The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1918-07-20
A LETTER FROM
LOVER THERE"
IRON COUNTY MAN TELLS OF YIN.
C. A. WORK OVERSEAS
"Y9 HUT TO EACH BATTALION
Says They Are ION the lob" and
Doing Splendid Work, Adding
To Comfort of Soldiers

Supt. Charles +. Lawrence Of Pal
atka, received the following letter
from Lieut.. w d. Haselton young
man from the west side OF the county
who answered the call to his country
and who is now In active service in
France. The letter tells OF the great
work being done by the Y. NJ. c. A.
"over there and also contains other
interesting news:
Am f. f., May 26, 1918.
Dear Mr.. Lawrence:
/ received a letter yesterday from
McEochern in which he stated that
you had inquired as to the work OF
the Y. M. G. A. over here. So, instead
OF answering the question through
him, / will write you personally as
realize how interested you probably
are I'm the work OF that nature.
The Y. M. c. A. is not only success
full on the work,--it Is invaluable. The
Y. NJ. c. A. workers are not only in
earnest and anxious 10 please, but
they are entirely successful in their
efforts.
The general plan Is to have Y. M.
G.. A. "hut" attached to each battal-
lion. This hut consists of good big
tent, large enough to hold 200 or 300
people and with staff OF three, gen
orally The tent is equipped with ta-
bles and chairs and plenty Of writing
paper, pens fnd ink. There is gener-
ally quite a quantity OF reading mat
ter available but II is as a rule very
old. But that makes little difference
20 the men as It is all new for them.
There is generally something on"
about to s nights each week The
amusements vary from boxing match
es to recitations by Sothern and Mar
lowe. Moving pictures several times
week and stunt night" where
the boys themselves put on some yau-
deville, about once a week.
On Sunday there are two or three
services which, as a rule, are quite
we'll attended especially the "song
services" And one OF their most inn
portant jobs Is running their little
store where they sell chocolate, cigar
cites, cookies, soap. toothbrushes,
towels and a few such articles. This
is wonderful convenience to the
men as the quartermaster corps can
not follow up en- a move as well as
the Y. M. G. A. can and there also Is
always delay In getting the sales
commissary into operation as II Is
one OF the least important of the
things to be done when a division
starts to move. And when located
more or less permanently a division
is spread out over quite consider
able area and the sales commissary is
located as centrally AS conditions per
init.
II is impossible for large per cent
OF the men 10 get to the commissary
so you can see how valuable II is to
have the Y NJ. c. A. handle these ar
ticles with store wherever few
hundred soldiers are 10 be found. In
the units located toward the rear OF
the divisional area you will find gen.
orally two Of the three workers are
"sure 'nuff' women. They are not Y
w. c. A. workers--they are Y. NJ. c
A. workers and very much appreciat.
ed, too. They give a little touch oi
home TO the place. You can't mag.
inc how pleasant II IL 70 talk to ar
American girl once in while after
seeing nothing but foreigners for {
long, long time. They run the stores
sseiay the piano. sing, sew on buttons
R.ve advice TO the loye-lorn and hun
dreds of things like that which make
them very much appreciated
The Y. NJ. c. A. has been accused o
selling gift tobacco" but that Is RI
diculous. II is possible that some has
been sold-but through mistake Fol
example, the U. s. A. quartermastei
department a couple OF months age
sold through their sales commissarl
a lot OF tobacco which had been In
tended for glft tobacco However
when II wag received here II wai