SERVING SOLDIERS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17327, 16 November 1916, Page 10

SERVING SOLDIERS.

EXPERIENCES OF A T.M.C.A COUNTER HAND.

(By W. H. S. in "Christian World/')

Work in a Y.M.C.A. hut is anything but a rest-cure. Those who volunteer for service under the impression that they will spend a few perfunctory hours at tho counters and be ablo to devote the remainder of their time to wandering abroad and observing tho manifold activities of camp life are speedily disillusioned. This is true of the conditions in huts which cater for British soldiers, but life is even more strenuous where there are many colonials. Tho needs' of the overseas men are'multifarious; they cannot draw upon homo supplies, and as they are puid more liberally than our own men they spend more freely. New Zealanders, in particular, have catholic wants and expensive tastes, and their demands at a Y.M.C.A. hut suggest well-to-do schoolboys at a tuck-shop. The representative customer begins by regaling himself at the cake counter. Usually ho orders a cup of tea or coft'eo at a penny, and five slices ot j cako to make up a round sixpence, i as ho dislikes carrying coppers. Some-, times an especially hungry customer orders eleven pieces of cake, and at, one hut there is a legend, less incredible than it sounds, of a man who consumed twelve boiled eggs at a sitting. Sweet biscuits aro in brisk demand, and tho extent to which they, with chocolates and sweets—or " lollies " as the New Zealanders sayare bought would suggest a. shortness of sugar in tho Army rations to those unaware that the reverse is the case. Having finished his. repast, the typical buyer turns to tho dry goods counter, and after much cogitation and looking round him ho buys a stock of cigarettes, the dearer brands as a rule, for the humble Woodbine, beloved of the old "regulars," is not even considered. It is very difficult to cater for the New Zealand tastes in tobacco, as the men all say that the smoke is not strong enough, and. moreover, few of them recognise English, brands. They put searching questions as to quality and grade, and before these are answered the "freshers" among the lady helpers have to consult their male colleagues. This writer remembers receiving during a rush a breathless query from an East Anglican schoolmistress (who soon became a most efficient saleswoman) whether a certain mixture was for pipes or cigarettes After gingerly gathering his stock ot tobacco and cigarettes, the buyer bethinks himself of other needs, and orders in rapid succession boot-brushes aud blacking, polish for his brass buttons, a steel mirror and shaving requisites, a cake of soap for washing, and another (" none but the best for toilet purposes, a towel and a bottle of cough mixture. Often a man who buys a bottle of cough mixture one day will letuin for another on the next, and he leaves the seller wondering whether the mixture was consumed as a beverage, or shared with a comrade suffering horn a, cold. When our typical !>«yors + has completed his purchases he finds that he cannot make up the exact, money. Change is not given at the counters, hut may be obtained at a bureau in the hut. He weighs up the inconvenience of going to the change countei, remembering his aversion to ,«»rrying coppers, and clinches tho matter by saving. "Cut it out m chocolates. According five or ten penny sticks ot chocolate, as the case may be, are added to his little pile of purchases. * There are . less exacting places to work in than the change bureau of a busy Y.M.C.A. hut. All day long there is a steady flow of men wanting change, stamps arid stationery, tree notepaper and envelopes, or information on some point of difficulty. " it up into small silver, please, ■ says the New Zealander. and ho thrusts beneath the meshed wire a Treasury note, a Commonwealth sovereign, a couple ot rupees, some twenty-piastre pieces, or even a few Krugcr florins. Jo facilitate the work of exchange, the coppers are counted in sixes, and packed into grooved wooden trays, each holding £o worth. These coins speedily find their wav back into tho canteen tills, and have to be counted and re-counted during the day.' The railway timetables are in frequent use. and it is surprising how many of''the New Zealanders ask for information about trains to Scotland. . , A colonial of Irish extraction, who 'had scampered over the greater part of Ireland during his few days' leave, fished out of the deepest recesses of his wallet a farthing. "See that?" said he, with a broad smile. "Never had a farthing change in ray life before. Bought a box of matches in tho Horseferry Road, London, and tho girl gave me it as change from a penny. If I go back to New Zealand this goes too." Most of the colonials are keen about mementoes of the Old Country. A postal official told this writer that s!»v--<sal men had consigned to New Zealand by registered parcel jiost bulky consignments of sea, shells gathered at Bournemouth. One sun-stained stockman asked to be helped to find a maiden aunt at Clapham whom ho had never seen and whose address he had mislaid. "No more bush for me; I've seen London!" said a cavalry sergeant, and the remark suggests that if many of our own men go to the colonies, at least some colonials willchoose to remain in tho Old Country. "Can you tell me where 1 can hire a motor-car?" "Do you know anything about making soldiers' wills?" " Will you recommend mc a good French self-tutor?" These aro the sort of questions that constantly have to- bo answered, and the helpers spare no pains to solve the difficulties. One evening a man suffering from a slight ailment that was distressing, but too trifling to warrant, a visit to .the doctor, made his need known. Tho hut leader, who was formerly a Red Cross nurse, was consulted, and in two minutes the cook was preparing a familiar home-made remedy in the kitchen:

Such small services as these deepen the debt all soldiers feel to the Y.M.C.A. It is seldom necessary to explain that the huts are run for their convenience and not for profit-making; most of them find opt that fact for themselves. When told that the price of a nailbrush was 2£d, one man remarked -that..ho had paid a couple of francs for a similar one some days bofore, and another expressed gratified surprise that- he could buy for fourpence an indelible pencil for which eightpence was charged elsewhere within the camp. Nor is there any danger of the men regarding the hut merely as a mart. Each evening,' when the comiters are at their busiest, a whistle is blown, business censes, the billiard cues are laid aside, strumming on the piano is stopped, hats are doffed, then a chaplain mounts a chair and offers' a short prayer. , Bible classes are conducted in a side room, and at one of them, led by a Wesleyan chaplain who had been wounded while fighting as a private in Galliopli, the keenness and zest of the members was specially remarkable. At the only concert I attended, ' the chairman, a Quaker manufacturer who had brought the artists by motor from a town sixty miles distant, delivered an address marked by impassioned spiritual appeal, and tho ma.nager of the hut, in a brief speech, impressed upon the assembly that business and recreation were merely, by-products of» the work, the core of which was religious and the motive service.

Apart from the ideal, few workers would be. able to withstand the sheetphysical strain .of the duties. As it is,

they cheerfully face their fifteen hours a clay of unremitting effort, and some of the ladios have practically to be coerced into taking rest. Only after physical warnings that could not be disregarded did the hut leader consent to give herself a brief holiday. One of the last sell-set tasks of another lady helped before leaving for a muchneeded ,rest was scrubbing the floor of the officers' room. This she did as efficiently as any charwoman, although she had never done any manual labour .before coming to tho hut. Every day the chaffou.se, a rector's daughter, blithely discharges duties as exacting as thoso of any military transport driver. Of the male workers, one was a grocer, one an ex-soldier, two were schoolmasters, and two journalists. • All wore disqualified by age 'or physquo from serving in tho army. At night, after tho counters had been swabbed down, and the hut made ready for the next clay, wo men would wander afield. 1 recall that once, lured by the soft beauty of the August night and the rustle of tho leaves in the littlo copses, we walked farther tlian was our wont. Returning tired we were soon sound asleep, but in a short time we were awakened by a band playing march music to the rhythmic tramp of feet. Faces wero missing from the counters on tho morrow. i