Lest We Forget: World War StoriesThompson, John G. (John Gilbert)
History
Lest We Forget: World War Stories
Thompson, John G. (John Gilbert)
Readers -- History; Readers -- World War, 1914-1918
One evening the train drew into the station of a little town in France.
It stopped long enough for half a hundred tired, dusty soldiers to gain
the platform, then puffed away out of sight. They were not the fighting
soldiers--they were engineers. The men looked about in a bewildered way
for the train with which they were supposed to connect. But it was
nowhere in sight; it had gone. They were sorry not to meet the rest of
their company, but there was nothing for them to do but remain in the
town overnight. They walked the streets, and found that every hotel,
boarding house, and private home was filled to the last cot. Thousands
of American troops were in the town, on their way to the front. The
engineers had ridden for many hours and were very hungry, but their
pockets were nearly empty.
Suddenly they stopped before a large building painted a deep blue, and
bearing the sign,
Knights of Columbus
Everybody Welcome.
The half a hundred men walked in, passed group after group of soldiers
and sailors, and found the secretary. Soon they were dining on Knights
of Columbus ham and eggs, without money and without price! The
secretary himself served them.
They entered the large lounging room, found tables covered with good
reading books, easy chairs and writing benches set about the room, and
a stage at the back with piano, victrola, and a moving picture screen.
So when they least expected it, but most wanted it, they found a place
that seemed like home. Knights of Comfort, the Knights of Columbus have
been called, and comfort they have given to thousands of soldiers and
sailors. About $50,000,000 has been raised by the society for one year
of such good work.
Almost on the very battleground is another source of comfort to the
fighting men,--the little huts with the sign of the Red Triangle,--the
Y.M.C.A. There is hardly one American home which has not received from
some soldier a letter on paper marked with the little red triangle.
Thousands have been written at the benches inside the huts, and
thousands of books and magazines found in the huts have been read in
spare time by the soldier lads.
Usually only the paper for letter writing is furnished at the huts, and
the men buy their postage stamps. Often fifty to a hundred men are in
line to purchase stamps, so that at times the secretary heaves a sigh
of relief when at last he has to hang up the sign "Stamps All Out." In
one hut as many as three thousand letters have been handled in one day,
besides parcel-post packages, registered letters, and money-orders.
The United States government has realized the valuable services of the
society and recognized it officially, permitting its men to wear the
uniform, and to accompany the soldiers right into the trenches.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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