Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1917-11-20
GREAT WORK BEING DONE
Letter from Mrs. HI. VI. GriSe, (FOrm-
erly Irma Gill; from Camp
Sherman, ChillicOthe, Ohio

The Pilot is privileged to publish
extracts of letter written by Mrs.
H. NJ. Grise, formerly Miss Irma
gill; to her mother, Mrs. Chas. E. Gill,
from ChillicOthe, Ohio, where Dr.
Grise is with the Base Hospital at
Camp Sherman. The letter largely
refers to Y. NJ. c. A work, and is very
timely as Wausau and Marathon coun-
ty is in the midst of a campaign to
raise $4,000 for this work Mrs.
Grise says:
'"The pictures I sent you can't be-
gin to show the extent of this camp.
Many buildings have gone up since
they were taken. The hospital itself
is a small sized town. Each ward,
you see has windows on three sides,
plenty Of light and air and can be
shut off if necessary.
The corridors stretch on and on to
left and right till 1 don't see how
they ever find their way around; I'd
Hget lost in an half hour. OF course
everything is spotless, too, tho very
bleak looking.
If it were not for the Y. NJ. c. A.
j do not know what the men would
do. There are many small buildings
with the beloved triangle sign, and one
auditorium. They don't pass out re-
ligiOn" in these regiment Y MS, but
it's there all the same. They all have
'phone stations, p o., and some sort
of musical instrument; a small library
and rows upon rows of desks And
consider the amount of stationery
used in each of these every day, multi
ply it by thousands and see why they
need money. Two or three nights a
week there are entertainments in all
the Y. M s really good singers, elocu-
-0nists, and sometimes some of the
boys themselves, give them a taste of
life they LETT at home.
Oh, it's wonderful work and | just
wish there was some way 1 could
help in it. And perhaps | can; who
knows? It's such a wonderful work,
and the only thing that makes life
endurable. | just hated the camp but
some way | can't wait to get back, and
I'm going to land as near it as | can.
hnr -
such a big thing; well, you know
how Fort Sheridan was, there were
five thousand men there; there are
forty thousand at Camp Sherman.
Those old barracks stretch away on
all sides, and buildings fairly grow
ing. They are putting up a big recre-
atron building and are soon to COM
mence a series of regular apartment
houses, which are to be rented, rea-
sonably they say, to friends and rel
atives of the men, for a few days or
weeks at a time.
The Rotary clubs and d. A R. are
to take up recreation work too, but
they'll never mean to the men what
the "Y" does, for it was there at the
time of their deepest need, and will
be with them till the very minute they
go over the top" | can't seem to get
away from this subject and if l
thought it would bring one penny for
the work, I'd ask you to let Mr.. Thayer
print what I've written concerning it.
It's a work which means the saving
of the spirit of youth and good fellow
ship in the minds and hearts of men
who are being Systematically tough
ened but. oh, know their wives and
mothers don't want them to grow hard
and coarse in thought and feelings. as
they would do without some influence
to cOunteract this awful grind. Not
that the training and all that isn't
necessary. 1t is, of course, but they
are still human and unless they are
to be turned into military-made ma
chimes, there must be brighter side
to their lives, daily, and that's the
wonderful, sOul-stirring mission of the
military Y. NJ. c. A. "On the Field"