Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1918-06-23
.P0|LUs CLASS Y. N. c. A. !
WITH F0YERs DU s0LDAT.
French Soldiers Show Much Craft
tude for Assistance Given Them
by the United States.
ASSOCIATION LINKS NATIONS
Furnishes Fighting Men With Place
for Recreation-Skepti About
Express Elevator Service in "Sky-
SCraDerS."
by II. cAnn1NGroN LANCASTER.

- AA' baENSh0A EN-
What does that mean on your arm.
Y. NJ. C. A.?" stray pollu asked mo
the other day as I drew my bicycle
against the wall Of village street
for repairs.
! solved his puzzle by explaining,
ITS the association that looks after
tho foyers. you know" OF course. he
knew. Every poilu does But he set
| me to wondering whether readers OF
The Times Dispatch are equally In
| formed as to what Y NJ. c. A. means
! when translated into foycrs du soldat.t
NJ Clemenceau has said that he took
Office to maintain. and, IL possible, in
crease the morale OF the army. Gem
eral Petaln and he have been trying
! for months to show tho soldiers that
their country Is behind them. making
SACRIFICES for them, building UP orr
CARNATIONS to help them. With this
/ purpose in mind they invited the Y.
NJ c. y. to increase greatly it's activi-
ties In the French army, for the foyers
had already been started by French
men. about three years ago, with
! money furnished by the American Y.
NJ c. "a. In response to this appeal,
many Americans haye been sent into
this French service. 30 that the or
ganization Is run by central board
OF Frenchmen and Americans, while
most OF the foyers have a director OF
| each nationality. 'af
Some foyers are in dusouts close
behind the lines. where little moro can
be done for the men than to serve
them chocolate and coffee AS you get
further back they expand till there is
for
stages for plays. floor space for hun
dreds Of men to sit and talk, play
games. write letters. read. Religious
services and religious and political
discussions are prohibited. This does
not mean that there ia no religion I'm
the foyers. but 1t does mean that the
religion which finds Its expression
there does so In deeds only. which to
some. at least. is a more convincing
way.
My own Foyer was formerly tho lead
Ing dance hall of a small town, which.
with the neiEhborinE villages. consti-
tutes rest camp for the men from
the trenches We had a sanitary squad
scrub 1t for us. decorated It with ban
ners flags. artistic French railroad
posters and mistletoe, which crows
profusely In our neighborhood, but un-
france. the same meaning 1t has with
us.
On most OF the tables are materials
Tor letter writing. five or six large
blotters. indispensable in this damn
climate. ink wells that are constantly
needing to be cleaned. pens that soon
rust and call forth requests for re-
placement. Some tables are reserved
for games. Checkers are especially
popular. Cards nre played a good deal.
For them we keep green squares OF
carpet with the queen Of diamonds
worked upon them in red and white.
Without these the poilus find 1t hard
to pick up their tricks In the excite
mcnt of Manila. They are also very
roma OF taquin. a sort OF puzzle that
mas 10 be worked out by moving num-
oered blocks into order. 1t Is supposed
to be n solitary game, but have seen
SIX or eight warriors eagerly watching
another while he tried to maneuver the
obstinate little square into place. Ono
occasionally finds even chess players.
chiehy among soldiers Of the STAFF,
tclcgraphcrs, etc, but the peasant pre
fers his draughts
When the poilus tramp In after work.
and especially after they have "eaten
the soup" we greet them with what
they most want, paper and envelopcs.
SO that they can write their dafly
letters home. Soon the Foyer Is crowd
Ell win men writing, playing games,
warming themselves around the stove
IL 1t is winter. listening to the phono- \
graph. or pouring over papers and mag
aZihcs. Some days entertainments are
organized, plays by professional SOL
dier-actors. music by modified per-
formers. ight-of-hand tricks by nv
frehch colleague. Then we talk They
are eager to know about America. and
oNer comments about our form OF civ
iiisation. One man doubts whether
sky-scrapers are practical It must
lake SO long to get down out of one
ana up into another When I tell
MN they are served by local express
elevators. he smiles politely and in
Wardly takes me for what he calls
skuii-stuffer." Most OF them ask me
to tel! them when the war is going
to end and how many Americans ara
in France. 1t is useless to answer
the latter question by telling them
don't know any moro about 1t than
they do, for they think I have some
speciai means OF finding out: so 1 mado
guess early in the year and add so
much month. My figures are by this
time quite Interesting, but, doubtless.
The poilus gratitude to America Is
often expressed with great sincerity.
They admire President Wilson tremen-
dously. THAT marvellous man."
young corporal called him one even
ing. cavalry sergeant told me he
would like to vote for him for presi-
dent OF the world. They often talk
about the war and tell mo personal ex-
periences OF fighting In the trenches
or out OF them. I have heard men de-
scribe how the battle OF the Marne
began. how II feels TO spend year in
German prison camp. how they were
rushed up In March 10 stop the gap
by which tho Germans might have
swarmed into Paris.
They exchange these adventures OF
theirs for my talk about America, and
so we come to know each other ana
draw closer our union with France.
This indeed seems to be especially our