CHRISTIAN SCIENCE IN THE WAR
camp at the disposal of the Committee for Great Britain and Ireland, and offered every facility in the way of labor and materials towards converting the hut into a suitable Reading Room.
With the exception of not having a commission, the status of the War Relief Worker was in every respect that of a chaplain. He was given an open camp pass, a free permit to ride on any War Department vehicle and was an honorary member of the officers' mess. At mess there was often a good deal of banter about Christian Science, but this was always readily answered and very often led to earnest inquiry and in some cases to a request for metaphysical help and a grateful acknowledgment of instantaneous healing. On one occasion the Worker was sent for to help at an officers' sing-song where much drinking was going on. His influence and knowledge of music so improved the situation that the drinking ceased.
Everyone in the camp, Padres and officers included, cooperated with the Worker and showed many signs of their appreciation of the Room. A portion of the hut was partitioned off at the special request of their commanding officer for the use of recruits under eighteen years in training for the Royal Air Force. These boys, who were arriving in weekly drafts of from two to three hundred, were quite undisciplined and many of them drawn from the slums. This officer started a system of certificates for good conduct to be issued on the recommendation of the non-commissioned officer and signed by the officer in charge, entitling the bearer to the use of the War Relief Room. These permits became a great incentive to good behavior amongst the boys. All the old Christian Sci-
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