TIMELY RECOGNITION
quest; and official government notice of services published in the “daily communique” were read at “formation” before every man in camp. At Wednesday evening meetings often a discussion of means of protection against all possible enemy attack ensued, and men were thereby mentally armored for the strife before them.
Whether in this country or overseas, among other duties the Christian Science chaplains gave lectures on current events, ran educational classes, gave magic lantern exhibitions, organized baseball teams, refereed sporting contests, acted as interlocutors in minstrel shows, arranged dances for enlisted men, sang in concerts, erected Christmas trees, placed The Christian Science Monitor in Officers' Clubs and in Red Cross and Y. M. C. A. Rest Rooms, ran canteens, cooked for boys away from their mess on special detail, assisted as stretcher bearers, helped surgeons in first aid stations, carried messages back to Division Headquarters, dug graves, laid boys away, conducted their burial services, took care of their valuables, wrote to the bereaved parents, joked with the boys who wanted to laugh and wept with those who would cry. Necessity really made the chaplain the mother of the army.
The Christian Science Monitor became the chaplain's first aid in action. It went over the top tucked away in many a boy's blouse. It was carried up in aeroplanes and down in submarines. It found a place in tanks and rode securely in caissons. It was first read as a spiritual comforter and then used as a material one, being spread between the blankets to keep its possessor warm. Boys who had fallen were wrapped in a blanket and given a Christian Science Monitor to read while a canned heat kit and a soup cube were
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