At Christmas a number of ladies at one of the stations up the line had all sorts of good things for the men who had to travel on Christmas Day.  Another gentleman accidentally heard that a certain train was going to stop at the railway station nearest his house, and hastily collected twenty-four dozen new-laid eggs for the men to have for breakfast!  Such Christian kindness as this appeals powerfully to Mr. Thomas Atkins, as it does to most men, and he deserved all that South Africa could give him.

=The Soldiers’ Christian Association in South Africa.=

At Capetown the Soldiers’ Christian Association was specially active.  This enterprising and successful Association was inaugurated seven years ago as the direct result of a series of recommendations submitted to the National Council of Young Men’s Christian Associations.  It has its branches in most military centres and is exceedingly popular with the men.  In connection with this war the S.C.A., as it is familiarly called, has taken an entirely new departure.  It has taken a leaf, and a very valuable leaf, out of the book of the American Young Men’s Christian Association.  That enterprising Association did a great deal of tent work during the late war with Spain, and such work proving of the greatest value, the S.C.A. has followed the same course during the war in South Africa.  At first there was considerable difficulty in getting permission from headquarters; but at last it came, and on Saturday, Nov. 11, 1899, Messrs. Hinde and Fleming sailed.  A further band of seven workers accompanied Mr. A.H.  Wheeler, the General Secretary of the Association a fortnight later, and on their arrival they found that a general order had been issued to the following effect—­’Permission has been given to the Soldiers’ Christian Association to send out tents and writing-material for the troops.  Facilities are to be accorded to the Association to put up tents at fixed stations, as far as military requirements will permit.’

How well the work of the Association has been done has been told in the organ of the S.C.A.—­News from the Front.

’Eight tents, fully equipped and capable of seating two hundred and fifty men, made of green rot-proof canvas, and ten smaller ones made of the same material for sleeping purposes, besides four iron buildings to take the place of tents in the colder districts, have been sent out from the mother country The tents have been stationed at Wynberg (No. 1 General Hospital), Orange River, Enslin Camp, Sterkstroom, Dordrecht, Kimberley (after the siege), Bloemfontein, Ladysmith (after the siege), Dewdrop Camp, Arcadia, Frere Camp, and other places.  It was Lord Roberts’ special wish that two of the iron buildings should be erected at Bloemfontein and one each at Kimberley and Ladysmith.’[1]

Lord Roberts himself opened the first S.C.A. tent pitched in Bloemfontein, and the late Earl of Airlie, whose death none more than his gallant lads of the 12th Lancers mourn, opened the tent at Enslin.  These tents became the Soldiers’ Homes, and are free to men of all denominations.  In them stationery, ink, and pens are all free; and there are books to read and games to play.