Part 42 (1/2)

”I have just received your letter of the 30th of July, and it has cheered my heart to know you take an interest in a poor Belgian prisoner of war.

”Since I wrote to you last we have been changed to another camp; the one we are now in is quite a nice camp, with lots of flowers, and we are allowed more freedom, but it is very bad regarding food. We have so very little to eat, it is a pity we can't eat flowers! We rise up hungry and go to bed hungry, and all day long we are trying to still the craving for food. So you will understand the longing there is in our hearts to once again be free--to be able to go to work and earn our daily bread! But the one great comfort that I find is since I learned to know Jesus as my Saviour and Friend I can better endure the trials and even rejoice that I am called to suffer for His sake, and while around me I see many who are in despair--some even cursing G.o.d for all the misery in which we are surrounded, some trying to be brave, some giving up altogether--yet to a number of us has come the Gospel message, brought by the Salvation Army, and I am so glad that I, for one, listened and surrendered my life to this Jesus! Now I have real peace, and He walks with me and gives me grace to conquer the evil.

”When I lived in Belgium I was very worldly and sinful--I lived for pleasure and drink and sin. I did not then know of One who said, 'Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.'

I did not know anything about living a Christian life, but now it is all changed and I am so thankful! Salvation Army officers visit us and bring words of cheer and blessing and comfort. You will be glad to know that I have applied to our Commissioner to become a Salvation Army officer when the war is over. I want to go to my poor little stricken country and tell my people of this wonderful Saviour that can save from all sin!

”On behalf of my comrades and myself, I want to thank the American nation for all they have done, and are still doing, for my people. May G.o.d bless you all for it, and may He grant that before long there will be peace on earth!

”I remain, faithfully yours,

”REMY MEERSMAN.”

THE ”STARS AND STRIPES” SPEAKS FROM FRANCE FOR THE SALVATION ARMY.

A copy of the ”Stars and Stripes,” the official publication of the American Expeditionary Forces published in Prance by the American soldiers themselves, just received in Chicago, contains the following:

”Perhaps in the old days when war and your home town seemed as far apart as Paris, France, and Paris, Ill., you were a superior person who used to snicker when you pa.s.sed a street corner where a small Salvation Army band was holding forth. Perhaps--Heaven forgive you--you even sneered a little when you heard the bespectacled sister in the poke-bonnet bang her tambourine and raise a shrill voice to the strains of 'Oh death, where is thy sting-a-ling.' Probably--unless you yourself had known the bitterness of one who finds himself alone, hungry and homeless in a big city--you did not know much about the Salvation Army.

Well, we are all homeless over here and every American soldier will take back with him a new affection and a new respect for the Salvation Army.

Many will carry with them the memories of a cheering word and a friendly cruller received in one of the huts nearest of all to the trenches. There the old slogan of 'Soup and Salvation' has given way to 'Pies and Piety.'

It might be 'Doughnuts and Doughboys.' These huts pitched within the shock of the German guns, are ramshackle and bare and few, for no organization can grow rich on the pennies and nickels that are tossed into the tambourines at the street-corners of the world. But they are doing a work that the soldiers themselves will never forget, and it is an especial pleasure to say so here, because the Salvation Army, being much too simple and old-fas.h.i.+oned to know the uses of advertis.e.m.e.nt, have never asked us to. You, however, can testify for them. Perhaps you do in your letters home. And surely when you are back there and you pa.s.s once more a 'meeting' at the curb, you will not snicker. You will tarry awhile--and take off your hat.”

We have received a letter from Mr. Lewis Strauss, Secretary to Mr. Herbert Hoover, who has just returned from France, and he says that Mr. Hoover's time while in Europe was spent almost wholly in London and Paris, and that he had no opportunity for observing our War Relief Work at the front. The concluding paragraph of the letter, however, is as follows:

”Mr. Hoover has frequently heard the most complimentary reports of the invaluable work which your organization is performing in invariably the most perilous localities, and he is filled with admiration for those who are conducting it at the front.”

THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE (MAY 17, 1918), QUOTING FROM THE ABOVE, ALSO SPEAKS EDITORIALLY.

The acid test of any service done for our soldiers in France is the value the men themselves place upon it. No matter how excellent our intentions, we cannot be satisfied with the result if the soldiers are not satisfied.

Without suggesting any invidious distinctions among organizations that are working at the front, it is nevertheless a pleasure to record that the Salvation Army stands very high in the regard of American soldiers.

The evidence of the Salvation Army's excellent work comes from many sources.

APPENDIX.

A Few Facts about the Salvation Army

It has been truly said that within four days after the German Army entered Belgium, another Army entered also--the Salvation Army! One came to destroy, the other to relieve distress and minister to the wounded and dying.

The British Salvation Army furnished a number of Red Cross Ambulances, manned by Salvationists when the Red Cross was in great need of such. When these arrived in France and people first saw the big cars with the ”Salvation Army” label it attracted a good deal of attention. The drivers wore the Red Cross uniform, and were under its military rules, but wore on their caps the red band with the words, ”Salvation Army.”

There is a story of a young officer in sportive mood who left a group of his companions and stepped out into the street to stop one of these ambulances: