Everyman’s Hut

Camp News, Volume 2, Issue 71, 2 May 1941, Page 8

Everyman’s Hut

Would we know that the major chords were sweet, If there were no minor keys? Would the painter’s work be fair to our eyes Without shade on land or sea? Would we know the meaning of happiness, Would we feel that the day was bright, If we’d never known what it was to grieve, Nor gazed on the dark of night? It is well for us to remember at the present that life is made up of contrasts. The landscape would be a dreary place to gaze upon if everything was of the same colour and there was just a flat plain stretching out to the limits of the horizon. > v '' It becomes monotonous to look out upon a sea that is calm day after day, but what a contrast when the storm whips up the waves and the breakers chase each other till they crash on the black rocks in a smother of white. Contrasts enable us to gauge more truly the values of the many phases of our lives. Our houses may at times appear to be commonplace, and services done for us day by day are taken for granted until we do not realise just how much they are part of our everyday lives. But when a man is taken away from it all, as he is when he enters camp, it is not long before he misses those things which were hardly noticed at home so much had he become accustomed

to them. It takes a little while to become used to the new life and associations, and doubtless there are many, sad hearts behind smiling faces as thoughts of homes and loved ones come unbidden. And just to fill the void, and to ease the ache, is the desire of Mr. Les Taylor and all those associated with him in the conduct of Everyman’s Hut. We want each one to feel that there is a personal interest taken in him, that he is free tc

come and go and make himself at home. Is there any little service that he would like done and yet is unable, because of restrictions of camp life, to do for himself? Well just tell them at Everyman’s Hut and we will give it a go. Only one thing is asked in return — and we must record that that one thing has never yet been lacking —lO or 15 minutes of quietness while the usual evening service is held. We owe the men our sincere thanks for the manner in which they respect our wish. X

“I appeal to the Nazi Government,” writes a German novelist now livingin America, “to have nothing more to do with Russia.” Or, in other an<3 slightly, snappier words, “Quit Stalin.”