CHRISTIAN SCIENCE IN THE WAR
Le Mans was a most important city from the standpoint of the A. E. F. Situated between Paris and the coast, on the main railroad line, it became the second depot area of the Service of Supply. From a normal population of 70,000 the war refugees swelled this number to 125,000, without reference to the American troops in billets and barracks near the city. The area included in the Le Mans district was 500 square miles, in which were stationed an average of 40,000 men. As our Workers wrote in one of their reports:
“Everyone had a tremendous amount of work to do and all were driving themselves desperately to get it done. Training squads were daily receiving new troops from the States and training them until they literally dropped in their tracks. Soldiers were continually on the move, thousands stopping for a few hours in trains upon sidings or in camps a few miles from town. In the town was a Casual Barracks, known in the army as the ‘mad house.’ Here casuals were assembled,—men who had been sick or wounded in action, or detached from their companies for one reason or another. They were assorted, refitted and sent to the front. The average stay was two days and it seemed almost impossible for them to procure a pass. Everything was jammed full, and the overflow spilled out into the muddy fields, and made its bed on the oozy ground. Officers passing through the town were very little better off than the men. Hundreds walked the streets, or slept in stations or hallways, unable to find shelter. Transportation and food were lacking, all else being subordinated to the one purpose of getting everything available up to the front.
“Our question as to why Christian Science should be held aloft in Le Mans was very soon answered. The opportunities for healing work increased day by day. New points of contact with the men constantly presented themselves. To raise the standard of the men along whatever line their thought
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