“Most emphatically let me say that they both are giving real service to the men here and both are worthy of any praise or help that can be given them. This is especially so of the Salvation Army, because it is not fully understood just what they are doing over here. They are the only ones that, regardless of shells or gas, feed the boys in the trenches and bear home to them the realization of what God really is at the very moment when our brave lads are facing death. Their timely phrases about the Christ, handed out with their doughnuts and coffee, have turned many faltering souls back to the path and they will never forget it. ’Man’s extremity is God’s opportunity’ surely holds good here. You may not realize or think it possible, but a large majority of the boys carry Bibles and there are often heated arguments over the different phrases.
“I have just turned my pockets inside out and the tambourine could hold no more, but it was all I had and I am still in debt to the Salvation Army.
“For hot coffee and cookies when I was shivering like an aspen, for buttons and patches on my tattered uniform, for steering me clear of the camp followers; but more than all for the cheery words of solace for those ‘gone West,’ for the blessed face of a woman from the homeland in the midst of withering blight and desolation—for these I am indebted to the Salvation Army.”
CABLEGRAM.
Paris, December 17, 1917.
Commander Miss E. Booth,
120 W. 14th Street, New York, N. Y.
Being a Private, I am one of the many thousands who enjoy the kindnesses and thoughtful recreation in the Salvation hut. The huts are always crowded when the boys are off duty, for ’tis there we find warmth of body and comradeship, pleasures in games and music, delight in the palatable refreshments, knowledge in reading periodicals, convenience in the writing material at our disposal, and other home-like touches for enjoyment. The courtesy and good-will of the hut workers, combined with these good things, makes the huts a resort of real comfort with the big thought of salvation in Christ predominating over all. Appreciation of these huts, and all they mean to the soldier in this terrible war, rises full in all our hearts.
Clinton Spencer,
Private, Motor Action.
“I just used to love to listen to the Salvation Army at 6th and Penn Streets, but I never dreamed of seeing them over here. And when I first saw four girls cooking and baking all day I wondered what it was all about.
“But I didn’t have long to find out, for that night I saw these same girls put on their gas masks at the alert and start for the trenches. Then I started to ask about them. I never spoke to the girls, but fellows who had been in the trenches told me that they came up under shell fire to give the boys pies or doughnuts or little cakes or cocoa or whatever they had made that day. I thought that great of the Salvation Army. And many a boy who got help through them has a warm spot in his heart for them.