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Show Million Letters iii the Mails Today Bearing lilagic Words "With the Colors" Keynote of the Splendid Work the Y.M.C.A. Does Among Our Men In Uniform Is Keeping Them In Touch With the Folks at Home. - STAMPED WITH STARS AND STRIPES AND RED TRIANGLE Multifarious Ways in Whioh the Association Appeals to Your Boy, Your Neighbor's Boy, or Some Boy You Know and Love Creates a Helpful Environment in Cantonment, on Way Overseas, in Front Line Trench and Beyond First to Aid as He Comes Tottering Back Cive Your Share of the $35,000,000 Required to Accomplish This "Last Evidence That Somebody Cares." 3T was evening on the broad , Hempstead Plain, Long Island, where the Rainbow division was pending its last night before embarking embark-ing for France It had been raining hard in the afternoon a cold, steady autumn downpour and there was nothing to suggest the rainbow in the outward aspect of the camp. Lines and lines -of sodden canvas housed 87,000 men, gathered from 27 different states. The ground was dotted with pools and quagmires Under the wet canvas it was damp and cold, with a penetrating chill. Lit by flickering candles, the tents were far from cheerful cheer-ful shelter for a man's last night in his native land But there were seven big tents Where eleatric lights, numbers and friendliness made the night pleasant. least li on lti way to you. Each one of our 16 cantonmenU, where the new national army is being trained, ii using more than a million sheets of this paper every month. In the draft army alone that means 18,000,000 filaments fila-ments of love every month reaching out from the great encampment wnere the men are being trained into the greatest army this nation has ever dreamed and binding mem to the heart at home Multiply that by thinking of all the other places where Uncle Sam has men with the flag in navy yards, on the high aeas, in arsenals arse-nals and officers' training camps and "Over There" In France. In all these places men are writing home Those unassuming little sheets of notepaper gladden millions of hearts a day. They transfer more love from one fc$j 3tc : " 5if 1 feast y-" tlajj ''utef's--a jat x-ta. Mualc, Games, Good Reading and Correspondence Faollltlea In Y. M. C. A.- Building. In each of tse a soldier was strumming strum-ming on a piano; others were reading books and magazines; hundreds were writing ettera home , Behind the raised counter at one end three or four Voung n en were busy passing out notepaper and envelopes, selling tamps and weighing parcels, which the men were sending home. One of the aoldiers said to me as I stood In the tent used chiefly by men from Iowa: "We rami1 all the way here from Des Moines, and we were mighty lonely. Then wi found tnta Y. M. C. A. on the job, and it's been a home j and more than a home to us. It gav! j us what we wanted when we needed j It most We'll never forget it. The boys" best friend la the Y, M. C. A." Fine, Clean-Cut, Upstanding Fellows. How clOBe those benches were packed pack-ed with men, bending over the long tables absorbed In ttielr writing! What an appeal to the sympathies those great groups of soldiers makel Fine, clean-cut, upstanding fellows, some of them mere boys, one thinks Immediately of the sacrifice they have made for the rest of us and how precious pre-cious they are to some one back ho.me. Somewhere, in far off farm or village or city street, there are parents or brothers or wives who would give all they possess for one glimpse of those aunburned faces as you and I see them on their last night before going across. And it was with a throb of the heart that I watched them, bent over their letter paper, in one after another of those seven big tents These were the tents of the Y. M. C. A. On that last night in America the association was serving the soldiers In the best of all ways giving them an opportunity to write home. On previous nights they had enjoyed boxing box-ing bouts, movies, concerts, dramatics and a score of healthy entertainments as well as religious meetings. But on this last night home ties were strongest. strong-est. And perhaps that is the keynote of the splendid work the Y. M. C. A. Is doing among our men in uniform keeping them in touch with home. Magic Words, "With the Colors." In these times there are some letters let-ters that mean more to us tnan any w have ever read before. They are written on sheets of paper stamped with the Stars and Stripes and the red triangle of the Y. M. C. A., and they bear the magic words. "With the Colors." There are many more than a million such letters in the malls now t'hlle you read this. Perhaps one at part of the world to another than statistics sta-tistics can exprasi Statistics are pretty poor anyway when it comes to reckoning in terms of lore and human tenderness. Let's put It this way: That the Y. M. C. A. is the biggest express ex-press company the world has ever seen, and the parcels It Is handling are the loves and devotions of human beings. World's Bast Loved Trademark. This war has made us think hard and fast. Your boy or your neigh bor's boy or soma boy you know and love has been called to do his share in the big Job of pollolng the world for democracy and human liberty. Is ii any comfort-to you to know that wher ever his duty may call him your boy will uave a friend that will asrr him in body, mind and soul? Are you glad to know that thla friend will place books and magazines at his disposal organize classes to teach him wbai ever he wants to learn, five him a' pocket testament and Invite him to join religious meetings of the tali that he was brought up InT Did yoi. realize that the association provide athletic equipment for his favorite games, teaches him games if he knovu none ,and holds concerts, lectures, movies, Bible classes, dramatic enter talnments and every kind of whole some amusement to keep him interested? interest-ed? Are you glad to know that this friend will go with him overseas, help . to shield him from a score of difficult : and dangerous temptations and follow him right up to the front line trenoh and beyond It T The last oont&ot the soldier has with this Ufa he loves so well Is a cup of tea given him by the Y. M. C. A. free Just before he goes "over the top" to a hand to hand struggle strug-gle with the enemy. And as he comes tottering back from No Wn's Land, wounded, but strong enough and plucky enough to keep on his teet, even before his wounds are dressed the Y. M. C. A. Is waiting for nlm with tea and sweet chocolate, the great comforts com-forts of the man in the trenches. Do you wonder that the Red Triangle is ; called "the best loved trademark In j the world?" One soldier in France has called it "the last evidence that any- ! body cares." ! If every thinking citizen could see j with his or her own eyes scmiethlngl of the actual work being done for our men by the association there would be no question of the Y. M. C. A having to appeal to the public for money. Rather than let this essential work I falter for an Instant rich men would sell their motorcars, poor men would - (Contined on Page Six) (continued from page five) t ' MILLION LETTKKS UEAR1NU WOlilS WITH COLORS forego ooveted possessions or even necessities. ne-cessities. The work must go on. be-cauae be-cauae there is no one thing that contributes con-tributes so much to the spirit end efficiency ef-ficiency of the troops. The Y. M. C. A. Is working night and day to help the goTernment win this war. And every penny that Is given to aid tae work Is a direct assistance to the health, happiness and strength of your , boy and mine. Snapshots of Ksloldosoople Work. In all the big cities la France where our men pass through In large num- j bere, the Y. M. C. A. 1b operating j hostels, where they can get beds and meals at a minimum oost. In London the American Y. M. C. A. naa erected a large building for our soldiers and a cltfbhouse for American officers. There are T. M. C. A. dugouts right behind the front line trenches, where .th soldiers can get hot drinks, crack-era crack-era and other comforts at alk hours. Over 2,000 men who had been rejected reject-ed on acoount of physical disability hare beenable to get Into the British army by reason of the physical work of the British Y. M. C. A. A fleet of motor cars leaves the big Y. M. C. A. headquarters In London at midnight every night to pick up .soldiers .sol-diers who are wandering about the etreets without any wholesome lodging In which to spend the night. These can are operated by Englishwomen of position and refinement, who report that they never meet any discourtesy at the hands of the soldiers. The importance im-portance of this service can be estimated esti-mated by the fact that at least 60,000 soldiers are on leave In London every week. Over half of these sleep In Y. M. O. A. beds every night . . Entertainment o Vast Scale. r The Y. M. C. A. has erected a big auditorium, seating -8,000, in each of the big draft camps, and huge chautau-a chautau-a tents, seating 2,600 In the other encampments. The association 1a running run-ning a tit week entertainment circuit among the camps and Is paying 16 companies of entertainers, who are traveling to 30 camps performing before be-fore the men. In eaoh of the draft camps the Y. M. C. A. has ten secretaries engaged in educational work. The association te aeelng to it that every msa who cannot speak English Is laught to do so. In many of tne camps the association asso-ciation has a tinging director, who Is teaching the men to sing ihe popular and martial airs that do so much to keep up their spirits. Of ti Y. M. C. A. men at Camp Dix only three are being paid full sal aries. In all the camps the majority of the Y. M C. A. men have left lucra-tlre lucra-tlre positions to do this work simply because its appeal ie irresistible to any red blooded man. Harry Lauder, th famous Sootch singer and comedian, come-dian, now on his farewell concert. tour In the United States, is giving all his spare time to the service of the association asso-ciation and is singing to the soldiers at all the camps he can reach. In one of the draft camps the Y. M. O. A. is 8upervisig athletics on 120 playing fields, providing full athletic equipment. The winners of the lnter-Wgimental lnter-Wgimental games' will play the champions cham-pions of the other camps. One of the greatest services render-ad render-ad by the association is the making |