Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-11-15
U. S. SOLDIERS
NEED Y.M.C.A.AT
FRENCH FRONT
Secretary From Harrisburg
Tells Just What Unit Is
Doing For Men

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| benches, plenty of writing material
and magazines and newspapers of
! every description. The other day
great pile of magazines arrived from
| America. They had been sent with a
one-cent stamp after being read in
the states and your should have seen
that crowd search through that heap
for their home town postmarks.
hunted for them myself but did not
! find anything nearer than McKees-
port. Pa. o..
I'VE have just done a big thing for
the soldiers. There is a movie theater
(holding 10000 in the camp but ii
! belongs to the French artillery. The
French colonel offered half of the
seats 5000 to the Americans and it
was gratefully accepted. However
there were only three performances
a week and 500 Americans per even
ing did not amount to much. So one
of the chaplains who is very much
interested in the movies spoke to the
general and the general gave him
authority to make any arrangements
possible for more movies, and the
Y. M. C. A. offered to pay all the
bills. So the chaplain and / started
forth to interview the French col
onel The French are kindness itself
and the colonel offered the hall any
time we would like it but he did not
seem to understand that we should
| like to begin right off instead of next
week or week after. Also he could
not understand how we could run
two shows in one evening. After
many interviews with our general
and the French colonel, however,
we succeeded in coming to an agree
ment and tonight we started out on
performance per night (6.3O
and S.30), seven days a week and
| instead of accommodations for l 500
American soldiers per week we have
places for 1000 per week.
~ Great Life"
| Tonight then the Y. NJ. c. A. was
entertaining 1000 French and Amer
| ican soldiers at the movies at least
! 500 at a concert by an orchestra
composed of fourteen French SOL
diers, in one hut. about three to four
hundred in another hut writing let
ters, playing the piano, victrola or
| games such as checkers, picture puz-
zles or dominoes, and at the same
time / was drumming French into
about fifty faithfuls in another hut.
At the same time our books and mag
azines are spread all over the camp
and in the hospital. It's great life.
MY French class has been very
! faithful. We have had to move from
! place to place and some times we all
| have to stand and one of the men
| holds up a lantern to light up a small
blackboard that I work on. And still
they come every night. ! can work
all my old jokes on them and they
shout at them all. / wish my boys
could drop in and see us some night.
| have, too, an officers class at eight
and will begin a class in English for
the French, who are asking for it.
THE French are perfectly wonder
full. They treat our men as If they
were friends all their lives. If you
could look in our huts some evening
you would be thrilled at the khaki
and light blue uniforms all inter-
mingled amidst the smoke. The COM
araderie between the French and the
Americans is one of the most splen- |
did things l ever saw. There is none
of the braggadocio 1 expected among
the Americans nor the aloofness l
thought the French might have to- |
wards us.
IT forgot to tell you too that we
have a complete athletic outfit and |
this afternoon there was a football |
and baseball game, a Franco-Ameri-
can boxing tournament and a Soc
Ger game. Tomorrow afternoon
(Sunday) there will be a Franco
American soccer game. The fellows
are right when they say there is al
ways something doing at the Y.
This afternoon l saw n good il
lustration of the good feeling be-
tween the troops. One of the Ameri-
cans took button out of his pocket |
and offered it to a Frenchman. The
Frenchman said he would have a
brooch made with it for his wife.
Then the American began to examine
the Frenchman's buttons simply to |
discover what difference there was. !
The latter Immediately ripped off al |
most all his buttons and passed them |
around. When left them they were |
showing each other pictures of their |
families and sweethearts and having |
a great time. And none of them un- /
derstood the others language. It's
great
Some Black Sheep
"Of course there are black sheep |
among our men, but think the very
worst of them is true to his code. |
One of them, q cook, l stopped to +
talk with tonight. l was surprised |
to find that he too, seemed willing
to tell me his troubles He told me
that he would like to saYe his money |
but that he never could and he sup !
posed that none of his months pay |
would be left by the next morning. |
he gave me 100 francs for which L
gave him a receipt and tomorrow / !
am going with him to the post office !
and he's going to send the money to !
his mother in New Jersey.
"All of the men were broke when !
/ got here. AS was natural, their |
pay was quite delayed and they were
pretty hard up. Yesterday they were
paid and we were all afraid they
would cut loose and spend 1T all. The !
Y. NJ. seized it's chance, put up signs
about saving money. The most pop
ular ran something like this:
Don't Say Again
I'M BROKE.
Save Your Money.
The meE were paid in one or our
huts and one of the secretaries was
placed at the end of the llut where
they all came out and he collected
quite a lot of money for deposit in
Paris banks. Our American boys are
really like a bunch of youngsters.
They bring their troubles to us even
more readily than my schoolboys and
have such great faith in us that 1t
touches us to the quick
"I have not heard a single word OF
criticism of the Y. NJ. c. A. The men
will form lines the length of the hut
to get chocolate bars, cigarets or
candy find when they get to their
turn that we are all out of what they
want, and leave without a murmur.
They know we are doing out best
for them.
hundred times day but we have