The Cook County news-herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Cook County, Minn.) 1909-current, 1917-11-14

Provides = Home for tho 3olilsr# Boy
Nshea 81 Daty. Braoss Hin, - Il
When Down Hsartsa. 81


When Down Hearted.
Picture three Or four healthy, red |
blooded. khaki clad young Americans |
with thrill 81 life running up thc;r
.keels, a.few hours Of spare time on
their hands, and their pockets full
of money in q land Of wine and wo-
men. Picture . thousand such groups
and if you can q hundred Thousand,
more and you will have some idea Of
the American army in France, when
it isn't at work, and the same kind
of an idea Of the work confronting
the Y. M. c. A. War: Work Council,
in providing clean wholesome enter
tainment, and maintaining the NOR
ais of that host.
That is only a part of the work
being done by the Y. M. C.. A. The
work starts at home, before your boy
ever sees the army, they stay: with
him while a ':rookie", at one Of the
vast cantonment camps, are with
him when he embarks for France,
and it is safe to say ''Y M. Bloke"
will probably be at the wharf "Some-
where in France" when he lands,
waiting for him with a cup of hot
coffee and fist full of doughnuts.
Wherever the American soldier goes,
even in the front line trenches, in
the bomb-proof dugouts the Y. M. c.
A. Red Triangle and all that goes
with it, goes with him.
| All they have to offer is service,
but it is service which stops at
| nothing and has no limitations. It
provides the maximum of home COM
forts for the fighting men. Provides
someone to cheer him up when he's
"off his feed, '.gone gummy," or is
just plain "down in the Dumps" The
service provides an antidote for all
his ailments, the ailments that the
l
MT diagnose or treat if he could.
| The Y. M. c. A. was ahead of the
army in France Association build
ings were up, ready and waiting for
the American troops when they ar
rived. ALI the popular magazines
were on the reading tables, the writ
ing room, inviting them to drop a
line to Mother" was equipped with
pens, ink, and paper, and stamps
were handy at the desk. A look a.
round and there is a real United
States soda fountain all ready for
business, with Coca Cola, and all the
we'll known Notwithstanding bever-
ages on tap. "Free Movies Every
Night, reads sign over the door,
but why keep it up, it's only part
of what the Y. M. C. A. is doing for
your boys in France.
Why shouldn't the public finance
this work? The strain under which
the. soldier works is for the public.
The public benefits by his gains and
loses by his losses. The soldier be-
longs to the public, the Red Triangle
to the soldier, and it's up to the
public to keep it where it will do
the men in khaki the most good.
All other organization have to
take back seat, when compared
with the Y. M. c. A. in war work.
1t is the strongest organized moral
force, at work in the world today.
It has proved the greatest foe of
vice and liquor, in the war zones of
Europe. It's the chief amusement
center of every army camp, in this
country, but with only the one OBJ
ject in mind, that of conserving the
morals of the fighting men.
The only social meeting place for
the soldiers in France, outside of
small French wine shops, is the as
ISOLATION building provided at every
American camp. American troops are
unaccustomed to the simple moder-
ate drinking of the French peasants.
In hundreds of French towns close
up to. the battle fronts, the only
prosperous business in evidence, is
that done by the wine and liquor
shops. "Sammies" will be shut up
in just such towns, perhaps for
months this winter, and the task
confronting the Y. M. C. "A. to pro-
vide sufficient entertainment, and
diversion for the men during the
long winter evenings is a gigantic
lone.
The Y. M. G. A. will be equal to
the task however. They have demon
strated that nothing is too big a job
| for them to tackle. The War Work
Council is expanding it's work as
rapidly as the army grows, and is
keeping pace with it. New buildings
l 3 A&EI%Sa -