HUSTLING BAYS IN SINAI

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3133, 11 July 1917, Page 5

HUSTLING BAYS IN SINAI

A'Y.M.CA. SECRETARY'S'EASTER - "HOLIDAY" . IN THE ADVANCE HUT AT . THE RAILHEAD

"I shall never forget that Easter time' (writes a Y.M.C.A. secretary of his experiences on arriving at the railhead 011 the.Sinai front). We arrived at midday. By 6 p.m. the marquee was up, aßd all the stores under cover. Some more, stores, and six orderlies arrived about S p.m. By 9.30 tho following morning' (Good iriday) we had opened the can-, toon. Tho crowd was; terrific. Men were' waiting for six or even eight hours tobe served. One man at the head of the; queue refused'five shillings for his place,! Imagine as many men as your city his} inhabitants who have been living on the! simplest of army rations for weeks—and! then the chance of a change. Men wait-! Ed through lunch hour and througliy dinner hour. Behind the counter -the,', men -worked with a -will. At 8 p.m. we had to close. But the men would not go' away. Could you wonder? Then word arrived of another truck—and. no fatigue party was available. Willingly'" every manoffered his services, not only to unload the truck, but to'carry its contents across to the tent. Fortunately for them it was chiefly bulky tables and forms, for they' finished it in one journey, and then they . fell in again and we finished serving them. At midnight two heavily-laden, trucks arrived, and we wore busy till i a.m. A dim light was beginning to show in the east when we turned in.

"At 10 o'clock a fatigue party of 3(> Indian troops arrived to erect the largo recreation marquee—9oft. by 30ft. Not one of them knew anything about it, and not one of them could speak a wcnl of English. In desperation I offered any man who could come and speak. Hindustani ten shillings.. The following day a man who could do so approached mo to know what I wanted. In four hours,, we had the 'marquee lip and' equipped—' and the piano, playing. At 10.30 p.m. one' hundred and'fifty men .arrived, after four horn's on the train, as thirsty' as the desert can make one.--We fixed them. Tip with tea, and. the following morning (Easter Sunday) utilised them for unloading and carrying across two truckloada of stores. The rest of that first reek isi one chaotic memory of hustle. The pre-| vious record of takings in a Y.M.C.A. can.j teen was .£2OOO in a week. In two days: we took -£1750, and in the first seven! days we took about -KIM. Then tho, other canteens arrived, and the' strain; was over. l ' . ■ '.

"When the lighting started we found! a real opportunity in feeding the men 1 as they arrived at the casualty clearing! station. Cocoa or liinejui.ee, biscuits and cigarettes were the principal lines distributed. You can have no idea how grateful the boys were. A number of secretaries took it in turns day and night while the rush lasted. One man vho had. lain out for three days without food.or; drink said, as I ..was feeding him, "I was dreaming yesterday that someone was; giving me something to ent a«d drink.'Y The; splendid endurance of the wou;ided| and their dauntless .'cheerfulness'defies! description. A Scotch, .b0y...0f about ' 131 was smiling cheerfully as I passed'round; some cigarettes fid sweets. 'How are: you, Jock?' 'Fine,' he replied, lie looked a bundle of bandages, so I oueneci,, 'flow many did you stop?' .•Eleven,'-was his still cheerful reply, 'but nwst of tlieni, aren't very serious/ Another man'l dis-i covered who was looking through a -w&rd for his sergeant whom he had heard was there. He cliatted away quite chMrfully about the different men in his pliitcon. Only incidentally did it come out that; he 'had lost his eye just that morning;, by a bullet wound. At 5 a.m. one morning I overheard part of tho conversation between two men just in from the firin? line waiting to have their wounds dressed. They were discussing the value of aiiaptigmatic camera lenses \"