The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1917-06-26
LOCAL SOLDIERS
LAUO Y ENOEAVORS
HeImuth Pease and Howard WysIe, in
Army Camps in Texas, Tell
Of Association
Work.
APPRECIATE COMFORTS
Activities Of Y. M. c. A. Are Keep
Ing the Soldiers From Visiting
the cItIes-Pictures Of
Camp Life.
APPRECIATE COMFORTS

the cItIes--Pictures Of
4 Camp Life.
Some intimate pictures of army
camp life and Y. M. G. A. work among
the soldiers are contained in letters
received here from Helmuth Pease
now with the Seventeenth aero squad.
ron, Camp Kelley, South San Antonio
Texas. and Howard Wygle, with the
Seventeenth cavalry in Texas. Elk.
tracts of Mr.. Pease's letter written to
his parents follow:
| I'VE now have Y. M. C. A.. Every
regiment in the post here has a Y. 1t
surely is good work they are doing.
have just come up from supper
guess l will spend the evening here;
1t Is cool and there is good writing
desk. whole lot nicer than holding a
| tablet On your knee in hot, dusty
I tent. If you hear anyone say any
| thing about the Y tell him to ask
some of the army boys. There are a
good many thousand here and all have
a good word for the Y The official
opening of the building is tomorrow
might but it was finished last Saturday
and has been open for our use ever
since. Piano and victrola keep going
all the time. Hundreds Of magazines
and papers, pen and ink and paper all
furnished, CHECKERS and chess, etc.,
make the evenings much more en-
| joyable.
There are not half as many OF the
boys going to town at night this week
as there were last. Have song SER
vice at 7 tonight and want to get
through my writing before that
Are to have movies here CONNER
ing tomorrow night Out door show,
believe, SO everyone can see it.
haven't been to town yet and don't
know as I will go now that the Y is
here, though l would like to get in the
Alamo once while / am stationed
here"
Wygie's Letter.
Mr.. Wygle writes as follows to H.
T. Orsborn, physical director Of the
local Y. M. c. A.:
Just got your letter and having my
tummy full of Chow (dinner) feel
conversational If 1 have time before
drill I'll get you off my mind
you hit soft spot in me by men
tioning the Y. M. in the army It's
the best thing in it. At Jefferson bar
racks the had big tent and fur
nished stationery, reading matter,
music, athletic apparatus like bats.
balls, quoits, ETC., and the evening en-
tertainment that is SO necessary to a
soldier. Every night, hundreds Of
men gathered there and sang all the
songs they knew. Nobody knows it's
full value. Here, out in the army, the
Y is with us stronger than ever. But
here the Y is called the "E. M c."
(Enlisted Mems club and thus brings
in every man, even those who dislike
religious organizations. Here it is
conducted by chaplains. The building
is large affair." roughly built and fill.
ed with long, board benches. 1t con-
tains stage. library and moving
picture outfit. The library is free
borrower wishes, he keeps the book
without, charge but they'd rather we'd
return them. Every night the best OF
movies are shown free. They have
the best brand of pictures such as
Triangle" Paramount" Blue Bird"
and the Howe Travel pictures. The
building is packed every night and its
capacity is about three thousand, I
should say There are three divisions
stationed here; 18th cavalry. 9Th and
9Th field artillery and some infantry.
Every week there are boxing bouts be-
tween divisions. The army has lot
Of "pugs" (prize fighters) in it so at a
fifty cent admission price We see five
fights of three and ten rounds each.
Last Tuesday we (the 18th cavalry
won three out Of five fights from the
gunners," one by points and, two by
good old knockouts. The only things
we are requested not to do at these |
affairs are betting and swearing. Aside |
from these we do anything we wish. |
Many sit on the rafters, everybody |
shouts like tribe of cannibals and al !
most everybody smokes. Every sol |
der is strong for the Y. NJ, or the "E |
NJ. c." as the rougher ones would |
rather call it, for without the Y our
evenings would be mighty long af- |
fairs. believe me. The only way to-
spend them would be to get pass in |
to town, then those who have no
Qots of us too) could only hang
about the streets, while those who |
had money would very likely get in
bad. So the Y holds a big place in |
every soldiers lire and those who sup
port it are giving us all We ask in the !
way of diversion and good influence"
Dedicate Y Building.
Mr. Pease's letter was accompanied |
by the following clipping from San !
newspaper telling of the
dedication of the Y. M. c. A. building |
at Camp Kelley. The following ex-
tract details the equipment Of the
structure:
Equipped with reading rooms, cor
tables, piano and Victrola,
he spacious building will accommo-
late several hundred persons at one
time The main part of the building
IS 40x116 feet and has an adjoining
,oom which is 20x30 feet. A stage |
20x24 feet has been erected on the |
exterior Of the building, where de-