World War, 1914-1918 -- War work -- Young Men's Christian Associations
Here are some of the finest spirits of England, some of its
intellectual and spiritual leaders, brought into daily contact with the
manhood of the nation in this formative period and epoch-making crisis.
Before us hangs the program for the week. It looks like the schedule
of classes and lectures for some great university. It is drawn up in
seven columns for the seven days of the week, and includes a score of
centers, with an average of three events for each hut per day. It
would cover several closely printed pages. Here are some of the events
scheduled for a single night:
Hut No. 1, lecture on "The Meaning of Christianity," by Mr. A. D. Mann;
choir rehearsal; devotional meeting. No. 2, Rev. Butcher of New
Guinea, lecture on "The Failure of Civilization"; French class; Clean
Talk League. No. 3, lecture by Lord Wm. Cecil on China; French class;
hobby class. No. 4, cavalry band orchestra; Communion Service; evening
prayers. No. 5, Lena Ashwell Concert Party from London. No. 6, Rev.
N. H. M. Aitken, Bible lecture and discussion; orchestral band. No. 7,
concert party; general hospital show. No. 8, lecture on Napoleon by
Mr. Perkins; Mrs. Luard's concert party. No. 9, concert given by the
men of the auxiliary park camp; draughts tournament. No. 10, religious
discussion class; Lord Wm. Cecil; service conducted by Chaplain Berry.
No. 11, Professor Thos. Welsh's Bible class; mid-week rally. No. 12,
fretwork and carpentry class; games; letter writing. No. 13, mid-week
service; Bible class; letter writing. No. 14, cinema show; indoor
games. No. 15, lantern lecture on "India in the Trenches." No. 16,
ladies' concert party; Hindi and Urdu classes; letter writing; games.
All of this covers only the program for half of the huts on a single
night!
Principal Fraser, of Ceylon and Uganda, but equally conversant with
present-day problems in Britain, has been conducting a weekly
parliament in different camps on the great questions of reconstruction
after the war. For here are men away from home, lifted above the toil
and narrow drudgery of their former cramped lives, and they have
learned to think.
There is evidence of wide industrial and social unrest. The men are
conscious not only of world wrongs which threaten their country from
without, but of wrongs within as well, and they are going to demand
that these wrongs shall be righted. A deep tide of feeling runs
through the audience, as these men, blunt of speech but clear of brain,
openly and frankly discuss the future, and they hang eagerly upon the
words of Principal Fraser as he guides their thought to higher ideals
for the period of reconstruction that is to follow.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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