Evening star., 1917-11-04

this military routine. He is proud OF
his officers, those young fellows from
the training camps who are 50 patlent
and SO untiring. And his officers are
Of Plattsburg and Madison barracks
and Fort Myer and all the other officer
camps have q heroic Job. You VIII
see them drilling squads OF men VINO
them to know the right leg from the
left by tying different colored strings
round them; illustrating squad move
ments by lining up pebbles on the
ground before their asnTng pupils .ha .o,d,.r,
happy. amused ana proatably. occupied
in of hours. of meeting their educa-
tiona1. recreationa1 and spiritual neeos,
is the work the Z; 1 N; e; a; mas e, sea
with our troops in France, and about
2.2O0 in the camps in this country, are
already working eighteen hours day
on this job. The United states gov.
usefulness of the work the Red 1rl-
angle is doing. for It has given 1t every
POSSIBLE assistance and encourage
ment
Reaches to All the Men.
What happened to those men on the
railway bridge In New Jersey Is typieai
c. A. reach out to all men in the services.
wherever they may be. In the canton;
ments of the National Army, In naval
camps for colored troops-wherever men
are wearing Uncle Sans uniforms, the
Y. NJ. C. A. is giving friendly ana vital
service. Not only in this country put
abroad: not only with our own Army, but
with those OF our allies. and with the
millions Of prisoners OF war, whatever
their nationality. the Y. NJ. G. A. is on the
job. As an Australian soldier put It. i
x.N1 rI~< t,yyrt tCYod not
into the blue, there'n be one of you
Y. NJ. blokes up there handing me a cup
of coffee"
Typical of the Armx.s attitude toward
from a speech by Capt. Dobie at Camp
Lee. Va. speaking on behalf OF the divi-
sion headquarters staff: This is not only
war of material resources, it is a war
which has contributed to those spiritual
resources is mighty factor In winning
the war. When this war is over ] shall
nominate, as the Abou Ben Adhem whose
name led all the rest, the War Work
Council of the Y.M c. A
1t would be impossible in a few para
graphs. and it is probably unnecessary.
to recount the myriad ways in which
the association is befriending the SOL
diers. Your own boys. writing to you
on the notepaper stamped with the red
triangle (Which the soldiers calls the
best trade mark in the world"). have
pfooaoiy given you some mixing OF tne
vast scope of the work. In general. 1t
falls into four types Educational. phys
ical. social and religious
The educational work aims to teach
the soldier what he will need most in
this war: particularly English and
French. It must be remembered that
in the National Army there are thou
sands of men who know hardly three
words Of English. Also the educational
secretaries in the camps try in every
way to make it possible for the soldiers
to carry on any particular studies in
which they may be interested.
Athletic Equipment Distributed.
The physical work is mainly athletic.
The association has distributed athletic
equipment in almost unbelievable guam
titles to our soldiers. The men with
Pershing have found their base ball out
fits of the greatest value. In each of
the big draft cantonments there are
over a hundred athletic fields equipped
and run by the association. These ath-
letic sports are of the highest possible
military value. as the officers are to a
great extent choosing the non-com-
misstoned officers from those who show
spirit and leadership in athletics
The social work Is multifarious. The
Y. NJ. c. A. buildings and tents which
tered are home. club and library to
the men. There, as soon as the drills
are over. they cOngregate in hundreds,
to hear music, lectures, dramatic enter
tainment. etc. see movies, and put on
shows of their own.
In the religious phase Of its work the
Y. NJ. c. A. has shown consummate tact.
In the first place. it makes no distinc-
tons of race or creed: 1t offers its
friendly service to all who come and no