Elko independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 1915-current, 1918-02-25
"WRlTE TO THEM"'
New York. Feb. 81.

WHO lelleTS 10 luelE utu Sl inc
front--and then more letters. It's
home-letters that hold the front,line
trenches"
This is the message brought back
TO America by Captain II. II. Pearson
the first Canadian TO so to France al
ter war was declared, and the first TO
see service with KItchener's army.
Later he was wounded when 4 bomb
struck the Young Mems Christian As
ISOLATION headquarters at Belgian
Poperinghe, of which he was in
charge. He has seen hundreds Of men
60 over the top. and lesser number
come back again. He bias been over
the top and come back again. Both
from experience and from obserya-
ton he knows what il is that puts
heart into soldiers when they stand
near the edge of No Mans Land. with
the shells bursting around them.
For two years Capt. Pearson. as a
commissioned officer of the Canadian
army, has supervised the Young Mems
Christian Association work along the
entire Canadian front in France. He
was wounded twice and "gassed" and
has now been sent home by the Cana
dian arm yto tell the folks back home
OF conditions "over there"
So Captain Pearson, a big, modest
man with as untroubled a smile as if
he had never heard of a world war,
but with the remembering eyes that
all men have when they come back
from 1t, has a good deal to say OF
woman's plain duty in war time.
Write to Him And Do It often
Write to them" he urges. "If you
have relative or friend at the front
write to him. and do it often. Letter.
from strangers don't count, OF course
but the Others-no one can say how
much they matter. Why DO you sup
pose that the Y. NJ. c. a. spends thou
sands of dollars every month for pa
per and ink? 1t isn't so much be
cause we are thinking of the HON,
folk; they must look out for them
selves in time of war. We want thos
letters written so that the mother
and, the sisters and the wives and tn
sweethearts back home may answe
them as soon as possible. It's tn
answers we are interested in, becaus
we know how those letters in the IA
miliar handwriting are going to he'll
win the battle"
Americans will never see the mos
terrible part of the war, Captain Pea,
son declared.
THE most terrible part of the wa
was that first winter of 1.-THE end {
1914, and the beginning of 1915" h
said. During that first winter OF tn
war, when the enemy marched agains
US with machine guns and all tn
modern instruments of warfare, an
We had no guns. no ammunition, noti
ing but sheer strength of will to go OIL
it was really the letters from HON
that held the lines for us. We did
because the home folks expected u
to do IT, and said so in their letters
You may say that this is all sent
ment. Well, this is war of sent
ment. It's sentiment that took I
over there TO fight and it is sentimeI
that is taking you Americans.
Anyhow, soldiers are like that ~
known some of them that haven't &c
ten a word from home in all the tin
they have been gone. more than thr,
years now. 1t may have been becau
their women were slackers, and
may have been because their lette
had gone astray. They were a vel
different lot, as a rule. from the char
who got letters from home regular
and they went into the fight with
different spirit.
Sometimes n boy who hadn't hear
from home for two years or mo
would get his letters at last, lot
them in a bunch. You ought to ha'
seen his face when he say his name (
the envelope and knew that those Il
ters were for him. You ought to ha'
seen how many times he got those Il
ters ont and reread them. when
thought no one was looking Y,
ought to have seen the vim wi
which he went into the next battle!
Tell Him the News
What kind of letters should Il
home.folk write TO the soldier at Il
front2 Literary quality isn't Il
thing most needful in them, of cours
Perhaps the best of them all are 4
ones packed full of little honey d
tails---accounts OF tho new neighbo
across the street. and OF the wor
the baby has learned to say, and
how Jimmy is growing out Of h
clothes, and getting 10 look more ID
daddy every day and II he ju
grows up % be half so good man
will be all right. These are the Il
ters that are oftenest ro.read by n
soldier before he goes over the top