The Elk Mountain pilot., 1918-10-03


is one Of his responsibilities. ~te,
movies, the boxing matches. the vOlley-
ball games, and the wrestling bouts
are all within his province. He writes
letters, too, for men who are sick or
wounded. In case of difficulty or
death it Is the chaplain who must i'm
part the message to the loved ones
who gave the man into service.
Because he has access to every one.
the chaplain becomes involved in many
delicate problems of conduct. 1 once
received rather pathetic note from
the mother of one of the men, asking
whether her boy was still mt the post.
l happened to know that he was in the
guardhouse. l went to see the boy
and asked him why he had not writ
ten home. The whole story came out
Immediately. During his Christinas
furiOugh the soldier had married
girl whom his mother did not approve
of, and, in n fit of temper, his mother
had said she wished never to see
or hear from him again. Before the
conversation was over the chaplain
had persuaded the boy to write. Thus
the difficulty was smoOthed over, and
difficulty smOOthed over is chap
lain's duty done.
Go over the Top.
So far 1 have said nothing about the
work Of the chaplains in the field.
which, for the present war, means
chiefly "over there" My own expe-
rience has not yet extended thither.
but 1 can answer briefly some of the
questions that people ask. The query
is often put to me: do chaplains go
into the front-line trenches?" The
answer is, yes. of course. Frequently
they go over the top with the men. A
chaplain's place is wherever his men
are, and when they are in dagger he
is, too. A chaplain who is not willing.
IL necessary. to lose his life in the per-
formance of his duties is false to his
trust and does not deserve his commits
sion. As matter of fact. many have
been killed. The mortality among
chaplalns on the western front has
been as high as one II day. which is
high percentage when the small total
number of chaplains is considered.
The chaplain has this additional
test of nerve-that he is obliged to go
unarmed. BY the terms of the Geneva
convention. chaplains are not permit
ted to carry arms. OF course, in re-
turn for this. the person of the chap
lain Is supposed to be sacrosanct. But
everyone knows that to the Hun the
safeguards of the Geneva convention
are as obsolete as the Sermon on the
Mount is to them.
A Brother to the Wounded.
The hospital is one of the principal
fields for the chaplain's endeavors. AS
one chaplain puts it: "In the hos
pital. they can't get away from me-"
But there Is n more powerful element
in the chnplain's success among the
sick boys. AS soon as they feel help
less, they reach out involuntarily for
friendly hand. and 1t is rare for
man in II hospital not to be glad to
see the chaplain.
The most impressive story l have
heard was given to me by friend OF
mine who Is chaplain. He had be-
come greatly interested in one of the
men who was seriously III and not ex-
pected to live. Every time the chap
lain came to see him. the fellow would
ask him to "say just one little prayer.
won't your" Toward the end they
thought that he would be deliriOus.
But he was not. The chaplain came.
and the soldier whispered his Gus
tomary request for prayer. The
chaplain prayed. When he had nm
ished he asked:
"Did you understand me then.
Gray?"
"Yes." the dying man whispered. X
understood. can understand anything
about God. It's wonderful"
Those were his last words.
The army has learned that men may
worship God In different ways. but
they all need the same kind Of BROTH
ering. So the army chaplain looks
after all his boys alike. whether they
have n faith or whether they have
none. He knows, better than any
other officer. that Uncle Sans boys
are not mechanisms, but men. Because
he comes so close in touch with the
human side of the army he Is in pr
sition to, stimulate that morale with
out which fighting men are powerless
to win battles.