are perhaps one-tenth who are +so-called "rotters," the men who set the evil standards of the camp and +whose conduct is almost altogether selfish and materialistic. Between +these two extremes are the great majority, or four-fifths, whom it is so +difficult to classify. It is our conviction that these men "are not +saved, but are salvable." + +What are the moral standards of this majority? They are not definitely +Christian. Rather, they have a military, material standard of the type +of a somewhat primitive social group. Their expressions unconsciously +reveal their judgments. Their constant demand of one another is "to play +the game," that is, to play fair and to do one's part in order to win the +game for the good of all. Anything which harms, hinders, or endangers +another, which brings suffering to one's fellows or defeat to one's side, +is not playing the game. They condemn unmanly actions which bring +defeat, and praise the practical and virile virtues. As one chaplain +writes: "I believe nearly all live partly by faith in a good God. I have +never found men afraid to die, even though they were afraid before +battle. As to the standards by which they live, I should say they are +the sanctions of group morality. They have very lax ideas about +drunkenness and sexual irregularity, but they have very strict ideas +about the sacredness of social obligations within the groups to which +they belong. I would mention sheer fear of public opinion as one of the +great weaknesses of the men. They would rather be in the fashion than be +right. And most of them have been hardened--though not necessarily in a +bad sense." + +As we ask ourselves what are the virtues which the majority admire in +others and practice themselves to a greater or lesser degree, we would +say that they are chiefly five: + +1. _Courage_ or bravery, the first virtue of the ancients and always at a +natural premium in war time, is admired by all. In countless instances +in the camps or on the battlefield this rises to heroism or +self-sacrifice. Cowardice is scathingly condemned, and the man who +starts to run away on the battlefield is unhesitatingly shot down by his +comrades to preserve the morale of the fighting body. + +2. _Brotherliness_, or comradeship, shows itself in unselfish service and +cooperation with others. + +3. _Generosity_ and tender-heartedness show themselves in the men's +willingness to help a comrade, to share their last rations, and to insist +that others be attended to on the battlefield before themselves when they +lie wounded. These are among the most beautiful virtues which the war +has revealed. + +4. _Straightforwardness_ and genuine honesty are demanded; and all cant, +hypocrisy, double dealing, shirking, and unreality are scathingly +condemned. + +5. _Persistent cheerfulness_ in the midst of monotony, drudgery, +suffering, danger, or death, is admired and maintained by the majority. +This is not incompatible with the "grousing" or grumbling which the +Englishman regards as his prerogative. This good cheer shows itself in +the inveterate singing and whistling of the men on the march.[1] + +Commenting upon the virtues of the soldiers, especially the wounded, a +hospital nurse writes: "I was struck by the amount of real goodness among +the men--their generosity, kindness, chivalry, patience, and +self-sacrifice. The sins which they dislike are those sins of the spirit +which Christ denounced most bitterly--hypocrisy, pride, meanness. They +love giving, they bear pain patiently, they honor true womanhood, they +reverence goodness." + +Probably no one in the present war has given a better description of the +unconscious virtues of the soldiers than has Donald Hankey, in his +chapter on "The Religion of the Inarticulate," fragments of which we here +quote: + +"We never got a chance to sit down and think things out. Praying was +almost an impossibility. . . . Above all, we were not going to turn +religious at the last minute because we were afraid. . . . The soldier, +and in this case the soldier means the workingman, does not in the least +connect the things that he really believes in with Christianity. . . . +Here were men who believed absolutely in the Christian virtues of +unselfishness, generosity, charity, and humility, without ever connecting +them in their minds with Christ; and at the same time what they did +associate with Christianity was just on a par with the formalism and smug +self-righteousness which Christ spent His whole life in trying to +destroy. . . . The men really had deep-seated beliefs in goodness. . . . +They never connected the goodness in which they believed with the God in +Whom the chaplains said they ought to believe. . . . They have a dim +sort of idea that He is misrepresented by Christianity. . . . If the +chaplain wants to be understood and to win their sympathy he must begin +by showing them that Christianity is the explanation and the +justification and the triumph of all that they do now really believe in. +He must start by making their religion articulate in a way which they +will recognize." + +As we turn from the virtues to the vices or moral weaknesses of the +soldier in war time, we find that they also fall chiefly under five +headings: + +1. _Impurity_ must certainly take the first place. Investigation seemed +to show that the majority of these men were immoral in peace time, but +the war has intensified this evil. This would be accounted for to a +large extent by the unnatural conditions under which the men are forced +to live, and the policy of the military authorities, who are often +concerned merely with the fighting fitness of the men, rather than with +the moral issues. However this may be, in nearly every camp or battalion +or regiment or body of men questioned, whether among officers or men, the +majority were confessedly living in immorality. This in itself is a +staggering fact. It could be supported here by numerous statements or +authorities and by much evidence. + +2. _Obscene and profane language_ is sweeping like an epidemic through +the camps. It is infectious, and the worst men, who are the loudest +talkers, tend to set the standard, so that evil is rapidly and +unconsciously propagated until the very atmosphere becomes saturated. It +is some comfort to know that frequently words are used unthinkingly and +without a full realization of their original meaning. It is also +comforting to be assured that there is not much deliberate telling of +obscene stories. As one man puts it, "There are few essentially rotten +minds." When, however, the name of our Lord is used not only profanely, +but dragged into the most obscene and horrible connections, unheard of in +peace times, no possible excuse can be offered and the habit cannot but +prove deadening and baneful in its influence. Men who never before +thought of swearing find themselves driven to strong language and to +reckless, heightened, or intensified expression in the trying and +persistent strain of war time. + +3. _Drunkenness_ has always proved the danger of the soldier. The +discipline of the army has lessened this evil within the camps. +Certainly it is being sternly suppressed and severely punished by the +authorities among the newly arrived American troops. The rum which is +given to the soldiers of the British army before a charge, or in the +extreme cold of the trenches, has taught some men to drink who had not +contracted the habit before. It is also a fact that the drink bill of +England has increased during the war. Lloyd George said: "We are +fighting against Germany, Austria, and Drink; but the greatest of these +three deadly foes is Drink." The drink trade of England is maintained on +the one hand by the powerful vested interests and the respectable +moderate drinkers at the top of society, who are not willing to sacrifice +their selfish comfort for the weaker brother, and on the other hand by +the demand of the laboring classes who will have their beer, and whom the +government does not dare oppose in the present crisis. Drink has been a +curse to Britain during the war. + +4. _Gambling_ is a danger to the soldier. It is strictly forbidden in +most of its forms by the military authorities. The game of "House" is +tolerated as a mild form of gambling, where the men play for hours for +very small stakes in order to kill time. The game of "Crown and Anchor" +is also popular. + +5. _A lack of moral courage_, of independence, and of individual +initiative are particular evils of the present. All the men have to act +together. They are taught to obey under rigid discipline. Individual +initiative is crushed or left undeveloped. The sense of personal +responsibility and of personal ownership is often weakened. This lack of +the sense of private property may partly account for the pilfering which +goes on. The men find it exceedingly difficult to take an open stand on +moral or religious questions before their comrades. A soldier will +ordinarily hide his religion and is afraid to be seen praying or doing +anything that makes him peculiar, although the most immoral and obscene +man is not ashamed of his actions. + +A lieutenant of the Royal Irish Rifles says: "Taken singly they are +afraid to face public opposition, anxious to avoid bother and exertion, +slack, and easily overcome by temptations. There is a fairly general +chaotic unrest, but little or no serious thought. There is a greater +tolerance towards vice. Many more men practice sexual vice than before +and most refuse to condemn it. It might be said that the men are more +open to religion, but less religious. They are also more open on the +question of sacrifice, the need for living or dying for others." + +An army chaplain who himself served in the ranks writes of the soldier: +"He lives an animal life in which the thinking is done for him. Indeed +his relative comfort depends upon the extent to which he can abstain from +thinking. In France the number who take drink increases greatly. It is +wicked, damnably wicked that our lads through ignorance should be allowed +to slip into sins which in themselves are deadly, but which also open the +door to deadlier sins. . . . There are many indications that when the +Army returns there will be a great social upheaval. Men feel that they +are out to fight Prussianism, but they are becoming growingly conscious +of Prussianism in our own national life. They are very conscious of it +in military life." + +If we were to sum up our impressions we would be compelled to say that +there has been an increase of immorality, drinking, and bad language +during the period of the war. + + +II + +Let us now ask, _What is the attitude of the men to religion, and what +are the characteristics of their religious life in war time_? The war +seems to have intensified all the tendencies of peace time. It makes a +man a greater sinner or a greater saint. He is either driven to God or +away from Him. It would be impossible for any single human mind +adequately to sum up the good and evil of war, and strike a balance +between the two. Most Christians cannot believe that war is in itself +good. To those who have seen its hideous reality it is unquestionably a +dire evil. Even the best results of war might have been better attained +by other means. The good is often revealed rather than caused by it. A +moral equivalent for war might have been found. Certainly no Christian +could defend war save as a last resort, forced upon a nation in defense +of its life or for the lives of others, when all more rational or +judicial methods had failed. + +Among the obvious _evil results of war_ we would be compelled to name at +least ten: The wanton destruction of human life; the maiming and +suffering inflicted upon the wounded; the breaking up of homes and the +terrible suffering caused to women and children; the loss of wealth and +property, with the subsequent hardship for the poor which it entails, and +the destruction of art, architecture, and the higher material +accomplishments of civilization; the outbreak of immorality and +drunkenness, which always accompanies war; the hardening of the finer +sensibilities of men through the cruelty and barbarity of modern warfare; +the increase of hatred and suspicion; the dividing of humanity and the +destruction of its sense of unity, brotherhood, and cooperation; the +breakdown of international law and respect for law and order; and the +loss of reverence for human life and the sense of its priceless value. + +An equal number of possible _good effects_ may be mentioned which war may +at times call out: The development of courage and heroism; the call to +sacrifice in the sinking of selfish individual interests for the sake of +a cause; the discipline of obedience and the development of corporate +action; the bringing of men out of selfish and careless lives to the +facing of the great realities of God, life, death, and immortality; the +awful object lesson of the results of sin, both personal and national, +and the teaching of the terrible lesson that "the wages of sin is death"; +the widening of men's horizons, the breaking of old molds, ruts, and +restrictions and the opening of men's minds to new ideas; the chastening +and mellowing influence of suffering, with its possible development of +sympathy, tenderness, and unselfishness; the deepening of the sense of +brotherhood within a single nation with the sinking of the false or +artificial social distinctions of peace time; the strengthening of +religious unity by the stripping off of nonessentials and the laying bare +of the great simple fundamentals; and the new contact with the practical +ministry of religion in hours of deepest need in camps, in hospitals, and +on the battlefields, with the resultant strengthening hold on the great +verities of the love of God, the cross of Christ, and the service of men. + +It will depend upon the individual and his theories of life how he will +strike the balance between these two sides of the good and evil of war. +While the good effects of a war are seen more clearly after it is over, +certainly during the war the vast majority of men at the front would +almost unanimously agree that the preponderating influence and effect for +the time being is evil. + +At the beginning of the war in 1914 there was talk of a religious revival +in the various countries. The churches for a time were filled. The +opening of the war drove men to God. With the passing months, which have +now dragged into years, many of the high ideals have gradually been +lowered or lost. Men are certainly ready to listen to a living message +and are probably more open than ever before in their lives to religious +influences, because of their desperate need. They are between the nether +and upper millstones of sin and death. On the one hand they meet the +pressure of terrible temptations, and on the other they have to face the +awful fact of death, unready and unprepared. But although the men are +open to a religious message and to the Christian challenge presented by +one who has a real message, it could hardly be maintained by anyone that +there is a revival of religion at the front today. Rather the opposite +is true. + +A friend of the present writer, a chaplain in charge of the religious +work in one of the five armies at the front, well says: + + +"On the whole, I venture to say, there is not a great revival of the +Christian religion at the front. Deep in their hearts is a great trust +and faith in God. It is an inarticulate faith expressed in deeds. The +top levels, as it were, of their consciousness, are much filled with +grumbling and foul language and physical occupations; but beneath lie +deep spiritual springs, whence issue their cheerfulness, stubbornness, +patience, generosity, humility, and willingness to suffer and to die. +There is religion about; only, very often it is not the Christian +religion. Rather it is natural religion. It is the expression of a +craving for security. Literally it is a looking for salvation." + + +It may be asked, To what extent are the men thinking of religion and +discussing its problems? One friend of the writer, a young Anglican +chaplain, says: "The men are not thinking at all. They are 'carrying +on.' They spend hours in playing a game like House because it requires +no thought." However, it would probably be fairer to say that at times +all of them think about religion, although they do not talk very much +about it. It is not, however, consistent thought leading to action. +Rather they have moments of deep impressions, vague longings, intuitions, +and hunger of heart. But the minute anyone starts a discussion or begins +to attack religion, men show that they have been thinking, or that they +have ideas of their own in private. + +Most of them believe in God, although they do not know Him in a personal +way. They believe in religion, but have not made it vital and dominant +in their lives. They have a vague sense or intuition that there is a God +and that He is a good God, round about and above them. He is looked +upon, however, not as One whom they are to seek first, but rather as a +last resort; not as a present Father and constant Friend, but as One to +whom they can turn in time of need. They have a vague feeling of +unworthiness, although no clear sense of sin. Yet they also have an +inarticulate belief or intuition that they have tried, however brokenly +or unsuccessfully, to live up to such light as they had or to some +standard of their own. They feel that somehow, though they have often +failed, at bottom they are not so very bad, and that God is very, very +good. Their vague feeling would probably find its most accurate +expression in Faber's hymn, "There's a wideness in God's mercy, like the +wideness of the sea." + +They revere God from afar off and in one compartment of their being, but +they have never opened their lives to Him. They have a reverence for Him +in the face of death, in the hour of need, and in the great crises of +life. Most of them like to sing the Christian hymns on Sunday evening +and have thoughts of home and of loved ones that are sacred. They do not +feel that they have come into close personal relations with God, but +neither do they consciously feel that they are out of relation with Him. +They do not think they are altogether right with Him, but neither do they +feel in the bottom of their hearts that they are wholly wrong with Him. +The vast majority of them in the hour of death do not feel that they have +either consciously accepted or rejected Him. They have not loved +darkness rather than light, nor have they wholly chosen the light and +rejected the darkness. + +It will depend upon the individual how he classifies these men. Some +will believe that the great love of the Good Shepherd, who laid down His +life for the sheep, will somehow in the end not be thwarted in His +seeking to save the lost. Not only will men differ in their judgment, +but it is exceedingly difficult to pass judgment upon an individual +soldier. He seems to be a different man under different circumstances. +In the temptations at the base camp, he would perhaps appear to be +utterly irreligious and profane. He can hardly be recognized as the same +man as he prays in the hour of battle, or as he lies wounded, chastened, +and sobered, in the hospital. Which situation reveals the true man? + +Before us as we write lies the photograph of a young sergeant. Before +the war he was an atheist, an illegitimate child, a member of the +criminal class. But in the trenches he found God. Blown up by a mine, +for sixteen days he lost the power of speech and of memory. He returned +from the front with a deep sense of God, but with no personal, vital +relationship to Christ. He eagerly welcomed the first real message that +went straight to his heart, and the personal word of loving sympathy +which led him to relate his deep experience of the trenches to the +presence of the living Christ. All this man needed was someone to +interpret to him his own experience, and bring him into the relationship +with God which his own heart craved and longed for. + +Beside this photograph is the card of a strong-willed, self-righteous +young Pharisee, who had no use for religion in peace time, but who was +driven to God by his awful conflict with sin in this war. Next comes the +card of a young man who formerly had lived a proper conventional life +without bad habits. The war taught him to drink and he finally became a +drunkard, but in his extremity he found Christ as a personal Saviour. +Next comes the card of a man who had been in a public house for +thirty-two years--twenty-seven years as a bar tender and five years as a +saloon keeper. He said, "I have sent men to hell with drink. I have +seen women who would sell the clothes off the backs of their children or +pawn their husband's clothing to get drink." Yet this man has been +brought to God during the war. Many a man has found God on the field of +battle, or like the thief has turned to him in the hour of death.[2] + +[Illustration: Three Thousand Soldiers in the Crowboro Hut.] + +One young soldier thus describes his experience which is typical of many +another: There had been a charge, a hopeless affair from the start. He +lay in the long grass between the lines, unable to move, and with an +unceasing throbbing pain in his left leg and arm. A whizz-bang had +caught him in both places. He just lay there, feeling strangely +peaceful. Above him he could see the stars. All this bloodshed--what +was the good of it? He suddenly felt terribly small and lonely, and he +was so very, very weak. "God!" he whispered softly. "God everywhere!" +Then into his tired brain came a new phrase--"Underneath are the +everlasting arms." He sighed contentedly, as a tired child. They +fetched him in at last. He will never again be sound of limb; but there +is in his memory and in his heart that which may make him a staunch +fighter in other fields. He has learned a new way of prayer, and the +courage that is born of faith well-founded. + +The idea has been widely preached by many British chaplains that death in +battle saves. This may be good Mohammedanism, but it is surely not the +Christian message that is given to Christ's ministers to preach. The +verse most often quoted in support of this theory is: "Greater love hath +no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." But such +a passage cannot be taken out of its context either in Christ's teaching +or in the man's own life. Our Lord had said that we were to love even as +He loved, that is, out of a pure and surrendered heart to lay down our +life for our friends; and He added, "Ye are my friends if ye do the +things which I command you." It is going far beyond the province of the +Christian minister to offer any hope other than that which is offered by +our Lord Himself. It is not death or a bullet or battle that saves. +Christ only saves, and there is no other name given under heaven. This +offer is made to all men and at all times. + +But although one may not preach so dangerous and misleading a doctrine, +it is nevertheless possible to realize that many a man is unconsciously +more of a Christian than he knows, and that in the last day he may say +with surprise: "When saw I Thee an hungered and fed Thee?" + +We may turn to "A Student in Arms" for his interpretation of the feeling +of the common soldier in this crisis: + + +"Then at last we 'got out.' We were confronted with dearth, danger, and +death. . . . They, who had formerly been our despair, were now our +glory. Their spirits effervesced. Their wit sparkled. Hunger and +thirst could not depress them. Rain could not damp them. Cold could not +chill them. Every hardship became a joke. . . . Never was such a +triumph of spirit over matter. . . . If it was another fellow that was +hit, it was an occasion for tenderness and grief. But if one of them was +hit, O Death, where is thy sting? O Grave, where is thy victory? . . . +Life? They did not value life! They had never been able to make much of +a fist of it. But if they lived amiss they died gloriously, with a smile +for the pain and the dread of it. What else had they been born for? It +was their chance. With a gay heart they gave their greatest gift, and +with a smile to think that after all they had anything to give which was +of value. One by one Death challenged them. One by one they smiled in +his grim visage, and refused to be dismayed. They had been lost, but +they had found the path that led them home; and when at last they laid +their lives at the feet of the Good Shepherd, what could they do but +smile?" + + +It has been well said that there is much natural religion in the +trenches, but that much of this religion is not Christian. What is the +attitude of the men to Christ Himself? Most of them associate Him with +all that is highest and noblest in life. They link Him with God in their +thought, and with themselves in their time of deepest need. Although His +name with that of God is sometimes taken on their lips in profanity, +there is often a deep reverence for Him. Thousands have seen the cross +of Christ standing among the ruins in the villages of Belgium and +Northern France, when all about seems to be battered and wrecked. The +old skeptical theories and captious criticisms of pre-war days are little +heard during this awful time. Generally speaking, the facts of the +gospel narrative are not disputed. They believe in Christ as the +revelation of God. They have no difficulty with the doctrine of the +divinity of Christ and do not doubt that He is a living reality and has +power to save. Their only difficulty is with their own sin. They do not +know how to break from it or are unwilling to give it up. + +The great need of the hour is for interpretation. On the one hand, men +have had in their hours of great need a deep experience of God which they +do not understand; yet on the other hand, they are gripped by the power +of temptation which alone they cannot overcome. They admire the virtues +of courage, generosity, and purity, but for the most part they see no +connection between these and the presentation of Christ in the lives and +words of those about them who profess to be Christians. What is needed +is personally to relate the man to the God and Father of Jesus Christ, +with Whom he has been brought face to face at the battle front. There is +urgent and imperative need of the giving of that message, both in public +presentation and in the channels of personal friendship. + +One chaplain says of the men: "I am sure the soldier has got religion: I +am sure he has got Christianity; but he does not know he has got +Christianity. I am convinced that of the hundreds of men who go into +action the majority come out affected towards good rather than coarsened. +They come out realizing that there are times when they cannot get on +without God; they are not frightened of Him, they flee to Him with their +simple cries for strength." + +While another, a student who laid down his life at the front, makes this +valuable suggestion as to the presentation of Christ: "When I was talking +to them at these services, I always used to try to make them feel that +Christ was the fulfilment of all the best things that they admired, that +He was their natural hero. I would tell them some story of heroism and +meanness contrasted, of courage and cowardice, of noble forgiveness and +vile cruelty, and so get them on the side of the angels. Then I would +try and spring it upon them that Christ was the Lord of the heroes and +the brave men and the noble men, and that He was fighting against all +that was mean and cruel and cowardly, and that it was up to them to take +their stand by His side if they wanted to make the world a little better +instead of a little worse." + + +III + +The third question discussed with the men was, _What is the attitude of +the soldier to the churches, and what lesson has the Church to learn from +the present war_? Let it be said at the very outset that the writer +speaks as a member of the Church and in deep sympathy with it. As the +divinely constituted organization which stands for the highest human +ideals, and for the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth, we all +are, or ought to be, members of the Church. "With charity for all and +with malice toward none," we see no ground for self-complacence on the +part of any branch of the Church, and no part of it which deserves +sweeping condemnation from the rest. Doubtless it will seem to many that +it is unwise to confess our faults, but the men at the front are not +silent, however much we may desire to be. We would do well to face the +facts which this war is forcing upon our attention, however much we may +dislike the searching glare of the present conflict. Obviously something +is wrong. Had the Church fulfilled her divine mission, the present war +between so-called "Christian" nations would have been impossible. + +As was stated in the preceding chapter, according to the opinion of the +majority, less than 20 per cent or one-fifth of the men are vitally +related to any of the Christian communions. A series of conferences held +with individuals and carefully selected groups of men and officers +brought out by a general consensus of opinion the following points as +representing the attitude of the men toward the churches: + +1. _Indifference to the Church_. As one typical young sergeant, a member +of the student movement, puts it: "The men simply have no time for it. +They do not care for the Church because it did not care for them." There +is a general feeling that the churches do not understand them or +sympathize with the social and industrial disabilities of the men. They +feel that the ideals of life for which the Church stands are dull, dim, +and altogether unnatural; its standard of comfort and complacent +respectability makes no appeal to them and they have no part or lot in +it. They feel that this respectability of the Church is quite in keeping +with flagrant selfishness in social and industrial relationships, that +the Church is largely in the possession of the privileged classes, who +monopolize it, and who have neither sought nor welcomed them within its +doors. + +As one representative chaplain in a most influential position in France +says: "There is the plain fact that the great mass of men are out with +the Christian Church, and do not look to it as being in any vital +relation to life as they know it, either in peace or war. There is the +deeper and sadder fact that to a very large proportion of them God +Himself means little or nothing, or means something that is very +unchristian. Where there is a living presentation of religion men are +responsive--extraordinarily so. Put it how you will, men must be +summoned to a new thought, a new outlook on life, a new attitude towards +the unseen and eternal." + +2. An attitude of _separation and alienation_ from the Church. For the +most part the men are largely ignorant of what the Church really is, and +for this the churches are largely responsible. They believe that its +message and presentation of truth are often too feminine and impractical +and that its fellowship is too cold and exclusive. They do not +understand the vocabulary and tone adopted frequently by preachers in +speaking of religious things, and they feel that the churches are almost +complete strangers to the real facts of life with which they have to deal. + +It is true that the practical work of the churches in their helpful +ministry through the various organizations working in the camps has +brought many of the men into vital contact with religion for the first +time. But the war has revealed the lack of the churches' hold upon the +men in pre-war times. + +3. _Criticism of its worldliness_. The men have an unuttered belief in +God, and they reverence Jesus Christ as the friend and brother and +comrade of man, as the embodiment of the highest ideal they can conceive. +But they feel that somehow the churches do not adequately represent +Christ, that they have become merely the adjunct of the State to second +its schemes and aims. Many feel that the Church has lowered its colors +in the present war, that in some countries it has been little more than a +recruiting station for enlistment and that its message cannot be +reconciled with the Sermon on the Mount. + +One sergeant thus states his convictions: "Perhaps it would be well if we +out here could get up a committee of inquiry on 'Civilians and Religion' +and arrive at some decision as to what is the matter with you at home. +Are we to return home where the spiritual fires have been kept burning +brightly, or to the blackened ashes of those great ideals of the early +days of August, 1914, which have burned themselves out? Are we to return +to a country in which, in spite of all the community of suffering and +sorrow, the Christian churches have still their differences simmering +instead of being regiments in one common Army?" + +Another soldier writes: "What could not the churches do for the world if +they could only connect the symbols Christ gave us with the knowledge +that is within the hearts of men? There must be more known about +suffering and sacrifice now in the hearts of men than at any past time. +I thought once, on the Somme, that the two races facing each other in +such agony were as the two thieves on their crosses reviling each other, +and that somewhere between us, if we could but see Him, was Christ on His +Cross." + +4. The men are _bewildered and repelled by the Church's divisions_. +There is a widespread feeling among them that there is something wrong +here, that instead of representing Christ or losing themselves in the +wide interests of His Kingdom, instead of concern for the winning of the +world and humanity as a whole, the aims of many of the churches are +petty, narrow, exclusive, and sectarian. There is a feeling among the +men that far too many Christians are working for themselves or for their +own particular branch of the Church, or are, as one of them puts it, "out +for their own show." + +In the last hospital we visited, the young American Episcopal chaplain +working with one of our own units asked the writer to accompany him one +morning to help him in cheering up the patients, giving them Testaments, +meeting their needs, and answering their doubts and difficulties. While +we were proceeding through one of the wards, the Nonconformist chaplain +came by. The writer was speaking to a poor boy who was dying. The +chaplain seemed shocked and surprised that we were speaking to one of his +patients without his permission. The young Episcopal chaplain explained +that he felt sure that the chaplain would not mind if we tried to help +the men. Although he followed him out of the ward and tried his best to +make his peace with him, the chaplain reported the matter, and we were +prevented from doing personal Christian work in neighboring hospitals. + +The Roman Catholic chaplain in the next hospital, a most consecrated and +earnest man, has managed to get a military rule passed that no services +can be held in any ward of the hospital unless every Roman Catholic +patient is bodily carried out. This has successfully prevented the +holding of any Christian services whatsoever, Catholic or Protestant. +Throughout the entire war we have never known of a single instance of any +man trying to proselytize or to divert a soldier from allegiance to his +own church. We have known of men leaving the churches altogether during +the war, but not one instance of a man's changing his church or being +asked to do so. Yet the jealousy and suspicion of the bare possibility +of men's doing so has blocked and excluded much genuine Christian work. + +To give another instance--a personal friend of the writer, a young +Anglican clergyman, a widely known college principal, was serving in one +of the huts of a Convalescent Camp. He had made the acquaintance of the +patients in some twelve wards and was going the rounds every morning +telling the war news, giving oranges to the fevered, and cheering up the +depressed. The Commandant came with apologies and told him that although +he was doing the best Christian work in the hospital it must be +discontinued, as the chaplain objected. Our friend, who was a clergyman +of the same communion as the chaplain, called upon him and asked if he +had any objection to the distribution of fruit. He replied that if our +friend did this it would give an unfair advantage to his work as his +particular organization would get the credit, and that he, as the +chaplain, must "push his own show." To continue in the words of our +friend: "Then I asked him if I could send the fruit through the lady +workers or the hut orderlies, or the 'Tommies' who were friends of the +wounded. But he refused all. So I asked him if he would distribute them +if I gave them. This he agreed to, and I have sent them to him since +then. But he is too busy." The oranges were not distributed, and our +friend concludes: "I am out against the whole principle on which he acts. +I don't think he is much to be blamed. He is one of the best; a keen, +hard-working, pleasant man, zealous for his 'own show,' and in its +interests doing much for the men. And in his principle of action he is +not an exception, but a common type of the Anglican _padre_ as I have met +them in many lands. They are trained and encouraged to 'push their own +show.' But this keenness on one's 'own show' rather than on men, is the +very essence of the sin of schism, and the very root of Pharisaism. Now, +as a rule, all the sects stand for their 'own show' first, and men know +it. I am ashamed to be a parson today. Men were not made for any +Church, but the Church for them." Here again, which of us is without +sin, and who can throw the first stone at his brother, or at other +branches of the sadly divided Church of Christ? + +Facing the vast common need in war time with four thousand wounded +patients, whom no one chaplain could visit, the whole story is obviously +pathetic and sad. The writer also recalls visiting a Y M C A hut of +another nationality, where the secretary was so obviously "out for his +own show," and had become so engrossed in the counter of his dry canteen +and his work as a money-changer, that he had forgotten all the higher +interests of the men, and the high purpose for which he was there. He +had become a mere secularized machine, a kind of automatic cash register, +mistaking in his work the means for the end. He was just as much "out +for his own show" as the three mentioned above, and it was an infinitely +smaller "show." + +Here we have four instances of men, each conscientious, well meaning, and +earnest; each zealous for his own work and his own organization; yet each +earning the pity or contempt of the great body of men outside the +churches today who are out of sympathy with sectarian zeal. The saddest +religious spectacle the writer ever witnessed was in the Church of the +Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, where five chapels divide that sacred spot +where our Lord is supposed to have been crucified, occupied by five +bodies, each claiming to be _the_ church. The blood of their fellow +Christians has been shed by the followers of these churches on this very +spot, and it is a humiliating sight to see them kept apart even to this +day by the Turkish bayonet alone. How many of us are working for "our +own show," rather than for the Kingdom of God? + +The war work of the Y M C A in America, in England, in France, and +elsewhere has been made possible only by churchmen sacrificing their +individual interests and losing themselves in service for the Kingdom. +The Association represents the churches at work on behalf of the +suffering men in the war zone. If it should claim the credit for itself +as though it were a wholly independent organization, rather than the +united work of the churches which have sunk their own differences to make +possible this common work, this would be only a manifestation of the same +spirit and more inexcusable. But such a claim it could never truly make. +As a matter of fact, this united work has proved how truly Christians of +various bodies can get together on a great practical issue. If, as at +present, all can unite in a great lay organization, what may not the +churches themselves do in the future? + +Should we not in this war repent, in bitterness and deep humiliation, for +our unhappy divisions and each resolve that he will work for nothing less +than the whole Kingdom of God, and that no member of that Kingdom, even +one of these least, shall be excluded from the love and fellowship which +make us one in Him? One of the chaplains in France who has himself been +in the ranks says: "I feel that in the past churches have been more +anxious to get men into the Kingdom of the Church than into the Kingdom +of God, with the result that very many are Pillars of the Church who are +not near to the Kingdom. Out of the two battalions which I have known as +a private soldier, I should say that not more than five per cent were +vitally related to any of the Christian communions. It is useless making +plans for the time when the boys come home, unless the Church rediscovers +her Lord and Master. The Spirit-filled Church is more necessary than any +modifications of organization." + +Is not the whole war a call to deep humiliation to the Church of Christ +and should we not all stand convicted of sin before it? So far as our +saving the world is concerned and our bringing in the Kingdom of love and +peace, which Christ came to establish, does not the war write in flaming +judgment against us, "Thou art weighed in the balances and found +wanting"? Are we not all, like the Pharisees of old, too ready to throw +the first stone at someone else who we may think caused the war, instead +of admitting our own guilt? + +As Arnold Freeman, in his lectures at Sheffield University, says: + + +"We persuade one another that it was the Kaiser, through his lust for +self-glorification, who made this war. Would it be possible for one man +to transform all Europe into a slaughter-house unless that same +Kaiser-spirit found its response in human nature in every corner of this +continent? It is the 'Kaiser' in each one of us that makes wars +possible. It is because we have in every nation, and in every class, +multitudes of men and women who neglect the service of their +fellow-creatures in a desire for self-indulgence and self-aggrandizement, +that this catastrophe has fallen upon us all. It is a case of +devil-possession, and our only hope is to exorcise ourselves of the evil +spirit. Our avowed intention is to cast out 'Kaiserism' in Germany by +brute force. We must be no less resolute to cast it out of this country." + + +The Bishop of Carlisle has well said that if we were really Christians +this war would not have happened. If the defense of its citizens is the +work of the State, and the redemption of the world is the task of the +Church, no one can deny that the State has done its work far better than +the Church. In the face of this, the most pathetic spectacle that the +Christian world ever witnessed, must we not wring our hands with shame +and cry, "Why could we not cast it out?" The divisions, the impotence, +the worldliness, the coldness, the sin and failure of the Church stand +revealed in the lurid light of this war. + +What a self-righteous spirit the war has bred in many of us, and what a +hatred of our enemies! One has but to read the secular and religious +press on both sides of the present conflict to see our sin writ large +before us. Since we have such a keen vision for the mote in our +brother's eye and such an eager perception of every flaw in our enemy, we +can recognize this spirit most readily if we look for it first in +Germany, but in doing so let us clearly recognize that every quotation +can be paralleled by the press both secular and religious on our own side +of the conflict. In all fairness let us state that a large proportion of +the sermons which have been preached in the churches of Germany, England, +and America have had a recognition of the sins of their own people. But +there have been many preachers on both sides who have praised their own +nation to the skies with Pharisaic self-righteousness, and have seen the +enemy only with the distorted eyes of prejudice and hate. + +It will not be necessary to quote here the notorious "Hymn of Hate," by +Ernst Lissauer, which was distributed by the Crown Prince of Bavaria to +his army. Rather let us quote from some of the sermons and poems of +German pastors and the religious press. In a collection of poems +published by a German pastor, Konsistorialrat Dietrich Vorwerk, there +occurred the following paraphrase of the Lord's Prayer: "Though the +warrior's bread be scanty, do Thou work daily death and tenfold woe unto +the enemy. Forgive in merciful long-suffering each bullet and each blow +which misses its mark! Lead us not into the temptation of letting our +wrath be too tame in carrying out Thy divine judgment! Deliver us and +our Ally from the infernal Enemy and his servants on earth. Thine is the +kingdom, the German land; may we, by aid of Thy steel-clad hand, achieve +the power and the glory." Fortunately, this was deleted in the later +editions of this book. + +The published sermons of Pastor H. Francke are also typical: + + +"As Jesus was treated, so also have the German people been treated. From +the East the Russian threatens us. Injustice and bloody deeds of +violence are his life-element, agreements and constitutions, solemnly +sworn to, have no significance for him; he is stained with blood from top +to toe. Germany is precisely--who would venture to deny it?--the +representative of the highest morality, of the purest humanity, of the +most chastened Christianity. They envy us our freedom, our power to do +our work in peace. To heal the world by the German nature is to become a +blessing to the people of the earth. Wherever the German spirit obtains +supremacy, there freedom prevails. Here we come upon the old intimate +kinship between the essence of Christianity and of Germanism. Because of +their close spiritual relationship, therefore, Christianity must find its +fairest flower in the German mind. Therefore we have a right to say: +'Our German Christianity--the most perfect, the most pure.' Thus the +Germans are the very nearest to the Lord. Is He the God of those others? +No, they serve at best Satan, the father of lies." + + +The Rev. J. Rump writes in the same strain: + + +"Against us stands the world's greatest sham of a nation, the 'English +cousin,' the Judas among the nations, who betrays Germanism for thirty +pieces of silver. Against us stands sensual France, the harlot amongst +the peoples. Against us stands Russia, inwardly rotten, mouldering, +masking its disease under outbursts of brutality. Germany shall be the +Israel of the future. The Germans are guiltless, and from all sides +testimonies are flowing in as to the noble manner in which our troops +conduct the war. We fight--thanks and praise be to God--for the cause of +Jesus within mankind. Verily the Bible is our book. It was given and +assigned to us, which proclaims to mankind salvation or +disaster--according as we will it." [3] + + +Such quotations could be multiplied not only from German war sermons, but +from some that have been preached in England and America as well.[4] The +Archbishop of Canterbury says: "I get letters in which I am urged to see +to it that we insist upon 'reprisals, swift, bloody and unrelenting. Let +gutters run with German blood. Let us smash to pulp the German old men, +women and children,' and so on." [5] + +Here is Henri de Regnier's song of hate from France: + + "I swear to cherish in my heart this hate + Till my last heart-throb wanes; + So may the sacred venom of my blood + Mingle and charge my veins! + + May there pass never from my darkened brow + The furrows hate has worn! + May they plough deeper in my flesh, to mark + The outrage I have borne! + + By towns in flames, by my fair fields laid waste, + By hostages undone, + By cries of murdered women and of babes, + By each dead warrior son, . . . + + I take my oath of hatred and of wrath + Before God, and before + The holy waters of the Marne and Aisne, + Still ruddy with French gore; + + And fix my eyes upon immortal Rheims, + Burning from nave to porch, + Lest I forget, lest I forget who lit + The sacrilegious torch!" + + +A poem recently written by an "Unbeliever" represents all the churches, +Catholic and Protestant, Lutheran and Reformed, of the enemy and of the +Allies, at last united in one message, which furnishes the recurring +refrain of the poem, "In Jesus' Name go forth and slay." + +With two-thirds of the world, representing more than twenty nations, +already dragged into the widening vortex of the present war; with more +than five millions of the finest youth of Europe already slaughtered on +the battlefield, with twenty millions who have already been wounded, +nearly forty millions under arms, and whole nations organized for war and +the manufacture of munitions; with the flood tide of impurity and +immorality which war has brought in its train; with the barbarism and +cruelty, poison gas, flaming oil, and organized destruction used at +present on the battlefields of Europe, is it not time for the Church to +set her own house in order, to humble herself with shame in the very dust +for her criminal impotence and worldliness and sin, and to return to her +crucified Lord and Master? Is it not time that we seek a new vision of +His face, to renew our consecration before Him, and to seek a vital and +life-giving message first for ourselves and then for the world about us? +Not for "our country right or wrong," not for a Pharisaic +self-righteousness, but for Christ and His suffering world, for a whole +Kingdom, and a whole Church, must we reconsecrate ourselves. + +As Fosdick says, "The issue was drawn: _Christianity would be a failure +if it did not stop slavery_. And from the day that this issue was drawn, +the result was assured. It was not Christianity that failed, it was +slavery. . . . This, too, is a climactic day in history. For so long +time the Gospel and war have lived together in ignoble amity! If at last +disharmony between the spirit of Jesus and the spirit of war is becoming +evident, then a great hope has dawned for the race. . . . The main issue +is clear. _Christianity will indeed have failed if it does not stop +war_." [6] + +Is it not time that we turn to God in humiliation and prayer for an +outpouring of His spirit and a deeply needed revival of religion? In the +words of Admiral Sir David Beatty, the Commander of the British Fleet, +"England still remains to be taken out of her stupor of self-satisfaction +and complacency and until she be stirred out of this condition, until +religious revival takes place at home, just so long will the war +continue." + +If at the call of nationalism the manhood of the nation has poured forth +in boundless heroism and self-sacrifice, at the call of Christ cannot His +Church rise again to its high vocation? If half of the zeal and passion, +half of the outpouring of life and treasure, of organization and +efficiency, that the State has put into this war could be thrown into the +cause of the Kingdom and of the eternal verities, the world would soon be +won. If Christians would but follow Christ, war, as an unbelievably +brutal and barbarous anachronism, like its former savage contemporaries +of slavery, the burning of witches, and the torture of the Inquisition, +would be forever done away. The message with which our Lord challenges +the whole Church today is that with which He began His ministry when He +faced His apostate nation, "Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand." + + +[1] The songs of the men which are most popular in war time bear evidence +of this unconscious virtue. They fall into three classes. There are the +songs of cheer so popular in the camps today: "Pack Up Your Troubles in +Your Own Kit Bag and Smile, Smile, Smile," "Are We Down-hearted, No," +"Though Your Heart May Ache Awhile Never Mind," etc. Then there are the +songs of home: "Keep the Home Fires Burning," "Tipperary," "Take Me Back +to Dear Old Blighty," "Put Me on the Train to London Town," "Back Home in +Tennessee," "In My Old Kentucky Home," "There's a Long, Long Trail +Awinding," "Give Me Your Smile," "If You Were the Only Girl in The +World," "Mother McCrae," etc. Then there are the songs of nationality; +The "Marseillaise," "John Brown's Body," "When Irish Eyes are Smiling," +"Come Back to Erin," "Annie Laurie," etc. + +[2] See Appendix III for a typical expression of a soldier's new +experience of religion at the front. + +[3] Quoted in "Hurrah and Hallelujah," pp. 116-119. + +[4] It is interesting to note in this connection some words of Immanuel +Kant. See Appendix I. + +[5] _London Times_, June 22, 1917. + +[6] "The Challenge of the Present Crisis," Association Press. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE WORLD AT WAR + +Let us try to grasp the colossal facts of the present war. Since the +beginning of the conflict there has been a daily attrition of more than +25,000 in killed, wounded, or prisoners every twenty-four hours. At +the opening of the fourth year of the war the number killed was over +5,000,000. This does not include those who have perished in the +devastated nations. Not less than 6,000,000 men are now in the +military prisons of Europe, some of whom have undergone great +suffering, both physical and mental. More than 6,000,000 lie wounded +today in the military hospitals, not to speak of several times that +number who have been patched up and sent back into the line to face +death again, or have been rejected as unfit for further service, often +left crippled or maimed, blinded, or deformed for life. + +Mere numbers or statistics cannot measure the sacrifice and suffering +of these lives. If we could know the infinite value of the unit of +personality, or compute the preciousness and potentiality of a single +life destroyed, we might then hope to multiply it by the million. If +human scales could weigh the sorrow of a widow's heart, could compute +the anguish of a mother's loss, could prophesy the deprivation of an +orphan's lot, or know the good which might have been done by even one +man who has now been killed, we would then be in a position to begin to +estimate the casualty list. + +There are today nearly 40,000,000 men with the colors. If we add to +these the 5,000,000 already killed, the 6,000,000 prisoners and the +large number discharged as unfit for further service, we have a total +of far more than 50,000,000 who have been with the colors in the first +three years of the war. We can better realize the significance of this +statement if we remember that in no previous war have more than +3,000,000 men faced each other in conflict. According to Gibbon, +Rome's great standing army was not over 400,000 men. Napoleon's grand +army did not exceed 700,000, and in the Battle of Waterloo less than +200,000 men were engaged. In the American Civil War less than +3,000,000, and in the Russo-Japanese War only 2,500,000 men were +employed. Indeed, if we sum up the twenty greatest wars of the last +one hundred and twenty-five years, from the Napoleonic Wars to the +present time, less than 20,000,000 men were engaged, while in this war +nearly twice that number are now under arms. Britain alone has +enrolled over 5,000,000 for the army, with 1,000,000 more from the +overseas dominions, and about 500,000 for the navy. Germany has called +some 12,000,000 and Russia more than 12,000,000 to the colors. + +By the end of 1917 nearly 6,000,000 men will have been killed. Less +than 5,500,000 were killed in the twenty greatest wars of the last +century and a quarter, all combined. In the Battle of Gettysburg only +3,000 were killed. England's casualty list during a vigorous offensive +averages over 3,000 every day. In the first ten days alone of the +battle of the Somme, the British lost 200,000 in killed or wounded. +France as a whole has lost even more heavily, while Germany's casualty +list during the great battles of the Somme and in Flanders has averaged +200,000 a month. When our own relatives are at the front, and our own +boys are in the line, we realize what these statistics mean. In +Germany alone the number of men killed now totals far over 1,000,000. +Think of the many millions of mothers and wives in the nations of +Europe scanning that crowded page of the newspaper, with several +thousand names on the casualty list every day, each looking to see if +her boy's name is there. + +During that fateful day of July 1st when the great drive on the Somme +began, when the English along a front of twenty-five miles and the +French on a front of ten miles leaped out of the trenches and sprang +forward in that terrible charge, men were mowed down like ripened +grain. Regiments on both sides were cut to pieces. The writer's +brother-in-law, a young colonel, went in with 1,100 men of his +battalion--only 130 came out. Only one officer was unscathed and he +has since been killed. The young colonel was shot within an inch of +the heart and fell into a shellhole. Two of his men fell dead on top +of him. There he lay under a terrible fire for sixteen hours, and +finally at midnight gained strength to struggle from under the two +bodies that lay upon him, and crawled on his hands and knees for over a +mile back to the nearest dressing station. In the first year of the +war he lost nearly half his men with trench foot, the men's feet being +frost-bitten or frozen in the muddy trenches. In the second year he +was wounded in seven places by shrapnel, and later, after recovery, was +almost killed. He has now again returned to the service. + +Another red-cheeked boy told the writer that his battalion had gone in +with 960 men and had come out with only eighty. In another battalion +all the officers were killed or wounded and the remaining handful was +left with a lance-corporal in command: the colonel, the majors, +captains, lieutenants, sergeants, and corporals had all been killed or +wounded. At Bradford the writer was told that their favorite sons in +the "Bradford Pals" had to be sacrificed, and every man that went into +action in this battalion was either killed or wounded within a few +hours. An unusual proportion of British officers have fallen. The +university students and the flower of the land who have gone into the +officers' training corps have oftentimes been among the first to fall. + +Let us now turn from the numbers of killed, wounded, and prisoners and +estimate if we can the cost of the conflict. The present war, more +than any in previous history, has been a warfare of attrition, that is, +by the killing and maiming of men and the destruction of resources to +attempt to wear out the enemy. + +Already the cost of the war has mounted to over $130,000,000 a day, or +more than $100,000 every minute of the twelve hours that the sun shines +upon us. Contrast, for instance, the total cost, the lives lost, and +the numbers of men called to the colors in the twenty principal wars +during the last century and a quarter, from the Napoleonic Wars of +1793, with the figures for the present war to August 4, 1917, at the +end of the third year of the conflict.[1] + + Twenty previous wars Present War + Total cost $26,123,546,240 $75,000,000,000 + Total killed 6,498,097 5,000,000 + Called to the colors 18,562,200 40,000,000 + + +We have said that the cost of the war has now risen to the almost +unbelievable total of over $130,000,000 a day.[2] That is more than +the total cost of the whole war between Russia and Turkey in 1828. In +a single great day in the battles on the Somme, or in Belgium, the +British have used as much ammunition as they were able to manufacture +in the entire first ten months of the war in 1914. + +Even before the end of 1915 the five great powers had more than doubled +their national debts. When will these debts be paid? Great Britain, +the wealthiest of the nations of Europe, after one hundred years of +peace still owes much of the debt incurred in the American Revolution +and all of the debt incurred in the Napoleonic Wars. The whole cost of +the American Civil War was only $5,000,000,000, and of the Napoleonic +Wars $6,000,000,000, while this war will cost over six times the amount +of either during this single year. + +Great Britain's war debt at the end of the third year has reached the +enormous total of more than $20,000,000,000, or twenty times the +national debt of the United States at the beginning of the war, yet +even this does not begin to exhaust her resources. At the close of the +Napoleonic Wars Great Britain's debt was one-third of her national +resources. She can almost double her present enormous war debt before +utilizing a third of her wealth. + +We have not in this calculation reckoned on the economic value of the +lives destroyed. That would average about $3,000 for each man. Five +million men killed means an economic loss to the countries concerned of +$15,000,000,000. But the economic value of the lives destroyed +represents only a small fraction of their potentiality--socially, +morally, and spiritually. No human brain can calculate, no heart can +fathom the cost or loss of this terrible conflict. + +The cost of less than one month of the present war would equal that of +the entire Franco-Prussian War of 1870. Another month would pay for +the whole Russo-Japanese War; twelve days would pay for the Boer War, +while the cost for three days would dig the Panama Canal. At the +beginning of 1918 the war debts of the warring countries will exceed +$90,000,000,000, or more than one-fifth the wealth of all the warring +nations of Europe. The daily cost of the war is equal to half the +earning power of these European nations, and the interest on their war +debts will be equal to one-half their budgets as they stood at the +beginning of the war. The wealth of more than twenty nations is being +rapidly drained, and the world's financial reserves are being consumed +in this vicious and sinful struggle which an autocratic militarism has +forced upon the world. + +Although late in entering the war, America's expenditure has been out +of all proportion to that of any other nation. Upon arrival in this +country the writer finds the statement in our press that the nation +will have spent or sanctioned before the end of 1917, the enormous +total of $19,000,000,000. That is more than twenty per cent of the +entire cost of the war to date for all the European nations. That sum +is as great as Germany spent on land and sea for the conduct of the +first three years of the war. It represents more than twice our total +wealth in 1850, and one-twelfth of our present national wealth of +$328,000,000,000. + +In order to estimate further the cost and realize the suffering of the +war, let us turn for a moment to the nations devastated in Europe. In +Belgium and Northern France 9,500,000 were being fed by the Commission +for Relief in Belgium until Germany forbade it. Of 7,000,000 +inhabitants of Belgium, 3,000,000 were early left destitute by the war +and were drawing daily one meal consisting of the equivalent of three +thick slices of bread and a pint of soup. Mr. F. C. Wolcott writes: + + +"I have seen thousands of people lined up in snow or rain, soaked and +chilly, waiting for bread and soup. I have returned to the +distributing stations at the end of the day and have found men, women, +and children sometimes still standing in line, but later compelled to +go back to their pitiful homes, cold, wet, and miserable. It was not +until eighteen weary hours afterward that they got the meal they +missed. The need will continue to be great for many months after peace +is declared. Factories have been stripped of their machinery. There +is a complete stagnation of industry. It will take months to +rehabilitate these industries and to start the wheels again." + + +In Serbia more than 4,000,000 people were deprived of their living by +the war. In Poland the suffering has been more terrible than in either +Belgium or Serbia. The population fleeing behind the retreating +Russians were not able to keep up because of the women and children, +the aged and the sick. They were overtaken by the German army and left +in the charred remains of their burned dwellings. Some 200 cities and +15,000 towns and villages were destroyed in Poland. Already 2,000,000 +have died of starvation there. In some districts all the children +under six years of age have perished. + +Armenia has suffered relatively more than any of the other nations. +Mr. Henry Morgenthau, the American Ambassador to Turkey, said: "One +million of these people have either been massacred or deported and +unless succor reaches them shortly, those remaining will be lost." In +all history there is no record more sad than that of the persecution +and extermination of the Armenians. University professors educated in +the United States have had their hair and nails torn out by the roots +and have been slowly tortured to death. Women and girls were outraged +and brutally killed. Little children perished of hunger. It is said +that probably 1,000,000 of the 2,000,000 Armenians in Turkey have been +slain, or have been driven into the country to starve, or have been +forced to accept Islam. + +The American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief reports: + + +"Men in the army were the first to be brutally put to death. These and +civilians, after being subjected to horrible tortures, were shot. Even +priests were made victims of brutal murder. Women, children, the sick +and aged, were forced at a moment's notice to start on foot on a +journey of exile. Mothers, torn from their children, were compelled to +leave the little ones behind. Women giving birth to children on the +road were forbidden to delay, but, under the whiplash, were made to +continue their march until they dropped from exhaustion to die. A +United States Consul reported that he saw helpless people brained with +clubs, while children were killed by beating their brains out against +the rocks. Other children were thrown into rivers and those who could +swim were shot down as they struggled in the water. Crimes that have +been, and are being, practiced upon Armenian women are too cruel and +horrible for words. The mutilated corpses of hundreds bear testimony +to this inhuman reign." [3] + +Who was responsible for these outrages, and how long will the world +permit them to continue? + +Whichever way we turn, whether we survey the number of killed, wounded, +or prisoners, the cost of the conflict, or the suffering of the +devastated nations, we realize that _the war means sacrifice_. It is +difficult for us at home in America to appreciate the spirit in which +the men in this great struggle in Europe are fighting, and the +sacrifices they are making. In all these months in many lands, the +writer has not heard from the lips of a single soldier who had actually +seen service at the front, words of hatred or of boasting. Quietly and +often with sadness most of these men are going forward to face death. + +Here is a letter from a young officer who fell on that fatal first day +of July on the Somme. + + +"I never felt more confident or cheerful in my life before, and would +not miss the attack for anything on earth. Every officer and man is +more happy and cheerful than I have ever seen them. My idea in writing +this letter is in case I am one of the 'costs' and get killed. I have +been looking at the stars, and thinking what an immense distance they +are away. What an insignificant thing the loss of, say, forty years of +life is compared with them! It seems scarcely worth talking about. +Well, good-bye, you darlings. Try not to worry about it, and remember +that we shall meet again really quite soon. This letter is going to be +posted if . . ." + + +A friend of the writer, a young chaplain whom he met recently at the +front, went out to find his brother's mangled body on the battlefield. +The boy who fell was the son of the Bishop of Winchester, and one of +the finest spirits in Oxford. Canon Scott Holland writes: + + +"The attack had failed. There was never any hope of its succeeding, +for the machine guns of the Germans were still in full play, with their +fire unimpaired. The body had to lie where it had fallen. Only, his +brother could not endure to let it lie unhonoured. He found some +shattered Somersets, who begged him to go no further. But he heard a +voice within him bidding him risk it, and the call of the blood drove +him on. Creeping out of the far end of the trench, as dusk fell, he +crawled through the grass on hands and knees, in spite of shells and +snipers, dropping flat on the ground as the flares shot up from the +German trenches. At last he found what he sought. He could stroke +with his hand the fair young head that he knew so well; he could feel +for the pocket-book and prayer-book, the badge and the whistle. He +could breathe a prayer of benediction and then crawl back on his +perilous way in the night." + + +The writer has just come from visiting a group of a dozen British and +American military hospitals in one French town, with from one to four +thousand patients in each, where at this moment the trains are arriving +in almost a steady stream, bearing the wounded from the front in the +great drive in Flanders. He has stood by the operating tables and +passed down those long, unending rows of cots. Some of these tragic +hospital wards are filled with men, every one of whom is blinded for +life by poison gas or shrapnel. They, like all the other wounded, are +brave and cheerful, but it will take great courage to maintain this +cheer, groping a long lifetime in the dark. One man counted 151 trains +of twenty cars each, or 3,000 carriages, filled with German wounded +passing back in a steady stream through Belgium. Behind all the active +fronts these train loads of wounded are daily bearing their burden of +suffering humanity. The cities and towns of Europe are filled with +limping or crippled or wounded men today. + +Opposite the writer at the ship's table sat a young man with the lower +part of his face carried away. His chin and jaw were gone, yet he must +live on for a lifetime deformed. Another young fellow had spent seven +long weary months in training. The moment his regiment reached the +front it was ordered immediately into action. He sprang to the top of +the trench, but never got over it. He fell back wounded. Within three +days he was back in England again, but with only one leg. Seven months +of training, five minutes in action, then crippled for life! The +writer saw one young fellow whose face was left contorted by shrapnel, +which had carried away one eye and the bridge of his nose. He was a +quiet, earnest Christian. He said, "Of course, they cannot send me +back again into the line or compel me to go with only one eye, but I am +going just the same. I am going to give all that I have left to the +country and the cause." [4] + +Hear that young soldier of France, Alfred Casalis, a brilliant student +of philosophy and theology, a Student Volunteer for the African mission +field, as he writes home to his father and mother at the age of +nineteen: "I volunteered of course. I know with an unalterable +knowledge and with an unconquerable confidence that the foundation of +my faith is unshakeable, it rests upon the Rock. I shall fight with a +good conscience and without fear (I hope), certainly without hate. I +feel myself filled with an illimitable hope. You can have no idea of +the peace in which I live. On the march I sing inwardly. I listen to +the music that is slumbering inside me. The Master's call is always +ringing loudly in my ears. I am not afraid of death. I have made the +sacrifice of my life. I know that to die is to begin to live." And +the last sentence of the unfinished letter written before the charge in +which he fell, "The attack cannot but succeed. There will be some +wounded, some killed, but we shall _go forward_ and far--" In the +other pocket of his coat, at the end of his will were the words, "'I +have fought the good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the +faith.' And I would that all my friends, all those who are every +moment with me, and whose hearts beat with mine, should repeat the word +of our hope, 'Because I live, ye shall live also.'" [5] + +Professor Gilbert Murray, of Oxford, writes thus of the sacrifice of +the men for us: "As for me personally, there is one thought that is +always with me--the thought that other men are dying for me, better +men, younger, with more hope in their lives, many of whom I have taught +and loved. The orthodox Christian will be familiar with the thought of +One who loved you dying for you. I would like to say that now I seem +to be familiar with the feeling that something innocent, something +great, something that loved me, is dying, and is dying daily for me. +That is the sort of community we now are--a community in which one man +dies for his brother." + +Yes, these boys are making the great sacrifice for us. With 5,000,000 +who have already been killed, with 10,000,000 of our own sons enrolled. +as subject to their call to the colors when needed, with hundreds of +American army camps at home and in France already crowded with men, +what sacrifice can we make for them? How can we surround their lives +with the best influences of home, that they may come back to us even +better men than when they went away? + +We have seen the terrible ordeal to which they will be subjected at the +front, the temptations to which they are exposed in France, in the +training schools, and the base camps; we have seen something of the +havoc which demoralizing forces have already wrought in other armies in +the camps of the prodigals, and we have seen the deadly dangers and +perils, both physical and moral, which the soldier must face. We have +spoken of the enormous sums voted to carry on a great war of +destruction. Is there not a yet more urgent need that we should supply +the great constructive forces for fortifying the physical and moral +manhood of our nation? Two organizations have been recognized by our +own and the other allied governments in the war zone--the one bearing +the symbol of _the red cross_ for the wounded, and the other _the red +triangle_ for the fighting men. + +The nation has already generously responded to the needs of the wounded +even before the first battle was fought, giving more in one week than +any other nation in a year for the same purpose. And not a dollar too +much has been given for this great cause. But we shall soon have +several millions of fighting men under arms. What are we to do for +these men? We have already seen that they present a threefold need. +There is the physical need of these millions who will soon be training, +fighting, and suffering. Only the men at the front know what it really +is. There are the mental and social requirements of men who must have +recreation, healthy amusement and occupation. There is also the moral +and spiritual need of men who will face the greatest temptations of +their lives, when they will be farthest from the help of home and +friends, while old standards seem to be submerged or swept away "for +the period of the war." + +We have already seen that the building that bears the red triangle of +the Y M C A at the front is at once the soldier's club, his home, his +church where his own denomination holds its services, his school, his +place of rest, his recreation center, his bank and postoffice where he +writes his letters, his friend in need that stands by him at the last +and meets his relatives who are called to his bedside in the hospital. +If there is anything which safeguards the physical, social, and moral +health of the men who are dying for us, can we do less than provide it +for them? While billions are being spent for destruction, must we not +at least invest an infinitesimal fraction of one per cent of our +expenditure, in construction, in that which is the greatest asset of +any nation--its moral manhood? Can we not provide a home away from +home for our own sons and the other boys with them whose parents may be +too poor to do so? + +Here is a unique contribution which America can also make to her hard +pressed allies who have been exhausted by three terrible years of +fighting. Britain has already set us a wonderful example and will not +need our help. But there is France to which we owe so much and whose +war weary soldiers sorely need just such centers for recreation and +rebuilding. General Petain, the Commander in Chief, and the French +authorities have asked for the help of our Movement in their camps. +General Pershing, after surveying the field, has declared that the +greatest service which America can _immediately_ render France, even +before our own men can reach the trenches in large numbers, is to +extend the welfare work of the Y M C A to the entire French Army. Can +we do less than this for the nation that gave all that Washington asked +in our own hour of crisis? Then there is Italy, with all her deep need +and great possibilities. What can we do to minister to the wants of +her great army? + +But let us turn to Russia, which represents the deepest need of +all--the nation which has undergone the greatest suffering, both within +and without its borders, of any of the belligerents. Think of its vast +area, greater than all North America, or one seventh of the land area +of the entire globe. Think of its population, almost twice our own, +and more than one tenth of the entire world. Think of these people, +who have the greatest capacity for suffering of any nation on earth, +suddenly released, like their own prisoners, with steps unsteady and +eyes unaccustomed to the blinding light of freedom. Think of what such +a movement of hope and cheer and re-creation may mean to troops hard +pressed or demoralized, facing another winter in the trenches. + +Add to all these the suffering prisoners of war, and we have over +24,000,000 men who deeply need the ministry of this Movement, and need +it now. Here are millions who have already suffered or who are going +forward ready to make the great sacrifice for us. What sacrifice shall +we make for them? + + +[1] See World Almanac 1916, p. 488. + +[2] The cost of the war has been calculated by various writers on both +sides of the Atlantic. Mr. Wm. Rossiter writes on "The Statistical +Side of the Economic Costs of the War," in the _American Economic +Review_ for March, 1916. Mr. Edmund Crammond's paper in _The Journal +of the Royal Statistical Society_, Sir George Paish in the various +issues of the _London Statist_, and others, have given careful +estimates of the direct cost of the war to nations and individuals. +During the first and cheapest year, according to Mr. Rossiter, the +total cost of the war, not including the economic value of the lives +lost, rose to forty billion dollars. That is equal to all the national +debts of the world. + +[3] See Appendix II on "The Treatment of Armenians," by Viscount Bryce. + +[4] Publishers' Note: The whole problem of the meaning of suffering and +its relation to the present war, especially for those who have suffered +bereavement, is dealt with by the author in his book, "Suffering and +the War." + +[5] "For France and the Faith," Letters of Alfred Eugene Casalis, +Association Press. + + + + +APPENDIX I + + +EXTRACTS FROM "ETERNAL PEACE" + +BY + +IMMANUEL KANT + +"No conclusion of peace shall be held to be valid as such when it has +been made with the secret reservation of the material for a future war. +No State having an existence by itself--whether it be small or +large--shall be acquired by another State through inheritance, +exchange, purchase, or donation. A State is not to be regarded as +property or patrimony, like the soil on which it may be settled. +Standing armies shall be entirely abolished in the course of time. For +they threaten other States incessantly with war by their appearing to +be always equipped to enter upon it. No State shall intermeddle by +force with the constitution or government of another State. + +"No State at war with another shall adopt such modes of hostility as +would necessarily render mutual confidence impossible in a future +peace--such as the employment of assassins or poisoners, the violation +of a capitulation, the instigation of treason, and such like. These +are dishonorable stratagems. For there must be some trust in the habit +and disposition even of an enemy in war. + +"The civil constitution in every State shall be republican. The law of +nations shall be founded on a federation of free States. People or +nations regarded as States may be judged like individual men. If it is +a duty to realize a state of public law, and if at the same time there +is a well-grounded hope of its being realized--although it may be only +by approximation to it that advances ad infinitum--then perpetual peace +is a fact that is destined historically to follow the falsely so-called +treaties of peace which have been but cessations of hostilities. +Perpetual peace is, therefore, no empty idea, but a practical thing +which, through its gradual solution, is coming always nearer its final +realization; and it may well be hoped that progress toward it will be +made at more rapid rates of advance in the times to come." [1] + + +[1] English Edition--Pages 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 76, 81, 127. + + + + +APPENDIX II + + +EXTRACTS FROM "THE TREATMENT OF ARMENIANS" + +BY + +VISCOUNT BRYCE + +From Four Members of the German Missions Staff in Turkey to the +Imperial German Ministry of Foreign Affairs at Berlin: "Out of 2,000 to +3,000 peasant women from the Armenian Plateau who were brought here in +good health, only forty or fifty skeletons are left. The prettier ones +are the victims of their gaolers' lust; the plain ones succumb to +blows, hunger, and thirst. Every day more than a hundred corpses are +carried out of Aleppo. All this happened under the eyes of high +Turkish officials. The German scutcheon is in danger of being smirched +for ever in the memory of the Near Eastern peoples." + +Events in Armenia, published in the _Sonnenaufgang_, and in the +_Allgemeine Missions-Zeitschrift_, November, 1915: "Twelve hundred of +the most prominent Armenians and other Christians were arrested; 674 of +them were embarked on thirteen Tigris barges, the prisoners were +stripped of all their money and then of their clothes; after that they +were thrown into the river. Five or six priests were stripped naked +one day, smeared with tar, and dragged through the streets. For a +whole month corpses were observed floating down the River Euphrates, +hideously mutilated. The prisons at Biredjik are filled regularly +every day and emptied every night--into the Euphrates." . . . + +From a German eye-witness: "In Moush there are 25,000 Armenians; in the +neighborhood there are 300 villages, each containing about 500 houses. +In all these not a single male Armenian is now to be seen, and hardly a +woman. Every officer boasted of the number he had personally +massacred. In Harpout the people have had to endure terrible tortures. +They have had their eyebrows plucked out, their breasts cut off, their +nails torn off. Their torturers hew off their feet or else hammer +nails into them just as they do in shoeing horses. When they die, the +soldiers cry: 'Now let your Christ help you.'" + +Memorandum forwarded by a foreign resident at H.: "On the 1st of June, +3,000 people (mostly women, girls, and children) left H. accompanied by +seventy policemen. The policemen many times violated the women openly. +Another convoy of exiles joined the party, 18,000 in all. The journey +began, and on the way the pretty girls were carried off one by one, +while the stragglers from the convoy were invariably killed. On the +fortieth day the convoy came in sight of the Euphrates. Here they saw +the bodies of more than 200 men floating in the river. Here the Kurds +took from them everything they had, so that for five days the whole +convoy marched completely naked under the scorching sun. For another +five days they did not have a morsel of bread, nor even a drop of +water. They were scorched to death by thirst. Hundreds upon hundreds +fell dead on the way, their tongues were turned to charcoal, and when, +at the end of five days, they reached a fountain, the whole convoy +naturally rushed towards it. But here the policemen barred the way and +forbade them to take a single drop of water. At another place where +there were wells, some women threw themselves into them, as there was +no rope or pail to draw up the water. These women were drowned, the +dead bodies still remaining there stinking in the water, and yet the +rest of the people later drank from that well. On the sixty-fourth +day, they gathered together all the men and sick women and children and +burned and killed them all. On the seventieth day, when they reached +Aleppo, there were left 150 women and children altogether out of the +whole convoy of 18,000." + + + + +APPENDIX III + + +LINES WRITTEN BY A SOLDIER IN THE + +ENGLISH ARMY ABOUT MARCH, 1916. + + + _Christ in Flanders_ + + "We had forgotten You or very nearly, + You did not seem to touch us very nearly. + Of course we thought about You now and then + Especially in any time of trouble, + We know that You were good in time of trouble + But we are very ordinary men. + + And there were always other things to think of, + There's lots of things a man has got to think of, + His work, his home, his pleasure and his wife + And so we only thought of You on Sunday; + Sometimes perhaps not even on a Sunday + Because there's always lots to fill one's life. + + And all the while, in street or lane or byway + In country lane in city street or byway + You walked among us, and we did not see. + Your feet were bleeding, as You walked our pavements + How did we miss Your foot-prints on our pavements; + Can there be other folk as blind as we? + + Now we remember over here in Flanders + (It isn't strange to think of You in Flanders) + This hideous warfare seems to make things clear, + We never thought about You much in England + But now that we are far away from England + We have no doubts--we know that You are here. + + You helped us pass the jest along the trenches + Where, in cold blood, we waited in the trenches, + You touched its ribaldry and made it fine. + You stood beside us in our pain and weakness. + We're glad to think You understand our weakness. + Somehow it seems to help us not to whine. + + We think about You kneeling in the Garden + Ah! God, the agony of that dread Garden; + We know you prayed for us upon the Cross. + If anything could make us glad to bear it + 'Twould be the knowledge, that You willed to bear it + Pain, death, the uttermost of human loss. + + Tho' we forgot You, You will not forget us. + We feel so sure that You will not forget us. + But stay with us until this dream is past-- + And so we ask for courage, strength, and pardon, + Especially I think, we ask for pardon, + And that You'll stand beside us to the last." + + + + +APPENDIX IV + + +LETTER FROM LORD KITCHENER TO HIS MEN + +"You are ordered abroad as a soldier of the King to help our French +comrades against the invasion of a common enemy. You have to perform a +task which will need your courage, your energy, your patience. +Remember that the honor of the British Army depends upon your +individual conduct. It will be your duty not only to set an example of +discipline and perfect steadiness under fire, but also to maintain the +most friendly relations with those whom you are helping in this +struggle. The operations in which you are engaged will, for the most +part, take place in a friendly country, and you can do your own country +no better service than in showing yourself, in France and Belgium, in +the true character of a British soldier. + +Be invariably courteous, considerate, and kind. Never do anything +likely to injure or destroy property, and always look upon looting as a +disgraceful act. You are sure to meet with a welcome and to be +trusted; and your conduct must justify that welcome and that trust. +Your duty cannot be done unless your health is sound. So keep +constantly on your guard against any excesses. In this new experience +you may find temptations both in wine and women. You must entirely +resist both temptations, and while treating all women with perfect +courtesy, you should avoid any intimacy. + +Do your duty bravely. + +Fear God. + +Honor the King." + + +Kitchener, + Field-Marshal. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WITH OUR SOLDIERS IN FRANCE*** + + +******* This file should be named 18325.txt or 18325.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/3/2/18325 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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