4.  The Association hut is the soldier’s school.  Here his classes are held.  A program taken at random from a single hut will show the scope of a week’s work:  “Bible classes; religious services; lecture on The Town Where We Are; lecture on South America; lantern lecture on Russia; debating society; impromptu speeches; history class.”

5.  The Association hut is also his place of rest, and the shop where he buys his supplies.  Here he can procure almost anything he needs that is decent, and read anything that is wholesome.  Usually this hut is the only clean place of recreation in the camp, and without it he is left to choose between the cheerless tent and the beer canteen.

6.  The Y M C A is the center of his recreation, and his entertainment bureau.  Under the leadership of Miss Lena Ashwell and scores of others, concerts and entertainment parties have been organized and have toured continuously in France, Great Britain, Egypt, and the more distant camps.  The six artists of each party are received with tremendous enthusiasm and become the fast friends of Tommy Atkins.  One writes:  “Last time the party came here the press of men waiting on the verandah to go into the second performance was so great that our brand new verandah collapsed with the sound of a bomb explosion!  Luckily the mass was so tightly packed that they fell through in a solid heap; no one was hurt, and all were able to enjoy the concert thoroughly.”

7.  It is the soldier’s bank, and his postoffice.  We were in one hut alone where more than fifteen thousand dollars were on deposit in the savings bank.  The sale of stamps in this hut amounts to fifteen hundred dollars a month, and of postal orders for the remittance of money home to more than four thousand dollars.  Every week an average of 28,000 letters are written and posted in this one room, while thousands more are received and handed to the men.

8.  The Association is the soldier’s friend and tourist guide, while he is visiting London, Paris, or the other great cities.  In some places one table is set apart where a chaplain or secretary is always on duty to help the soldiers make their wills, find out their trains to London, answer their questions, or give them the friendly help they need.

The Y M C A stands by the soldier to the last and even after he falls.  After the boy has fought his last fight and lies wounded or crippled or dying in the hospital in France, it meets his parents and relatives and provides for their entire stay in the country.  Each relative of the wounded proceeding to France receives printed instructions from the War Office that the Y M C A will meet all the boats and provide transportation and accommodations for all who need it while at the front.  Our friend, Mr. Geddes, broke down as he tried to tell us how he and his wife had been met on the lonely shores of France by the Y M C A secretary and motored quickly to the bedside of their dying son, only to find that they were just too late.  The funeral was arranged, even to the providing of flowers.  The last ministry was performed for the young man away from home and for the loved ones left behind, under the triangle that will forevermore be red.