The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1919-05-03
APPRECIATES K. OF C..'SERVICES

plastered with mud from head to foot
and drenched to the skin. His sup
plies were on a truck in the trans
port and he was hiking with an in
fantry regiment, through a driving
rainstorm and a foot of mud. He
didn't stay long, he was with the
311th Infantry, and it was moving.
Display Good Judgment.
When the Seventy-eighth Division
withdrew to the S. o. S. again l no.
ticed the judgment displayed in the
placing of the secretaries. There are
no more men on duty at any club or
reading room than are necessary for
it's satisfactory operation. No one is
overworked but each has his assign
ment and he fills it. The books are
always arranged in an orderly man.
ner, the latest procurable issues of
the better class of humorous fiction,
are always at the disposal of visitors
in uniform, and the place is at all
times clean, warm and ventilated.
During many periods in which there
has been a dearth Of cigarettes, even
in the American commissaries, no one
quit smoking. The K. of c. had them;
and cigarettes are obtainable as cas-
lily the day before payday as the day
after.
On occasions when the sign, "NO
candy has greeted us from the door
of the commissary, big boxes of Amer
ican-made confections were miracu-
lously produced from behind the coun-
ter of the K. of C. club and placed
where everyone could help himself to
handful. The price was nothing but
a grab. The K. of C. doesn't sell any
thing, and what they furnish are the
the same class with the staff of life of
the A. E. F.: candy, tobacco and writ
ing material
The physical benefit the American
soldier has received from the X. of C.
is not the only feature in the great
privilege he has had of contact with
the representatives of the organiZa-
ton. The neat, well-lighted reading
rooms are always under the supervi-
sion Of real men, men who have DEM
onstrated that they can adapt them
selves to any circumstance or environ
ment. AT the front they were COM
radeS-in-arms in the rear, they are
the advisors and counselors of many
a boy who needs the guidance of a
truly interested pal. The K. of G. sec
retaries | have met are not all minis
ters of the Gospel, but without ex-
| ception they are men of mature years,
courage, initiative, energy, industry
and sound judgment. There are no
misfts. They all realize that the per
formance of their actual physical min
| istrations to the doughboy's comfort
is not the extent of the good they can
do. A boy with a load on his mind or
| troubled with conflict of ideas,
knows where to go for a good, solid
word of advice, and he almost inva-
riably gets it. At least, he feels bet
| ter after he talks to his K. of G. friend.
He's always sure of courteous, SYM
pathetic audience, and the moral re-
| enforcement of a cheerful word is
worth about as much to a youthful
American soldier in France as it ever
| was to anybody.
The sum of my observation has be-
come, what the American soldier
needs, the K. of C. has. That's about
as close to perfect attainment as any
one could hope to get.
(Signed STANLEY NELSON,
| 310th Ambulance Co., 303rd Sani-
tary Train, 18th Division, A. E. F.,
Semur, Cote dor, France.