The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1919-03-13


very dull pcop.c not ~ see for our
selves such an Obvious answer. Il ap
narcntly seemed matter q course Y
him tha, the Y work should not lose Al
ins,ant'g time in following the troops
Il was at that moment that ] received
my first impression Of the mobility o.
Association work. Not all big anc
coinplicated organizations can pick ny
their feet rapidly and move on TO fol
low their work, and few Of them con
slider that a period Of FIVE days is in
the least long.
We went on the next day TO Nillers'
lie.Potit, then the end Of the railway
line and immediately on landing in th'
shell battered town saw the world
lkhaki-colored. II there were nc
American troops left in Lagny. Their,
were enough in Villers-le-Petit--
thousands Of them! Certainly there
would be Y work TO see here. RED
Triangle signs were posted in what
was left Of a badly bombed station
end on various stroet-corners. We be-
gan TO follow them through the town
At once curious phenomena became
noticeable. was evidently invisible
to the human eye. Not soul looked
1T me. Wherever we went, all the
linnumerable eyes in the streets fas-
tened first on my companions gray
uniform, then few to her face in quick
lightning fash of confident friendli'
ness and welcome, as though each one
Of all those hundreds Of thousands
were an old family friend Of hers
Every man jack Of them saluted her,
and nnety-nine out Of every hundred
smiled at her, the broad, honest smile
which the American man has for his
sister and his friend.
The impression had was rs vivid as
though each man had cried aloud,
Hello, you here? That's finer This
instantaneous recognition Of the uni
form by hundreds and hundreds, COM
ing from everywhere in France, from
every branch Of the army service, this
unfailing change in every soldiers
face from the fatigue, or set endur-
Iance. or careless indifference which
made it Just soldiers face, into the
alive, smiling, personal look which
made it the face of an American, a
neighbor. cannot begin to set
down in words how sharp, how start
| ling, how luminous light it cast back
on the work of the Association in the
army! Here was first-hand testimony,
repeated a thousand times, and in
terms which no one could counterfeit.
Here was an effect that TO one could
have arranged beforehand! ] grew
dizzy trying to keep track Of the faces
that passed us, each emerging in a
flash from the blurring uniformity Of
mass-life into quickening instant Of
individual life, each face having its
own fashion but all to touching
lily, poignantly sincere OF crying
to the sober little American woman In
the gray uniform, "Oh, hello, you
here? That's fine"
found myself very deeply moved
by this, almost to the point OF saying
to my companion, "Oh, ! don't need
TO see any more! I've seen what is
the epitomc Of everything you Y
people do"
But seeing that she took the phe-
nomenon in a perfectly matter-of-fact
manner, as though it we're matter
of-course, made no comment and
tagged along beside her triumphal
progress, feeling as though ! we're
accompanying reigning sovereign
through a concourse Of remarkably
royalist subjects.
We came presently TO a very large
brown canvas tent with Red Triangle
over the flap, set up in vacant cor
ner Of wide street full Of soldiers
lettering about, evidently men quar-
tered in the town for the day and
night. The tent was empty, dismally,
abysmally empty, forlorn looking
piano marooned in the midst Of some
cheap folding chairs being the only
furniture. (You will remember that !
am telling you honestly what ] really
saw on an "unarranged," non-person-
ally-conducted trip, just what you
really would have seen II you had been
along.) There the y tent was, with
out a Y worker in sight, the picture
Of desolation. So this was the warmly
welcoming Y canteen, bright with
home cheer, of which we hear SO much,
was 1t? There was no one there who
could give us any explanation Of this
unpromising state Of things, and We
turned away to follow more Y signs.
They led US ultimately to ! office
and warehouse, where we found only
one man in barge, typical ware
houseman, and he was very little given
to explanations. He stopped for a