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
“There was the lad who was willing but not strong enough for field
work, who was in the rear with the office; the walking wounded who had
stopped for something to eat; the big, strong mule skinner who could
throw a mule down or lift a case of ammunition, who was rough in
appearance and speech and who would deny that the moisture in his eye
was anything but the effects of the cold. There were the men who had
been facing death a thousand times an hour for the last three days, who
had not had a wash or a chance to take off their shoes and had been
lying in mud in shell holes —men who looked as though they were chilled
through and through; men on their way to the front, well knowing all
the hardships and dangers which were ahead of them, but who were
worried only about the delay in the traffic; doctors who had been
working for three days without rest; men off ammunition and ration
trucks, who had been at the wheel so long that they had forgotten
whether it was three or four days and nights; wounded on their
stretchers enjoying a smoke. And as I stepped in the door there were
the feminine voices singing the good old tunes we all know so well, and
not a sound in the church but as an accompaniment the distant booming
of big guns, the rattle of small arms, the whirl of air craft, the
passing of the ever-present column of trucks with rations and
ammunition going up, and the wounded coming back; the shouted
directions of the traffic police, the sound of the ammunition dump just
outside the door and the rattle of the kitchens which surround the
church, and which are working twenty-four hours a day.
There was the crowd of men, each uncovered, giving absolute undivided
attention to the good, brave girls who were not making a meeting of it;
it was just a meeting which grew—men who in their minds were back with
mother and sister. The girls sang the good old songs, and then one of
them offered a short prayer, in which all the men joined in spirit, and
as I tip-toed out of the church it seemed to me that the four candles
at the altar did not give all the light that was shown on the picture
of Christ our Saviour. Every man in the building that night was in the
very presence of God. It was not a religious meeting; it was a meeting
full of religion. And it was a picture that will ever stand fresh in my
memory and which will be an inspiration in time of doubt. There was
nothing there but the real things, absolutely no sham of any kind. Oh,
it was wonderful! I hope you can get just a little idea of what it was.
I wish you would keep this letter. I want to be able to read it in
future years.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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