It was very evident from the first experience with returned disabled soldiers in Canadian convalescent hospitals, that they needed some definite work to engage their attention just as soon as they were able to do it. After a prolonged illness their morale was very low, and many were convinced that they were so badly disabled that they would never be good for anything again. Nerves, muscles, and tendons which had been seriously damaged by wounds, could be healed and brought back to part of their former power by operative treatment, massage, electric therapy, etc., but at a certain stage further improvement could take place only through the action of the _will_ of the patient. At this point the soldier will try to make his damaged body function properly if he is absorbed in some interesting task. Consequently, handicraft work was introduced into the hospitals under the title of ward occupations. In the summer of 1917 volunteers from the V.A.D. of the St. John Ambulance Association were trained in different handicrafts at the Nova Scotia Technical College, and gave their services to the patients at Camp Hill and Pine Hill Hospitals. The value of the work soon became apparent, and a central training school for ward aides, as the handicraft teachers were called, was opened in Toronto. Young women of education, character, and aptitude were carefully selected for this work, and as soon as they had been given training, they were placed in every military hospital and sanitarium. They co-operated with the medical officers and nursing sisters in every particular, and a combined effort was made to get every patient busy at some kind of work just as soon as he was able to do anything. Basketry, weaving, embroidery, leather tooling, raffia work, toy-making, wood carving, art craft, metal work, and other forms of occupation were provided. The chief difficulty was in first getting the individual interested; and this task took an immense amount of tact and persuasion in some instances. The underlying motive was to divert the man’s mind from its morbid state and to give him a mental stimulus back toward civilian life. In the majority of cases, the patient would make artistic objects for his relatives and friends. If he wished to keep the articles he merely paid for the cost of the material, but if he did not want them the Vocational Branch offered them for sale at a fair commercial value, deducted the cost of raw materials and gave the balance to the patient. There was no idea of instructing the men in gainful trades Which they could follow after their discharge.