"All this deals, as it will be seen, with the many externals of the Association work, and takes little or no account of the various more directly spiritual agencies. Almost every well-known evangelist has given up his time to the Y.M.C.A. huts, including such men as Mr. W.R. Lane, Mr. C.M. Alexander, and the Rev. Canon Hicks, while the work of the Pocket Testament League and of Temperance has been wonderfully successful.
"Beginning on the Wednesday after Easter and continuing for seven days, a special effort was made throughout the camps to make it a Decision Week for the men of the new army. A pledge of acceptance of Jesus Christ as Saviour and King was to be taken and a War Roll signed. It is too early to give the final results, but already many thousands have signed, and the reports of camp workers, chaplains, clergymen, and ministers are most enheartening.
"Of the actual meetings held, of the conversations that have taken place, of the strange, moving, pathetic and thrilling incidents that have marked this tragic and glorious nine months, much has already been written, and books could be filled. Thousands of men of our homes and churches have written and spoken most affectionately of the service rendered to them in the Y.M.C.A. tents, and of the lessening of their temptations thereby, while many hundreds of thousands of dear ones have received letters written under the quiet conditions only obtainable in the Association's huts, and, be it added, on their millions of sheets of free notepaper.
"Of the generosity of the public, the kindness and appreciation of the generals and colonels and officers generally, and perhaps, most of all, of the untiring and self-denying labour of those who have manned the huts through these long months, short-handed, overworked, cheery, and eager, in cold and mud, it is impossible fully to speak. Let it suffice to say that the Young Men's Christian Association is deeply humbled and proud, by reason of the honour God has manifestly conferred upon it in giving it this supreme chance of serving the interests of His Kingdom."
CHAPTER XII[ToC]
WHEN THE MEN COME HOME
Clergymen Serving in the Ranks—A Strange Burial Incident—When the New Army Comes Back—Will the Churches be Ready?—They are Coming.