No one has been more appreciative than the military authorities themselves.  Lord Roberts, four days before his death, wrote expressing his appreciation of the work being accomplished.  His secretary adds:  “He hears on all sides nothing but praise for what the Y M C A is doing at the camps.”  Lord Kitchener, who had inspected the huts of the Association in England, France, and Egypt, wrote:  “From the first the Y M C A gained my confidence, and now I find they have earned my admiration and gratitude.”  Mr. Asquith, when Prime Minister, after visiting the Association huts and attending the religious meetings said:  “The Y M C A is the greatest thing in Europe.”  Lloyd George, the present Premier, said recently:  “I congratulate the Y M C A. Wherever I go I hear nothing but good of the work they are doing throughout the country, and we owe them a very deep debt of gratitude.”

[1] In addition to the existing work at Bangalore, Maymyo, and Poona, Association privileges have been provided for soldiers in Lahore, Delhi, Multan, Forozepore, Jhansi, Lucknow, Mhow, Trimulgherry, Jubbulpore, Calcutta, Bombay, Madras, Ahmednagar, Rangoon, Dalhousie, Naini Tal, Karachi, Allahabad, and Jutogh.

CHAPTER V

LIFE IN A BASE CAMP

The man who inaugurated Y M C A army work in France was Joseph Callan.  In 1903 he became a secretary of the International Committee in Allahabad, North India, and later in Colombo.  Ten years ago in Bangalore he began his wonderful work for soldiers, which, in time, was to set the pace and furnish the standard for the Association work of the present war.

When the British troops were out in camp, Callan opened his big Y M C A tent and beat the army canteen in open competition, so that at the end of the maneuvers the contractors had to haul back much of the liquor unsold.  While the canteen was being drained of men, Callan was running a full show almost every evening.  He had powerful arc lights placed over the athletic field, and night after night tournaments were played off, company against company, regiment against regiment, until the closing hour of the canteen had passed.  Lectures, moving pictures, and concerts were followed by straight religious meetings, with lasting results.  The cooperation of the Bishop, clergy, and chaplains, helped to relate permanently these results to the Church.

As soon as the commanding officers saw the value of this work, they began to cooperate and insisted upon its being carried on in every camp.  In the great maneuvers at Dacca, Callan was invited to Bengal to run the institutional work for the troops at the expense of the government, which he did with striking results.  Each success made the work known to a widening circle of officers and men.