A LETTER FROM WELLINGTON

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16896, 8 July 1918, Page 6

A LETTER FROM WELLINGTON

THAT AUCKLANDERS SHOULD READ. Wide as the world is the brotherhood, also the sisterhood, of the Salvation Army. Wherever " man's inhumanity to man" causes Borrow and suffering, there the "Soldiers of Good"-as a British general described the Salvationists re-cently-are glad to take up heavenly arras in aid of the poor and afflicted. Bow well the world knows that the red jersey covers a red hewt, and that " tho blue bonnet frames a face radiant with unselfishness," as an English editor has written. Therefore, when Germany forced war upon the world, the Salvation Flag followed the Union Jack. The Red Jersey and the Blue Bonnet have been ever close to the Khaki in camp or hut, hostel or hospital. For this purpose tho Army's wonderful organisation and efficient economical administration lmvo ensured the right help, in the right way.

Yet even economical service requires much money when the expenditure is on a vast scale, as in the present war. It is a sad fact, too>. that while the war has made "an immense field for The Army's great work in tho battle zones, the effects of war have increased the cells for aid among the poorer classes in many countries. The extent of this demanr 1 can be grasped readily from the statement that The Army's work is established in sixty countries (including colonies), where about 11,200 branches are busy. There is no end, no .limit, to The Army's activities for humanity.

Staff-Captain Mary Booth (in her diary, "With the British Expeditionary Force in France"):—

"We'have many joys in the Salvation Army. One of the chief of thcso is its comradeship. Whether amongst Officers, Locals, or Soldiers, there is something which draws us together in spite of the differences of character, temperament, or nationality."

" Something It is the spirit of loving service, the great fellowship of kindness, the inspiring zeal of unselfishness, as all classes and all creeds, all nations, have Been. That Salvation sister on the cover of this book is everybody's sister. The kindness and brightness of that face can -be multiplied by many thousands; that face reflects the humanitarian spirit of The Army. Who would not help such a sister to comfort this country's defenders far*away overseas? That spirit of The Army sister and The Army brother softens the callous, warms the cold, sweetens the sour, enthuses the cynical. •

One hears to-day that gome people here are war-weary and that they feel they have given enough. Alas, the gaunt arm of Death is not yet weary; his scythe still sweeps through France and Flanders. In thono stricken fields keeps Death his court, and his toll is in lives and limbs. His courtiers are the agents of havoc and ravage, pain and desolation.

The soldiers set no limit to their giving, as the sad casualty lists show, day by day. Will it be said that the civilians, in the safety for which their soldier* bled, will be the first to cry— truce to giving" when by giving they mean money or its equivalent

Here is the opportunity for all civilians to prove that they have a gratitude worthy of their defenders' sacrifice. The Red Jersey appeal comes after the levy of income tax; after another war loan of £9,500,000; but the soldiers' friends have no doubt that this country has enough money left for kindness to those brave men who need every attention that the Salvation Army can give to sustain them in times of weariness and sickness and loneliness far away. The Salvation Aimy is father or mother, brother or sister to any soldier who needs a word of good cheer or an act of kindness. '„.

If there is any selfish civilian in this community, may ho '"he moved to a right remembrance of Boldiers-by these words of Tennyson: *v

I held it truth, with him who sings , To one clew harp ia divers tones

That men may rise on stepping-stones Of their dead selves to higher things.

How much burning of "dead selves" has gone to make The Army's warmth and radiation of love for the human race? The soldiers need that fuel. Who will refuse to step up to the altar of real sacrifice, which means a priceless happiness of heart and soul for the giver! " Give till it hurts" was the recent slogan.

"Give till you feel the glowing happiness of unselfishness!"

is the Red Jersey appeal to-day for the soldiers who are saving the State.

L. 0. H. TRIPP, Chairman of the Red Jersey Appeal, in Wellington, and Chairman of the Advisory Board of War Relief and Patriotic Societies for the Dominion.

Wellington,. N.Z. Bth April, 1918.

£25,000 IS WANTED FROM AUCKLAND. GREAT INAUGURAL MEETING of the

CITIZENS' RED JERSEY APPEAL, THIS (MONDAY) EVENING, at the

TOWN HALL. Principal speaker: SIR JAMES ALLEN, Acting-Prime Minister. THE CANVASSING CAMPAIGN Commences ' TO-MORROW (TUESDAY) MORNING.