The Hattiesburg news., 1916-07-30

Air Redolent of Home
However true those tales that have
come down thus historically adorned,
the fact remains that virtue is greatly
in excess of vice in this big camp. If
there is a worried Mississippi mother
who is harassed by the thought that
her son is losing his moral fineness
when thrown into the welter of Camp
Swep Taylor let her bid her fears be-
gone. She has nothing to worry about.
The Y. M. c. A. atmosphere in the
Mississippi post is redolent of home,
while any vice is insipid.
Outside of an occasional bottle OF
beer that sometimes, but not often,
finds it's way into camp, there is little
drinking in this camp. Real gaming
is taboo. The only lure of fickle for
tune to be seen here is pair of little
cubes for that fascinating game of
craps. Then the fade is usually a
nickel, and the winner will thrill no
general public like the man who breaks
the bank of Monte Carlo.
Virtue and vice are both communis-
tic in camp; they never trail alone. If
you sight little group gathered
about rifle box, and swapping fingers
and grooming to some unseen object,
the chances are ninety to one that the
"craps" game is in full blast Nobody
attempts to stop this in rest time, For
two reasons. The first is that it al
lows the men to relax by harmless
gambling in camp The other is that
this little fillip keeps them from the
city with its wider sphere of activity
along indiscreet lines.
Fatherly Talk to Soldiers
However, if you see little knot
Of soldiers standing upright, grouped
about an officer who is talking in an
earnest, sincere fashion then'you have
flung yourself into the thick of the
Y. M. G. A. atmosphere. 1t is a good
one, too. The officers of the commands
especially the higher officers, are
fathrs and worldly-wise men. They
know how to talk to these youngsters
in language that requires no COST
tation or mental effort to understand.
It's realism is effective through the
brutality and frankness of the Ian
guage and its expression. And these
officers talk to their subordinates as
often as possible. They tell them the
evils Of drink largely. Not from any
religious or highly ethical standpoint.
But simply to show its deleterious in
fluence on the health of the men. It's
inroads on the strength of their char
acret.
These heart to heart talks have none
Of the psaln-singing aspect They are
lust straightaway, sensible. reason
able statements that get right home.
Tnere is no question about the splen'
did influence that THOSE talks have,
nor the benefits that they reap. All
This has been stated here in the OBJ
stract. Their value can best be ex-
plotted in the fact that more than five
weeks in camp here has failed to re: |,
veal a single drunken man inside the
camps.
Thrown into the leaven Of this sol il
d{ery are number of good, upright, Il
s,rone-willed and evangelistic fellows h
whose example and whose care is help. Z
ins to keep another soldier away from
fhe wickedness and the lure of the d
sity. These fellows are missionaries "
ID d great cause They go about their /
soIk unobtresiveIy and eagerly. The Is
sample which they set backs up in a Ii
'Vwerftil manner the line OF argu' !
aet1t they vouchsafe. IL
Mot Glory But Work fo
zera you have the generality Of d
anf Iife AS ampIifed in the moral ma IS
lre of the soldier But the higher
|st comes now as soldier -indivl- v
1al Eanehess and courage that can al
|yspuer obstacles and bring success. is
HI anid test Or gutter is not the o.
NJ tlsat he fIees from the thick Of b