The Covington leader. (Covington, Tenn.) 18??-current, 1917-11-15
TWO LETTERS FROM Upton
COUNTY SOLDIER BOYS

Below are two letters received bv
MrAW. L, Owen, secretary of the To-
cal committee, from two Upton coun-
ty boys who set forth what the
soldiers think of the Y. M. C. A.
j. G. Shinault, who formerly lived
near Mason, writes: 81 am clad in
deed to have the opportunity of saw
ing a few words about the great work
which the Y. M. C. A. is doing in be-
half of the army. Without this great
work your Uncle Sam would have a
very unhappy army. AS it is. q
soldiers life is anything but bed
OF roses. / really believe that the
average soldier values. his days of
rest more than anything else; but
what would it be worth if he could
not get the benefit Of the Y. M. C. A.
reading matter; if he couldn't 90 over
to the Y. M. G. A. and write letters
to loved ones at home; if he couldn't
get the benefit Of the Y. M. C. A
amusements? Most of the amuse-
ments Of us boys come to us through
the efforts of the Y. M. C. "A. workers.
Musical entertainments, lectures.
movies and all kinds of athletics are
brought to us through the X. M. g.
A. The soldiers without the many
benefits Of the Y. M. @. A. would have
hard life for the toughest Of the
rough. The th.lgs / have sal ahoni
the X. N. g. A. work is only a few
Of the many things being done fos
u.s..
Jesse c. Hua., .selgeant in the
heavy artillery al Camp Sewer.
writes: Here at Camp Sewer there
are about six brigades, comprising
about $4,000 troops In each brigade
we have a, ~" building, building
about 40 feet wide by 10 fee Iong
electrically lighted and csmfsrtaSiy
furnished. There are FIVE men to each
building who look after the different
details connected with this work and
also serve as instructors in the yari-
Gus different branches of athletics
The Y. M. G. A. furnishes Stationery
and envelopes for the soldiers and
writing tablets for us to use, and
these buildings are always crowded
70 Their capacity. In the past few
months the army has devoted more
time to athletics, which has caused
the soldiers to take a greater inter-
est IN the life, and | am sure that the
~, workers have been equally re-
sspOnslble for this added interest. We
nave about $50 of the drafted afinv Is
our regiment now. Among them are
at least 100 that can't read or write
The 'Y' workers have opened 4 school
IN each building and have school
OF two, hours each morning for the
oene1t Of those who can't read al
write. One Of the 'Y' men from eacb
building acts as teacher. This il an
OF the greatest helps to the army
think, for | would hate to go II BAT.
tle with "a bunch Of men that cam,
read the site on their guns, Thev
would be apt to shoot any direction
or any distance. Therefore. their owT
men would be in danger. Give M,
best wishes to every Tipton countiay
tnat IS interested in her soldiers. All
the other boys from there are get
ting along fine. We would be gIae
20 hear from anybody that has tim,
20 spare to write any time, and thei,
letters will be answered pr omptlv
we are expecting 10 leave here som,
time Early in January for parts IN
kHrwa We have Il few Fsalch Of
fcers here now rs instructors, in ou
work believe every man or bo,
IN our regimen is ready and willin:
% 90 to the front at any time
wish that / had time to tell you NOR
Of the good work that the " & do
ING. The people at home who Civ,
to this cause may rest assured TIA
their money win do a great work 70
the soldier boys.