The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-01-31
Y. N. C. A. KEEPS
 TRACK OF THE SOLDIER BOYS
Special Department to Look After Addresses of Men
 Reported as Missing"

Christian Association, the Bureau "for tracing missing soldier and sailor boys"
 To the folks back home, one of the big tragedies of war is the fact that there is no way of following the sol dier-sons into the enemys country no way, even, of making sure that connections remain unbroken. One week the family reads and re-reads, laughs over, and pretends not to wipe it's eyes over, the usual letter from the boy :n France a letter full of bra vado and gaiety, hght-hearted re- counting of the details of camp life, cUckiness about it's hardships, conyic- ton about the outcome of the war. The next week the letter doesn't come. They tell each other that it has been delayed, try not to listen for the post mans ring, and refuse to meet each others eyes when the postman has come and gone. So the week drags by and the next week comes, and the next, and the weeks after that. He may be in the hospital, he may have been transferred, he may even be a prisoner of war. He may be dead, although they have received no notice If his death. They would al- most welcome that notice sometimes, iE their anxiety, for there is no grief worse than such terrible uncertainty There Is rothing that they can do but wait. Connections have beer brok- en as completely as if the absent boy were in another planet.
 Then tf ey remember that his let ters home have been written on Young Mems Christian Association stationery, with the familiar Red Fri angle in the corner. Perhaps the Young Mems Christian Association knows something about their son. They determine to write and inplore its help in getting into touch with him once more. Sometimes it is the father who writes, asking that the bad news, if there is any, be kept from ;he boys mother. Sometimes .bt tn father and mother write un- known to each other, each trying to save the other pain.
 It was these heartsick letters from the home-folks, mostly mothers, that led to the creation of the new bureau of the Young Mems Christian Asso-
 
 and sailor boys almost around the world sometimes, to bring back word of their safety to their people at home. It goes even into the prison camps, to ascertain their whereabouts During the last month, the bureau received thirty-five letters and was able to trace twenty-one of the boys
 No detective agency ever worked on such meagre clues as the bureau of missing soldier and sailor boys must do.N Sometimes only the boys name is given. Often, the sole hints gre such bits as these: My boy gradu. ated from Yale in 1916." Charley sailed from America, on the 'Es- rsgne' lure 1S." ''The lad was in Ambulance Section 2S, but dropped out, to try 60 enter aviation"
 It takes infinite patience to follow such clues to the end, just to bring comfort to the hearts of anxious r3others back home. Perhaps only a woman could be expected to under stand now other women worry about their soldier-boys. At any rate, at the head-or the heart-of the bu- reau to trace missing soldier and sail or boys, there is a woman, Miss A. l Ky elyn Newman, who for seven years directed the Studio Club for girls, in New York. My, boys" she calls the missing soldiers and sailors, and every letter that comes from their families at home she considers personal, and answers as soon as she can, knowing how that answer is waited for at home.
 The method of following clues de- bends largely upon the Information given in the parents letter. Some times the University Club in Paris, Rue Riche!icu, can give aid; some times the steamship company records are of help, sometimes the aviation headquarters supply the missing in formation. The Army Register shan dies a huge location department, ill helping the homefolk to keep the ties unbroken. and the Red Cross has cab inet cases full of filing cards on the problem. Both co-operately warmly with the Young Mems Christian As sociation in the effort to trace miss ing sons, and a day never goes by without many inquiries being exchan- ged.
 By far the greatest number of let ters deal with boys whose correct address is supposedly known as, for instance: "Is there any military req son why my son in - Regiment, l- Engineers, can not write me, or receive letters from home?" In these cases it is a question of verifying the address. Often the Young Mems Christian Association bureau finds that the address is correct, and the perilous mail service accounts for the anxiety of the father or mother. Or the fault may lie with the son, who has failed to write through neglect.
 The Y. M c. A. writes both to the boy asking him to write home, and tc the mother, saying that the scA has been communicated with, 3nd found safe and well.
 4 Some letters come to the bdreau that have knocked nearly aro/nd the world. A Canadian boy WIS traced to France, then to Palestine, then to Gallipoli, and on board another trans port for Egypt. Then the trail was lost. Did he go down on the RIs- panola? Is he shipwrecked on an is> land, or a prisoner in German U- boat? Another lad came to France as an ambulance driver. At the talk ing over of the Ambulance by the American Army he dropped out of sight. His chum haG received a pos tai from some hotel in Paris. When last seen, he was consorting With some mysterious woman. Could the '. M. c. A. possibly locate him and get him home?
 Anotne. sort of letter occasionally
 
 comes to the bureau rom the Ameri can girl. She wants to know whether 1 n,,,r -.a,.. ;. +ho American EIxneditinn-