The War Romance of the Salvation Army

rgonn

the next day they went on farther into the woods, t

bungalow complete, with running water and electric lights and all conveniences. There were a dance hall, a billiard room, and several pianos in the woods.

ent from the hard fare they could take with them over the top, and t

girls back of the lines made 8000 doughnuts and sent them up by tru

had been for a week in Nonsard t

hool for young ladies, and a wonderful old cathedral standing on the hill with a wall surrounding it. Just the face of the

down to help in t

whole little villa

e were two American girls there and people were most curious to see them. One afternoon two French soldiers came to the kitchen to visit them. It was raining, as usual, and the girls had stayed in because there was really nothing to call them out. The soldiers sat for some time talking. They had heard that America was a wild place with beaucoup Indians who wore scalps in their belts, and they wanted to know if the girls were not afraid. It was a bit difficult conversing, but the girls got out their French dictionary and managed to convey a little i

re one day when they were

keeping in touch with the troops so that they felt that the Salvation Army was e

he front, there are always bloc

nd the truck was having such a hard time that the little company of travellers decided to abandon it to the side of the road till morning and get out and walk to Neuvilly. There was a field hospital there and they felt sure they could be of use; and anyway, it was better than sitting in the truck all night

were many shell-shocked boys coming in who needed soothing and comfor

what had once been a pleasant village street. Destruction and desolation everywhere. The house that had been selected for a Salvation Army canteen was nearly all gone. One end was comparativel

n and placed quickly among the fallen rafters, stone and tiling. Part of the walls that were standing leaned in at a perilous slant, threatening to fall at the slightest wind, but the

ldiers, a head in every shell hole, watching them sleep. There was something thrilling in the silent audience looking down with holy eyes--yes, I said holy eyes!--for whatever the American soldier may be in his daily life he had nothing in his eyes but holy reverence for these women of God who were working night and day for him

ready from each one there stretched a long line of men waiting silently, patiently for the time to arrive when there would be something

again. The cellar seemed hardly possible, and

ave a supporting column in the middle, all the north roof gone. There were holes in all the other walls, and all the w

f the Christ ascending to heaven. It was stil

teps of this ruined church, and, lo

t place in town." Then stepping i

he most seclud

e was no other place, and they were very weary. So they set up their little c

rls would bring their guitars over and have a little music. The boys, of course, had no idea that the girls had not slept for more than twenty-four hours,

lassies went to sleep in the cellar an

Neuvilly where the mem

nth Ammunition Train had his office, and there another candle was burning. Some wounded men lay on stretchers in the shadowed northwest corner, and around the little fire the five Salvation Army lassies sat among two hundred sol

wed: "Jesus Lover of My Soul," "When the Roll Is Called Up Yonde

a great sound that rolled through the old broken walls of the church and floated out into the

as very still as two sweet voices thrilled out i

sus, Bright

nder from mom

sus, though

nger, so rud

esus, gentl

sinner in ways

sus, O save

et they in p

hrist! Beau

sands and Pearl

hrist! Beau

come Thee, Be

d turned instinctively toward the pic

cret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty," and she told them that was a pr

ir with lights of gold, "I suppose it has made every one else feel that way," she went on; "I mean especially the evenings at home when the family gathered in the parlor, with one at the piano and brothers with their horns, and the rest with some kind o

Many of the men nodded. It was beautiful to see the l

mily prayers, too, didn'

their faces away from the light quickly and br

, and we have had a delightful time with just the family, and the evening chapter has been read, and now

the lassie prayed. Afterward the boys joined their gruff voices, husky now with emotio

that old shell-torn church in Neuvilly that night. To quote from a letter w

and had been lying in mud in shell holes --men who looked as though they were chilled through and through; men on their way to the front, well knowing all the hardships and dangers which were ahead of them, but who were worried only about the delay in the traffic; doctors who had been working for three days without rest; men off ammunition and ration trucks, who had been at the wheel so long that they had forgotten whether it was three or four days and nights; wounded on their stretchers enjoying a smoke. And as I stepped in the doo

joined in spirit, and as I tip-toed out of the church it seemed to me that the four candles at the altar did not give all the light that was shown on the picture of Christ our Saviour. Every man in the building that night was in the very presence of God. It was not a religious meeting; it was a meeting full of religion. And it was a

o clear space wide enough for the tent. It so happened that almost in the centre of the tent there was a big shell crater. In this the girls lighted a fire. All through the night, and through nights to follow, wounded men limping back through the rain and mud to the dressing stations came in to warm the

their dead comrades. The need was most urgent, but the puzzle was how to get there. The roads had been shelled and ploughed by explosives until there was no possible semblance of a way, and there were no conveyances to be had. The Zone Major had gone back for supplies, telling the girls to get the first conveyance possible going up the road. That was enough for the girls.

al for work and the Major in charge said: "I

ches to the poor half-starved men. The Red Cross men we

en expected. There was plenty to be done. The girls were put in charge of different wards. They were under shell fire continually, but they were too b

n front of the artillery and every shell that went over to Germany passed over their heads. When they had been there five days under co

they declared they would not leave! They knew they were needed there, and there they would stay! The

ith a twinkle, "my gi

mething like a tear behind its fire. Somehow he didn't look like a Commanding Of

my wants to stay let them

opening into the hospital yard. It was a work of art, that cave. There was a passage-way a hundr

istaken idea, perhaps, that this sort of thing destroyed our morale. The tents, of course, were no protection against shells and bombs, and presently the Boche began to shell the town in good earnest, especially at night. Gas alarms, also, would sound out in the mid

tents, ten feet in front of the window, and only five feet from the door of the place where the severely wounded were lying. These

ole outfit of blankets and things across the passageway of the dugout and the first woman to enter fell across it, shutting out the other two. Before anything could be done the next shell struck the doorway, partly burying the fallen young woman. Inside the dugout rocks came down on some of the men on litters, and anxious hands extricated the lassie from the débris that had fallen upon her, and lifted her tenderly. She was pretty badly bruised and lamed, besid

continued f

was plenty to be done twenty-four hours out of every day. The wo

wildly in delirium, living over the battle aga

ill over there? It's full of Ge

nd began to sob and c

rew calm and began to answer her, and rested back quite rationally. The stretcher-bearers came to take him to another hos

breaking scenes

to him one day as she passed through the ward, and motioned her to lean down so he co

re I felt something. I can't explain it, but I knew it was there and I saw my mother and I prayed. Then my Buddy came along and I asked him if he could baptize me. He said he wasn't very good himself but he gu

they went over the top, woul

ere, now. You pray

many about and asked the girls if they might talk wi

terward. But we don't believe that dope and we want to know the truth. Do you mean to tell me that if a man has lived like the devil he's going to be saved just because he go

the way to Jesus and speak of repentance, salvatio

d a hole in his breast pocket. Stooping closer she examined it and found it was a piece of high explosive shell that had gone thr

so bad? He nodded without opening his eyes. She went to ask the doctor if the boy couldn't have some morphine to dull the pain. Th

oy weakly, "I did

then, but the Sergeant found that it was so tight that it had stopped the circulation. He took off the bandage and made him comfortable, a

he asked, looki

," he answere

u a Chr

with another smile

g, but stooping near a little later she could see that his lips were murmuring in prayer. Ther

ve digger, a few people, and some of the boys. Off to one side the Germans were buried. When the simple services over our own dead were complete one of the gir

ould be said once more

e. The fighting was everywhere. United States anti-aircraft guns firin

nd the meetings would work themselves out without any apparent leading up to it. The boys wanted it. They wanted to hear about religious things. They hungered for it. So they were h

irls they did not believe in the so-called "trench religion" and wanted to know the truth from them. And those girls told them the way of eternal life in a simple, beautiful way, not mincing matters, nor ignoring their sins and unworthiness, but

of the men was shown by the fact that when they came back from the fig

it is, but we think it's because you girls were pray

k. The first and most important depended upon winning the confidence of the boys. This

s in France which it was known to stand for in the United States, that the first step would be established in winning the confidence of the boy. It was therefore determined that the Salvation

ew that it had always discouraged its use, and although the officers had to go against the judgment of many high military authorities who thought they should handle it, they decided that the S

t should draw their rations at the soldiers' mess, also that they should not associate with the officers more than was absolutely necessary and that in the huts. It was neither possible nor desira

this was proved to them when they went to the trenches--the Salvation Army moved to the tre