Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1918-04-17
F. |. BAILEY WRITES
INTERESTINGLY OF
WORK IN FRANCE

Continued From Page Onel
for a long seige. Everyone feels that
Americas ships and aeroplanes will
win the war. The Tuscania incident
has not disheartened our boys but
they are more determined than ever
to win. The Germans may sometimes
attack in overwhelming numbers a
small number of Americans and de-
feat them, but they can not defeat
the American spirit. An American
Y. M. c. A. secretary who was with
our troops March l when the Ger
mans raided them has been here lee
turing to the officers and men. He
told of the distribution Of hot coffee
and sandwiches to the boys in the
trenches by the Y. M. c. A. secretar-
les. The Germans shelled he and an
officer who were trying to carry a
wounded German officer across an
open tretch of ground to the Ameri-
can receiving station. They were
thrown to the ground by the violent
explosions of shells near them, but
were not wounded. Wounded Ger
mans are treated as well as any one.
Should anyone accuse this Y. M. c.. A.
man of seeking a bulletproof job
they are apt to have physical en-
British and Canadian Y. M. c. A. men
have been killed.
There are many good American
women Y. M. c. A. workers helping
to mother our boys. We need more.
Their influence is wonderful. Women
around the age of twenty-five (none
younger) are acting as big sisters.
None of the giddy kind but those with
common sense who can touch the lives
of all the boys and who do not center
their affections upon just one Women
of middle age who have sons have
proven themselves indispensable.
Low-moraled girls can attract few of
our boys with good American women
on the job encouraging them to write
home often and to be true to the
home ideals. 1t gives the boys real
touch of home There are some wom-
en- | know there who have sons, per-
haps over here, who would make ex-
cellent mothers to our boys. There
are always many more soldiers back
in the camps than are up in the line
fighting. Anyone wishing informa-
ton concerning overseas secretary
ship should write to the Personnel
Bureau of the Y. M. c. A., 124 f. 28th
Street, New York.
A great work is also being carried
on by the Red Cross. They are MAX
ing many Npoverty-stricken families
comfortable in addition to their care
for the armies of the Allies. The
boys appreciate the useful things that
are sent them by the home chapters
of the Red Cross. Helmets and
scarfs are not needed in most parts
Of France.
am located in Northern France
and we haven't had any freezing
weather since / have been here.
February was like the last of March
or first of April at home. On Janu-
airy 81 was sent to the hospital with
the humps. They only kept me six
teen days. / had good company. A
first lieutenant from Georgia and l
occupied the same room and for al
glad when we were given our free
dom.
The barracks and hospital were sur
rounded by high stone wall The
barracks were once used by Napo-
leoh's troops.
The boys would rather receive let
tiers than packages. Don't neglect
writing. Nothing can surpass news
from friends back home. Write of
ten and tell them everything even it
it doesn't seem interesting to you/
have been a week writing this It
couldn't help being loosely connected.
The scholars and friends will have to
read this as a personal letter. Will
write them individually as soon as
possible, for it seems so good to hear
from them. My mail is forwarded to
me from IL Rue d. Aguesseau, Paris.
Most sincerely,
Francis L. Bailey.
U. s. Army P. o., TIC, Y. M. c. A.,
A. +. F.