CHRISTIAN SCIENCE IN THE WAR
where there were some 40,000 men and at the Belgian Camp where there were about 20,000. In one of his letters he says:
“At the Forwarding Camp two Y. M. C. A. girls have been a great help. They are both devoted students of Christian Science and alternated as Second Reader when no one else in camp was available.”
This gives an interesting glimpse of the accomplishments of the women workers overseas.
In August, 1918, three additional Christian Science chaplains in the army received their appointments. Of these, one, Mr. Gustavus S. Paine, was assigned for work at Camp Devens, Massachusetts. Here he was able to cooperate with the representatives of the War Relief Committee who had been working in this cantonment for a number of months. The Christian Science Board of Directors provided him with an automobile to enable him to get about the camp more readily and as he said in one of his letters:
“I made it a point never to ride alone, even on my rounds of the camp, but always picked up someone going in my direction, including doctors, nurses, officers, privates and chaplains.”
His duties, like those of the other chaplains, included providing for or overseeing wholesome entertainment for the boys and on account of its proximity to Boston he was able to secure some excellent talent for the Y. M. C. A. programs. Christian Science services were of course conducted under his supervision and much help extended to the men in uniform. With the signing of the armistice, the aspect of the work at Camp Devens was much altered and in consequence he received his discharge on December 19, 1918.
306
