THE Y.M.C.A.

Nelson Evening Mail, 21 September 1916, Page 2

THE Y.M.C.A.

TEE CANAL—EGYPT. Following are extracts from letters from F. H. Wilkinson, M.A., Y.M.C.A. Field •Service secretary, with the New Zealand Forces : Life iti'.l wags on the same as ever, except that it is daily growing hotter. The Y.iINI.C.A. work out"here continues to extend. The>-o will shortly be four or five marquees out from this rail head. At the outset, J was the first, and am stilll' the furthest out fiom the rail. Canteens are quite- a regular part of our work out this way, and it means a lot to the men to be a'ble to get a little fruit, biscuits, milk, etc., as a change from their ordinary diet, and the marquee is, T relievo, the coolest place in the. whole camp. I have just been over to ihe hospital distributing cigarettes and Testaments, and' having a yarn hei-e and- there with the ohaprf. 'On Sunday the cantee;i is not open. but we put out an urn of linicjuiee with a donation box alongside. Last Sunday it evened out exactly, and ih.it is great when one ren;e:r.hers that we sell the limejuice with practically no margin. From my own tent as 1 write, I can hear the half piastre? drop into the box. I am starting with the idea of a "strangers' tea" to-night. The trouble is, of course, to get provender, but I have some gift jam in just at present, and am getting a. couple of loaves from the Q.M.S 1 . II have carefuMy kept for two days four dozen buns wrapped up in a. wet towel, and' will be turning on a little tinned fruit, biscuits and. tea. These mounted chaps are quite different in temperament from the infantry. Each man lives more in his own world. . The social instinct is not strongly developed. Where with the infantry ohap it is "me and my mate." it is, with these chaps "me and my horse." At our "strangers' tea'' we found out that, quite a number of those, present knew mutual acquaintances. One man said when it came to his turn -to speak, "I have been away from home these last eight years, and' I've knocked about with a pretty; rough lot out in the backblocks, and a man gets prcttv rough himself, but 'I tell you. we fellows appreciate work, and! it goes a long way with us." -Another man, the last to speak, was one of our orderlies. He said that when he saw the Y.M.C.A. marquees go up. he wrote home to his mother, saying that as Iris duties in his regiment -were very light, he was Going to offer his assistance in anv wav he could help. "A couple of nights later," so he went on, "Mr Wilkinson came up to me in the marquee and asked me to

give him a hand for the evening,,andJ told him 'I would help every. "dAy if ha wished it." When the orderly,-from.his own regiment 'became sick .heVvohinteer--1 od to come ou on the. same basis as■ tbo ; other orderlies, and still can-ids on his duties with his regiment.' He . used; to loonduct the orchestra in one of our, large j Y.'M.G.A.'s in New Zealand, 'and is 'simply in valuable to me. At the. close ! o the service on.Sunday, wp had- a fine communion service. The service seems filled' with a new and richer meaning out here, and although several denominations were xepr-esented—Presbyterian, Methodist. Baptist, and Anglicans at i 2,i as t—there was a wonderf ui • spirit of j unity and brotherhood. ' If people want ' to know how to help, you tell them to send'; to the men the things that, have a home touch about them, home-made toffee or jam (not..marmalade),' or socks or ! shirts. Soon folk will need to get'-wiu- . ter things ready again. Tell them to J write chatty letter* to men they know, I or send postcards or papers, even though they have never spoken to the men', bei fore. That doesn't matter. I Fred Parry, one of the New' Zealand secretaries who recently came out, is • carrying on the good work at the cwmp ! site in which I'was, while the. men-with •whom I am have moved back here for ' a. rest as'they were kept' going'■ night; arid day at the last carpp. . You know . that our place is, always behind' any (firing- line, -still we had one or two of the enemies' aeroplanes overhead on different occasions, arid it avas rather excitin<r to hear bonfbs explodiritr audi the rattle of the'-machine-guns, hut although, we '"heard the whittle of the bullets fairly close, yet theyi did tre no harm., and since then I think the news .is quite old: to you now, we .successfully., 'destroyed a' number of the ' eriemy.'s; i planes', but. I wil.l..»be getting -into, the ; sphere of censorable topics if I ventu'ie j any further, and., acaordin.g to a recent ■ order, my letters'.are censored,,which is j only according to regulation. :. v ">