The War Romance of the Salvation ArmyHill, Grace Livingston
History
The War Romance of the Salvation Army
Hill, Grace Livingston
World War, 1914-1918 -- War work -- Salvation Army
Those were wonderful moonlight nights at Saizerais, but the Boche
airplanes nearly pestered the life out of everybody.
“Gee!” said one of the boys, “if anybody ever says ’beautiful moonlight
nights’ to me when I get home I don’t know what I’ll do to ’em!”
The boys were at the front, but not fighting as yet. Occasional shells
would burst about their hut here and there, but the girls were not much
bothered by them. The thing that bothered them most was an old “Vin”
shop across the street that served its wine on little tables set out in
front on the sidewalk. They could not help seeing that many of the boys
were beginning to drink. Poor souls! The water was bad and scarce,
sometimes poisoned, and their hearts were sick for something, and this
was all that presented itself. It was not much wonder. But when the
girls discovered the state of things they sent off three or four boys
with a twenty-gallon tank to scout for some water. They found it after
much search and filled the big tank full of delicious lemonade, telling
the boys to help themselves.
All the time they were in that town, which was something like a week,
the girls kept that tank full of lemonade close by the door. They must
have made seventy-five or a hundred gallons of lemonade every day, and
they had to squeeze all the lemons by hand, too! They told the boys:
“When you feel thirsty just come here and get lemonade as often as you
want it!” No wonder they almost worship those girls. And they had the
pleasure of seeing the trade of the little wine shop decidedly
decrease.
However near the front you may go you will always find what is known
over there in common parlance as a “hole in the wall” where “vin
blanche” and “vin rouge” and all kinds of light wines can be had. And,
of course, many soldiers would drink it. The Salvation Army tried to
supply a great need by having carloads of lemons sent to the front and
making and distributing lemonade freely.
One cannot realize the extent of this proposition without counting up
all the lemons and sugar that would be required, and remembering that
supplies were obtained only by keeping in constant touch with the
Headquarters of that zone and always sending word immediately when any
need was discovered. There is nothing slow about the Salvation Army and
they are not troubled with too much red tape. If necessity presents
itself they will even on occasion cut what they have to help someone.
The airplanes visited them every night that week, and sometimes they
did not think it worth while to go to bed at all; they had to run to
the safety trenches so often. It was just a little bit of a village
with dugouts out on the edge.
One night they had gone to bed and a terrific explosion occurred which
rocked the little house where they were. They thought of course the
bomb had fallen in the village, but they found it was quite outside. It
had made such a big hole in the ground that you could put a whole truck
into it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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