THE Y.M.C.A. IN EGYPT

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2752, 22 April 1916, Page 12

THE Y.M.C.A. IN EGYPT

THE SECULAR SIDE OF ITS WORK "THE OLD Y.M." - The following letter, dated March 8, has been received by the Y.M.C.A. authorities here from Miss E. A. Rout: — Freely and gladly has the religious world contributed to the Y.M.C.A. funds for the prosecution of war work. Never onco has it doubted the worth or the work the Y.M.C.A. is doing. But the well-springs of these voluntary offerings are not They aro visibly lessening now, while the need .for them is visibly increasing. That is why appeals are being made all over the world by the Y.M.C.A. for extraordinarily large sums of money. A great deal of the money is wanted for work which is directly secular, though certainly indirectly ethical as 'well;, work which must bo done, and done now, if tlio physical and mental health of our soldiers is to be conserved. The military authorities cannot do' this work themselves; both the personal touch and the sense of freedom would 1 then be entirely lacking. In the 'mid- • die of the camp there is the,Y.M.C.A. hut—just a temporary mat structure; but within it there is the heart of home and the spirit of freedom. Reading, writing, singing, smoking, the buying of post-cards, chocolate, cigarettes, the posting of letters, chatting with mates from other tents and other camps, boxing, wrestling, playing games, lounging about quietly, thinking of home —in a word, the free play o? human interests and tho resumption of human life are rendered possible by the organisation affectionately known among the soldiers as "The Old Y.M." There is no part of the nation which can afford to be out of helping in such a 'work. The penalty of self-respect lost would be too high. There isn't anything which "The Old Y.M." gives the soldiers that those at homo do not have a part of their ordinary "rights" as free men and women. It is to guard I these that the men out here not mereij' risk tiieir lives in battle affray, but what is far more trying—endure the | dirt and discomfort of dug-outs and I the unutterable boredom of desert camp Wife. Tho mental depression, and physical monotony o{' a great -part of the soldier's life should be the concern of all of us, and it is to mitigate and neutralise these that .ttio Y.M.C.A. is now bending overy energy, and thereby conserving the health and spirit of the men. That surely is one of the purest forms of the expression of patriotfem—one which those .of any religion can join 'in' heartily. It is simply a fact that military service tends to become a process of dehumanisation, and that the Y.M.C.A. is often means of preserving some now fragments of tne social amenities and graces ,Qf, life—more especially when it is able .to secure the refining influence of woman's hand, as in some of its canteens. But more than,this. Far_ and .wide the lifestream of our nation' has_flowed in this great world-war, much pf Jt to return no more to the land of its oirth. What goes back to the homelands will cer-> tainly go back clearer and cleaner because of the work of the Y.M.C.A. in Egypt. Ought not everybody to help in that? ; . .

Yesterday afternoon I, spent visiting different Y.M.C.A. centres among colonial soldiers. Military regulations will not permit the mention of exaot localities where different- troops are stationed.. Suffice it to say that the places visited were not a thousand, miles from Cairo, and the troops stationed there were mostly colonials. To avoid all fear of offence, we will call the huts by the names of the men in charge of them. Just mat-huts they were, like those the South Sea Islanders build for themselves, more apparently "temporary." They are supposed to hold from six to seven "hundred men, but what they really hold when men cliug round the roofs and windows and doors, liko flies round a honey-pot, goodness only knows. The { laws against overcrowding evidently are more honoured in the breach than the observance, arid it really doesn't matter much when, in case of fire, you can take a header through a mat-wall, and land nowhere worse than on a sand heap.

Mr. P. H. Hamilton's hut was the first one visited. It is a- fine spacious :pi ace, and has a boxing 6tage outside. Not. enough boxing cloves was one of life's littlo worries there. ,It is hard to get 6uch things in Egypt, you know. Still the hut itself was bright and roomy, and a cheerful contrast to tho unending desert outside. Mr. James Hanson's hut is purely for the—pardon, our own soldiers. (That'll dodge the tensor.) Connected with it is a small canteen —very well run indeed, but not by women. It is impossible to realise till you got here liow the soldiers long for any sort of food cooked for them by their own womenfolk. Mr. H. Dorville's hut is somewhat larger than the others, and a canteen is being built attached to it.; Mr. Dorville is justly proud of tho few books ho •has gathered together at great pams for the men, but he wants more Did! more ond more; . . L ' .. Mr. F. E. Beaurepaire, Australian swimmer, and late Australian officer, is now -playing a now role.' He was invalided and has taken up tho duties of Y iM.C.A. secretary, in charge of a hut. His hut is the lucky possessor of two footballs and two sets of very well used, boxinn- gloves, and he has two orderlies to' help °him—both men who have seen service in Gallipoli, and are now invalided. Mr. Beaurepaire claimed to possess the older Y.M. hut in Egypt-it was 16 months old-but the claim was vigorously dicputod by another secretary, who claimed a few weeks .priority. The claim to having the largest library of books was reluctantly admitted. Ihe documentary evidenco was too convincing to be disputed. ~ , • From Mr. A. /J. Grace's hut the host was absent, but two orderlies lent by thb military authorities did the honours in frank, manly style, Ihe onlj' complaint they had was that the roof leaked when, it rained'(winch wasn t oftenK and didn't keep out enough sun when it didn't raiii (but that didn t matter at last of the places visited yesterday, but before closing this necessarily brief account it is only right to speak of the very_ great support now being given to the \ .JI.C.A. by the military authorities here. By corporate worth and personal merit J;he 1.M.0.A. hns won its way into official favour, until now there is 110 reasonable request it can make which is not readily granted. More than this: time and time again tho military people come to tho YMCA. aiking them to undertako certain work. Canteen work is peculiarlv a department which the 1.M.0.A. can run far better than tho military peopb can. It is peculiarly open to corruption, which is most difficult to suppress, and every soldier knows that Die Old Y M." never cheats and always gives you the best it can possibly get hold of.