The Lakeland evening telegram., 1917-11-06
mrs. /. D. MtNDENHAlL
WRITES FROM FRANCE
OF Y.m.C.A. WORK

All interesting ~leCteT from MTS. II.
D. Mendenhall, who is in France, has
been received by Mrs. H. ]. Drane
and the latter has kindly furnished it
to us for publication. 1t follows:
There have been such a multitude
of things that l have wanted to write
you about-such a marvellous number
of happenings-that l simply didn't
know where to start, so have ended
by putting it off from day to day, un-
til now | am getting so homesick for
letters. | realize l must write, or /
shall never hear Purely selfish, you
see
| Not entirely so, for truly love my
good friends better than ever before,
now that all these thousands of miles
separate me from them; surely miss
you all.
First, you want to know what sort
of a trip over l had. and whether we
saw any submarines. mary a sub.
We prepared for them and looked for
them, especially the last two nights,
the air was electrified with the expec-
tation of them, but none came. One
of the unpleasant precautions that
was taken, was, of course, the darken-
ing of all windows and doors-no
lights absolutely permitted on deck or
| in state nd
were utterly impossible without air.
1t forced most all of the ladies to
sleep on deck. so one of the common
sights at night was figures stalking
around in the half light carrying life.
preservers and rugs, seeking sleep. 1t
would have been funny, had 1t not
been serious, which it was for me, for
] simply could not sleep, night or day,
so did not regret when the journey
was over.
Spent three days in -- resting
up. This is an intensely interesting
city, being very, very old An anci-
ent ruin Of Roman theater dates
back to $50 A. d. There one sees the
wonderful peasant women of France
They are really keeping things going
and do every thing-motormen, con-
ductors, baggage-women, instead of
men, and SO on until there is scarcely
a job they do not do. Came to
and reported at the Y. M. C. A. where
for the first time began to realize
the magnitude of their work. The
splendid men of broad vision, who are
at the head Of it here, told of their
plans and ideals. and aims, until
felt myself grow smaller and small.
er, until l felt like a worm in the
dust. ! knew | should be sent back
on the next boat for / was not big
enough for the job. AS one speaker
put it, "the possibilities Of the work
Is only measured by the power Of the
worker" OF course the visible aim is
to have at every point where our
men are stationed either near the
front or on the coast these canteens
which is simply a house, often q
shack, where the men can come and
get their little needs. tobacco, candy
and good cup of tea or coffee writ
irg paper free, books to read, and a
place to be comfortable in away from
everything evil, and where the atmos
phere Of better things is felt And II
is OF course, this last thing that its
all for, to throw around the men some
great influence for good as opposed to
all the inuences for evil that surround
him. And believe me they are not to
, be numbered. The Y. M. C. A. is the
greatest power for good in the world
today truly think. Why, every
where they go their influence is felt
at once One man, the leader and or
ganizer of the British Y M. c. A.
which. of course, is in splendid work
ing order, having had sufficient time
to become thoroughly well organized
told of one incident colonel who
came to him and told him they abso.
lutely must have Y. M. C. A. can.
teen. That he wanted his men to
come under their good influence. In
this base they handle $4,000 men a
week in their 80 canteens and have
regular series of national games. reg.
ular series of musicales and theaters