MORALE-WHAT IS IT?

Taranaki Daily News, 28 December 1917, Page 7

MORALE-WHAT IS IT?

WORK OF THE Y.M.C.A. "Is victory always on the side of the biggest battalions!" was asked of a British staff officer. "It is and it isn't" he replied. "There's something else. You cannot chart it, you cannot weigh it, you cannot express it in any military figures. But Napoleon knew what it was, and he called it 'Morale.'

"I cannot define for you exactly what morale is, but I can tell you it cornea in many different ways. I have known morale to be found in a eup of 'hot coffee. That sounds unromantic. But think what that means to a man wlio has had ten hours' consecutive shelling. I have seen morale created by a man's taking a big risk; I have seen it sustained by a man's merely writing a letter home juat before he went into action. You can describe morale," he continued, "in a score of ways, little and big. It may come from faith in a future life or from the thought that one is protecting the loved ones at home. But if you want an easy and short definition of morale, you will find a good one in tfhc four letters Y.M.C.A." And he took his questioner to the window and showed him men trooping into a. Y.M.C.A. hut. "Those are men," he said, "who will be j going up to the front line to-morrow. Some of them will be playing games, others will be writing homei others wili be attending divine services, but each in his own way will find *. strengthening of his morale in the comradeship of his fellows beneath the symbol of the Red | Trangle and the inspiration for which it. stands."

"All this is a thing which I >. a miot show' on my charts. But it. »' s aHo a thing which is going to turj.. the balance in our favor. Go back tmd tell the people at boms that a, tf,y soldier, concerned alone with .military calculations, behoves that the Y.M.C.A. is playing a far bigger part in. winning the war than any civilian can recognise. I do not spaak to you aa a philanthropist. This is not my jab. B-tt I want to sec t'u, end of this horrible business, and if a soldier's words have any weight, toll them at jHome to h»jp the Y.M.O.A. to carry on its work."—Ladles' Homo Journal."