The daily commonwealth. (Greenwood, Leflore Co., Miss.) 1916-1919, 1917-06-11
LIFE AND DEATH IN THE
TRENCHES.

The local Y. M. C. A. Secretary re-
turned Saturday morning from jack
son after attending the Y. M. c. A..
War work conference held under the
auspices of the Mississippi State Com
mittee with Mr.. Ackley, Executive
Secretary of the Y. M. c. A. War
Work of the South in charge OF the
conferences. e
Mr.. Ackley WING was in charge of
the Y. M. C. A. work on the border
said, that the YIN. c. A. did more to
relieve the monotony and ianmorality
of a soldiers existence and to make
him a better soldier with less liability
of succumbling to the vices and temp
tations that come of being idle and all
restraints being shown off than any
force brought to bear on u army.
The Y. M. C. A. furnished entertain
ments, moving pictures, lectures, edu-
cational classes, stationery for the
writing home to mother and sweet
hearts. The latter helped to take the
the plant Of the influence of good
women, the bad ones are always in
the vicinity Of a soldiers camp.
The biggest tribute to the Y. M. G.
A. War Work was paid by DR.. Kelman
a member Of the British Commission
who spoke at the Century Theatre in
Jackson Friday night DR.. Kelman
a Scotchman from Edinburg, Scotland,
and was the pastor of St. George
| Cathedral of that city, that he first en-
tered military service ten years ago
as chaplin in the British Artillery and
later at an officers training camp, but
in this war because a chaplin is con-
sidered an officer and not allowed to
associate with privates he thought he
could be of more use in the Y. M. c. A.
work. For some time the doctor has
| devoted his entire time to the great
Y. M. c. A. work at the western front,
having spent most of his time at or
near Ypres where SO many bloody en-
gagements have been fought. "The Y.
M. C. A." he said, "have 500 Of these
supply camps stretched all along the
100 miles Of front from which food
and refreshments r passed out to
the soldiers as they come and go to
the trenches"
DR.. Kelman then touched upon the
psychology Of the trenches and its ef-
feet upon mems mind. The soldiers
especially the young men, become so
lonely and morbid in the midst Of this
utter desolation that it is not long
before they possess the heart Of a
child in simplicity. Then they have
to face the awful drearyness and hor-
ror of the war which bring them face
to face with death continually, said
DR.. Kelman. Not so very long ago,
! he continued, I happened to be in one
of the front line trenches and some
distance out the bodies Of nearly 7Oo
Of u brave men who had been killed
five months previously and there was
no way for us to get to the bodies.
Death becomes so familiar a sight that
It gets to be a part Of the regular
daily routine, just an incident in life.
The cruelty and cowardice OF the
German soldiers was then depicted
when he stated that in some of the
bitterest engagements along the Ypres
front the Germans put thousands Of
Belgian women with babes in their
arms in front of their bayonets. This
is a war of the world" he went on to
say" and it probably is the last great
war. If you were to ask u soldiers
why they are fighting they will tell
YOU that they are fighting to save
their wives and children from the fate
Of the poor Belgians, that they are
fighting a just war and that the Ger
mans can never repeat their actro'
cities committed in Belgian upon Their
wives and children unless they do i
over their dead bodies.
He took off his hat to German eth
cheney, saying she had been preparing
for the war for over forty years, ant
is still preparing for it; that the NAL
rate in Germany is over $4,000 an
nually and that she can add almost
! annually a million soldiers to hel
army. He also said that Germany il
keeping her beef herds up to the stan
dard. and has more swine now thai
when the war began and the same ma
be said of her grain crops; that tn
best of all kinds Of food supplies ar
kept for the soldiers, while the peopl
at home live very frugally, and o.
such things that the army does no
need.
He also said that while several mil
lion men were in the German army
that that had nothing to do with dim
inishing the birth rate, and that won
en- of Germany seemed to regard 1t q
a great honor to be Officially married
50 that they may contribute sons Z
the FatheYland, in the hope that the
might be trained as soldiers to fgf
- for and defend their country, tn
- whole idea Of Prussianisrn, as planne
nv Frederick the Great, being wa
victory an dconquest for Germany.