How much the Tommies themselves appreciate the presence of the Y.M.C.A. ladies may be seen in the following extract, written by a Tommy, describing what he calls a “heaven-sent organisation”: “When I entered the hut I was greeted with that glad smile of welcome which I shall always associate with the Y.M.C.A. by real English ladies--the first I had seen for over seven months, except the nurses, of course. I only wish to God that I could adequately describe my feelings, and I know mine were the same as thousands of my brothers-in-arms. It seemed to me that, amidst all the awful turmoil and din, with the horrors of the retreat and the first battle for Ypres imperishably photographed on my memory, I had found a haven of rest.” Volumes could be written by the lady workers on the mingled humour and pathos in their interviews with the men. In a letter to a friend at home a worker says: “All the time out here life is so full of humour, if only one had the gift of describing it. At one moment one is doing something for a very correct General, and at the next one is in a hut having tea with a soldier, ex-greengrocer, quite charming, but the unmistakable type! Everyone who interests the greengrocer has to sign their names in his Bible. Then one takes an Australian out shopping, and he tips one two francs for one’s trouble!” Quite apart from their ministrations to the men’s material needs, the influence of the Y.M.C.A. ladies in France has been invaluable--cheering, encouraging, and helping the men in countless ways in their brief hours of leisure, and relieving by their presence the endless monotony of their life of discipline. Among the interesting features of the Y.M.C.A. work are the Scout Huts started by Lady Baden-Powell at two of the bases. The ladies who work in them are mostly Scout-masters and wear the Scout uniform, old Boy Scouts amongst the troops being their most keenly appreciative patrons. Lady Baden-Powell went to France in October, 1915, to organise the work when the huts were built, and she worked for some months in the first two huts. In June, 1916, a Girl Guide Hut was built from funds earned by Girl Guides who, forbidden by their rules from collecting money, each did a day’s work for the fund. Lady Baden-Powell is putting her energies into developing the Girl Guide movement on the same scale as the Boy Scouts. Realising the responsibilities of citizenship which the opportunities of the war have brought to the women of the country, the advantages are manifest of a voluntary training for girls, on the lines which have been so successful with boys, and the Girl Guide movement is a step to this end. [Illustration: MISS AGNES BORTHWICK _To face page 41_ ] VII MISS AGNES BORTHWICK No woman’s work has more directly furthered the prosecution of the war than that of Miss Agnes Borthwick, who within one year has risen to the unique position--for a woman--of works manager in a great Munition Factory.