THE WAR CALL OF THE CHURCH FROM THE WAR COMMISSION OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 14 WALL STREET NEW YORK THE WAR CALL OF THE CHURCH THE CAMPAIGN FOR $500,000. The Church War Commission calls upon the Church for $500,000 for the war work of the Church in 1918. The War Commission is going to trust to the patriotism and loyalty of church people, without creating an elaborate campaign organization. Until January 27 there will be a quick process of education, reaching a climax on January 27, when there will be a great contribution in all the churches. -From letter of Bishop Lawrence. Letters from Abroad and from Camps in America on the Work Our Church Is Doing Here are some flashlights on the real life in camp and at the front. They may be helpful to you. They breathe the intensely practical spirit that guides every minute in the chaplain's strenuous day-doing the Church's work for her own. The soldier's needs are many. Every minute from sun-rise until far into the night our chaplains are busy. Read these letters. They show that our chaplains are PRACTICAL, RESOURCEFUL, CHEERFUL, HELPFUL, ENERGETIC, UNTIRING, and, above all things, they are animated by the spirit of Christ. We must not fail them. This work is only started. Without our support it must falter or cease. These letters are parts of only a few that have come to us and others. They are filled with inspiration for the call that brooks no delay, the call of helpfulness to our Church boys in war service. WILLIAM LAWRENCE, Bishop of Massachusetts Chairman.Committee. JAMES DeWOLF PERRY, Jr., Bishop of Rhode Island Chairman of Executive FROM "OVER THERE" Opportunities Fine to Keep Men at the Front SOMEWHERE IN FRANCE, BASE HOSPITAL, NO.-- October 16, 1917. Dear Bishop Lawrence: - For the past two months we have been busy making ready a modern hospital. It has meant planning, building, engineering, painting and cleaning - a tremendous task, and the end is not in sight yet. When it is completed it will be a hospital of about 2,000 beds. At present we have about 140 patients, all sick, not wounded, and the number is increasing daily. I have had two services a day, or rather a Sunday. Communion at 7:30, a later service at 10:30 for the whole unit. There is a little Roman Catholic chapel on our grounds, where services are held at 6 and 9:30 by a French soldier-priest. Many of the Romanists come to our 10:30 service; in fact, the large majority, and the same choir, under the leadership of Dr. Cabot, and made up of all faiths, sings at both services. In the afternoon, when the weather is good, there has been a baseball game and in the evening a concert, ending with the signing [sic] of familiar hymns for an hour. In addition to being chaplain, I am postmaster and censor, director of amusements and sports, owner of a moving picture plant, with shows twice a week, and librarian. The work with bed patients is taking more and more time now. So you can see how much there is to do. I have a sergeant and two enlisted men all the time to help along these lines. A combination Y. M. C. A. and Red Cross hut is being built, and a good secretary has just come, which is a great help. The opportunity I feel is really tremendous, and I am very enthusiastic about it. Of course, there is not the excitement of the front, but, on the other hand, the men in the hospitals are more easily approached from a religious viewpoint than at any other time. Song Services Are Attractive to the Men Soldiers' Club, Directed by Chaplains, U. S. Army. Somewhere in France, Nov. 12, 1917. Bishop Lawrence. My Dear Sir: - I now wish to thank you for "Hymns and Prayers for the Use of the Army and Navy." I believe a book of small compass containing a goodly number of hymns with Scripture or responsive readings is greatly needed under present conditions by the various army chaplains. I really wish I could get one or two hundred copies of a book containing the words of popular hymns and patriotic songs. You will note by the letterhead that I am carrying on my social activities as well as the religious work. I have a club building which I have rented in the town where the troops are billeted. I have all the usual small games as checkers, dominoes, etc. I am issuing about 8,000 paper and envelopes per month, which is a strain on my limited finances. I am also arranging for nightly moving picture entertainments, which, while free, will be paid for by contributions from the regiment. I will also try to get them to include payment for stationery bills. _____________________________________________________ This Is the Biggest Ministry I Shall Ever Have October 30, 1917. My Dear Mr. and Mrs. D.: - After a good day's work of visiting 40 of our boys in the hospital, sorting 14 sacks of mail-which, by the way, is the first we have received save a handful at - can't say where - securing passports to ---, where I must go to buy some things-sending a cable home to special aid society, and it is some job to get a cable by. After this I called it a day and am now in my billet, trying to break up a cold. We were 14 days on water - a very trying and exciting trip. This quaint little place is one hour's ride by auto from the front. We are billeted in the homes of the people, after the custom of European countries in time of war. Not a very satisfactory arrangement for them or us. The people are very poor, but hospitable. The regiment is scattered in four places, so Sunday I am "on the jump." Have to walk most of the time with cassock under overcoat and surplice under my arm. Have Holy Communion every other Sunday in two places and others when I can get there. Have service as provided in little book prepared for us every Sunday at three places after the Holy Communion. Last night called out at 9:30 to go to hospital to tend two dying boys -- pneumonia. There will be a lot of it this winter. The climate is wet and cold. Rains more than anything else. This is really the biggest ministry I'll ever have. Conditions are so trying. Men are so homesick. Preparing a big Xmas celebration for whole regiment-two trees-a show and a feed. As ever, THE CURATE. Chaplain, L. R. _____________________________________________________ Bishop Israel Lives With the Men and Knows Their Life -------------, France, Nov. 2, 1917. My Dear Bishop: - A letter forwarded to me here from Chaplain -------- contains the usual appeal of the chaplains - means of locomotion, a fund from which to secure a few necessary things from time to time, and to assist the men as need arises, and a stereopticon. His own means (private), which he is now using, he writes, will soon be exhausted. Dr. --------- states that he is receiving orders for Prayer books and Hymnals from chaplains, and that the Red Cross has placed an order for 3,000 copies with the Oxford University Press. He adds: "I think one of the moist valuable services that could be rendered just now would be the shipment of a large stock of prayer books and service books and such literature, and as our men are coming in very fast, I hope it can be expedited." Mr. Murray and I are having most interesting experiences these six weeks, again. Both officers and men, sailors and soldiers, have responded enthusiastically to our visits, while the chaplains have gathered around me and opened their hearts. I address the men every night and sometimes two or three times a day. We are living like the men, and know now of their deprivations and discomforts, and, like them, also rejoice an l are happy in doing what we can for the good cause. But my fingers are too stiff with cold to write more. We shall have visited some 25 camps this trip before our return. Sincerely yours, ROGERS ISRAEL. _____________________________________________________ Couldn't Do the Work without His Ford Car On Active Service With the American Expeditionary Force. Nov. 8, 1917. Dear Bishop:-The few chaplains I have had an opportunity to talk with have told me that it is impossible to begin to do the work they should in a regiment of 3,600 men. In addition to his ordinary duties, the chaplain is censor of the mails, and it is necessary for him to stamp every letter sent out from the regiment. I sincerely hope that the new regiments of 3,600 men will be allowed to have two chaplains I have been given charge of the two regimental funds, and every day I spend about two and a half hours lending men money and cashing checks. It is necessary for me to make a trip several times a week to a town 15 miles away to get the men's checks cashed. Business transactions in a French bank take three times as long to put through as they would in an American bank. It is quite difficult, I can assure you to keep books in American, British and French money, and make them always balance at the end of the day The £100 you provided for me when I started off, I can assure you, has been a great help to many men who are without funds in a foreign country. The Ford I brought with me is the only transportation the regiment has at present. I can. assure you it is doing yeoman's service. Gas is $1.25 a gallon. Without the Ford it would have been impossible for me to do my work. Every Sunday I have a communion service at quarter before seven and a regimental service at ten. Without any suggestion on my part the colonel and line officers decided to have the regiment as a whole attend the 10 o'clock service. The Catholics are allowed to attend the Roman service. Yesterday I had the funeral of the first man in the regiment to die. He had a bad attack of pneumonia. In the cemetery in which this young man was buried there were graves of Russian, French and Algerian soldiers. I saw the American soldiers wounded at the front in the first brush with the Boches. Several of them were suffering rather severe pain, hut they were bearing it with a stout heart and a cheerful countenance. _____________________________________________________ "It's Pretty Lonesome Business for Them All" December 4, 1917. My Dear -------: The want of a place to stage things has kept us from almost everything in the way of evening entertainments. Also the fact that the men are being worked practically to the limit of their strength. The schedule has been getting harder and longer steadily. I don't know whether or not in my other letter I told you of buying soccer footballs for the men - who, when, we first arrived, were very keen about the game and wanted balls. I bought about a dozen and a half altogether and most of them were paid for by the men. Four or five, however, were not, and on the smaller units, such as the sanitary detachment, consisting of but 20 men, the cost per man would have been a dollar or so per man, and I didn't insist upon them paying, so that cost the fund about $25 or $30. However, the chaplain's fund is still holding out. It's pretty lonely business for them all. I wish I could do more, and I ought to do a great deal more, but I think I am doing all that I can now see to do little as it is. _____________________________________________________ "The Biggest Ministry I'll Ever Perform" November 25, 1917. My Dear Bishop: - We have had a great day in spite of a terrific rain. Have had four services. The men greatly enjoy the little service book. I wish we could get our congregations at home to join as heartily in the service as these boys do. I know you would have enjoyed the service. How they sang! It was in a leaky Y. M. C. A. hut, floor covered with slippery mud; benches from the two mess shacks, so they were seated; could therefore prolong the services over the customary time. There was a pelting rain without, so the men could not drill or work, and they were glad to remain. Had the service prescribed, with an address on our duty to Caesar, or Playing the Game. Then some asked for communion, so I delayed going on to the next station for half an hour. About thirty received. It was mighty impressive to see them come forward, three or four at a time, kneel on the muddy floor, bow their heads and reach out their hands, and all the time the wind howling outside and the rain dripping in. I am certain this is the biggest ministry I'll ever perform. Our regiment is now divided up and stationed at seven places. It is impossible to cover them all each Sunday, so I discovered two of your lay readers, who conduct the service when I do not come. This helps me and does them good. I just received a fine note from Bishop McCormick. I shall call on him for some confirmations as soon as I can get a class formed and instructed. Several want baptism and confirmation. I went to Paris to buy supplies for the regiment; tried to get some form of transportation. Could buy a second-hand American motorcycle for 3,200 francs, or about $640-more than three times the price in the United States. Second-hand Fords sell for $1,500. so I walk. I was glad to receive your letter telling me of the action at Washington relative to chaplains. Will our War and Navy Departments ever realize how much a chaplain comes to mean to a regiment of men? _____________________________________________________ Bishop McCormick Says Men Anxious for the Holy Communion Paris, December 18, 1917. My Dear Bishop Lawrence: -- As to the registration, we are attempting to catalogue all the men in the service and all war workers attached to our church, wherever we can find them. We have already something like 300 names on our list, which is growing rapidly. I am sending each one a Christmas card and am having printed some thousands of cards announcing the services of the American Church in Paris and the fact of my having my office there. These cards we will take out to the men wherever we go. I have formed a chaplains' auxiliary of about twenty of the most prominent churchwomen in the city, and am putting them into touch with the individual chaplains and their men. Through these ladies we are accumulating and distributing large numbers of books and periodicals and we are having 3,000 pairs of woolen socks made and sent to the chaplains for distribution, 1,400 of which have been forwarded. As to the requirements of chaplains it is manifest that the first thing needed is a small car or other means of transportation. I think that Edwards is the only man who has a car of his own. A car is better than a motorcycle, as it gives a man a chance to carry supplies and to take helpers with him. In some cases battalions are 150 miles from each other. and in many cases, if not in most, portions of the regiments are widely separated. When I was at the base of the ambulance service, a few Sundays ago, a fine, tall sergeant said to me: "Are you going to give us the Holy Communion?" And when I replied: "Yes." said: "I'm so very glad, as it may be my last." He was going, the next day, to an exposed position. The communion service seems to be that which the men really prefer. _____________________________________________________ Need of a Commission for Army Chaplains Base Hospital No. --. October 23, 1917. My Dear Bishop: - I have received the little service books, and think they will be most useful, but inasmuch as I am dealing mostly now with Church of England men, I find that they prefer the regular service of the church. The selection of hymns in the hook is particularly good. I believe that among American troops it will prove most useful. I am glad a form of service was included. I find as I go on that people are appreciating more and more a set form of liturgy, which they get used to and so attached to. With regard to commissions for base hospital chaplains, you have doubtless heard my cables and letters addressed to my father. I believe it is very important that they should have commissions in the reserve corps or the National army. The fact is, that nobody who deals with soldiers without a commission has any real authority. The English have given all their chaplains commissions with the rank of captain, signing them on for a year at a time, with the privilege of re-enlisting. It is not a perfect system, but under the social conditions it is absolutely necessary for a chaplain to have a recognized place of authority - not so necessary perhaps in dealing with his own men, but for his standing in the community. FROM AMERICAN CAMPS Answer to a Mother's Prayer for Her Boy December 8, 1917. My Dear Bishop Perry: - We have just had a visit from the bishop of the diocese and I have given up most of my time to a personally conducted tour of the camp with him. On Tuesday evening he spoke to the men in the church tent. On Wednesday he preached in the Church of the Advent and confirmed 15 soldiers, three of them presented by me, and the others presented in turn by their regimental chaplains, six of whom were in the chancel with us. It was a wonderful service. I presented two boys, whom I had just baptized, and one, the chaplain of whose regiment was a Roman Catholic. As an aftermath of the bishop's visit I had the great pleasure yesterday of baptizing a promising young lieutenant, who was aroused by the bishop's sermon Wednesday evening. Several more who looked forward to confirmation were prevented by military duties, sickness or other causes from being present. On Thursday night Bishop Guerry preached in one of the largest Y. M C. A. buildings at the camp to five or six hundred men, with nearly all the chaplains occupying the platform with him. It may interest you to hear, in brief the story of one of the boys presented for confirmation Wednesday night. My wife saw this young fellow walking up and down the streets near our home, sent out and asked him in. He told her it was the first home he had been in and seemed very appreciative. A few days later we received a letter from his mother, in -------, New York, telling us that she believed that we were the answer to her prayers, that her boy, though a good boy, had not even been baptized and she had prayed so hard that he might be baptized before he went over. I baptized him immediately before the service and presented him for confirmation with the others. The incident touched my wife and myself very much, and I am writing the mother. Please express to the members of the executive committee of the War Commission my appreciation of their action and assure them that I shall strive to use this fund for the very best interest of the boys in uniform and for the spread of the Kingdom of Christ among them. Gratefully and appreciatively yours, _____________________________________________________ Strenuous Life of a Chaplain in a Texas Camp December 27, 1917. The War Commission, 14 Wall St., New York City. Gentlemen:-I am just in receipt of your kind letter of the 21st instant, offering to assist me in my work as chaplain. I appreciate your sympathy and interest and thank you very heartily. My congregation at Victoria gave me a Ford ear last February, which I gave back to them for the use of the next minister when I left in September, but they have forwarded the car to me here and I have constant use for it in taking mail daily to my sick men in the base hospital at Fort--------------- the measles detention camp, and the base hospital at the north end of Camp ------. You may judge of the amount of use from the fact that it takes nearly a dollar's worth of gasoline a day to do me. If there is anything you really want to give me, please give me a regular officers trunk. My colonel is a churchman and so is the colonel of the regiment just north of ours, so the two colonels have erected a handsome "Sounding Board" northeast of our two regiments. Colonel -------- got the money-$250-and the engineers did the work. There is a natural amphitheatre northeast of us, and at the apex of the declivity the "sounding board" rises as a huge pulpit, ten or twelve feet from the ground, with side walls and roof concave behind the speaker, rising fifteen feet higher. With this assistance I can make myself heard by every man in our regiment of 2,900 without raising my voice above a firm, clear speaking tone. The companies march out with the band playing and take their positions before the "sounding hoard," I open with a hymn, led by the band and a choir of 83 voices picked out of all the companies, then I have the prayer for the President and Congress, prayer for the army and navy, prayer for peace, the Lord's Prayer (special prayers on occasion) and the Grace; then another hymn; then the regiment sits while I give them a 15-minute address, finally a closing hymn and the Benediction, and the companies march back to their barracks with the band playing. It is a very pretty service. People often come out from --------- to see it. After this service at 8 A. M. I teach a Bible class at 9 A. M., and have a celebration of the Holy Communion in the Y. M. C. A. building at 10 A. M Besides the colonel, we have a major who is a churchman, a number of lieutenants and quite a lot of privates. Every morning at 7:30 I go through each of the fifteen barracks in our regiment and gather up the mail for the sick men; then I pile it in my Ford (though at one time the Ford would not hold it, and a four-mule team was assigned to me for several days), and take it through each of the barracks in the detention camp and deliver it from bed to bed, except in those barracks where the men have convalesced sufficiently for me to gather them together in little groups and call out the mail. It has often taken me 12 hours a day to deliver this mail. I took writing paper and envelopes through in great quantities every few days. I find the Knights of Columbus anxious and ready to help me. Every few days I go through with stamps and sell them from bed to bed; not only to the 360 men, but to everybody in the detention camp, doctors and all. This service is very much appreciated. Then I send telegrams off for the sick and write to the relatives at night as much as I can. For ten days I never even got my shoes and leggings off, and for three weeks I worked about eighteen hours a day. but it is much better now. I have gotten to the point where I can breathe and thank the Lord and take courage. Sincerely yours, _____________________________________________________ The Work Appalling in its Magnitude Camp Devens, Ayer, Mass., November 27, 1917. Dear Bishop: -- My position as voluntary chaplain is freer than either regular chaplain or Y. M. C. A. secretary, and it is a very definite field, but it is appalling in its magnitude. Some days I do not have an hour when men are not in my room, from the time I sweep my room and make my bed until 10 P. M. They come on all sorts of errands--companionship or to tell their inmost hearts. I find I can get closer to these men and the men of L Co. of the - Infantry, where I mess, than I ever could as chaplain of the - Regiment. For the work of a chaplain, that is. dealing with men, meeting a situation which happens to arise, etc.. I feel that my experience in the minitsry, 17 years now, is invaluable. Yours faithfully, _____________________________________________________ Young Men Taking Their Religion in Dead Earnest Camp Devens, Dec. 10, 1917. My Dear Bishop Lawrence:-The first impression that hits you on entering Camp Devens is one of immense vitality. The place is electric with the vigor of 30,000 young men. * * * The voluntary chaplain's day starts in with a rush at 6:15 A. M., when the bugles blow reveille. It ends at 11 P. M. We breakfast at 6:45 in the mess hall at the barracks. Then, for an hour or two, we help the Y. M. C. A secretaries sweep out the hut, stoke the fires and sort the magazines. The balance of the morning is given to the errands and correspondence that never let up. From 2 to 4 I planned to visit in the big base hospital, over two miles from our hut. No. 22 among the field artillery regiments. After mess, at 5 P. M., I went into the various barracks to visit our church boys, then back again to my room to see men through the evening. And wherever I go, to hospital or barracks, I take my pockets crammed with Testaments and chewing gum, cigarettes, and prayers. They mix well with the boys. * * * The soldiers come to the voluntary chaplain on various errands; rather slowly at first; he often has to hunt them out. One man had lost two front teeth, and couldn't properly chew his food. Half his pay of $30 a month was going to his parents; $5 more for a Liberty bond and $4 besides for necessary expenses. Out of 1 his $6 remaining he was willing to pay $3 for his teeth, and to put up the Liberty bond for security. I found a good dentist in Ayer who would do the job and didn't want the security. And through a generous laywoman of our church the main expense of his teeth was guaranteed. Again, a man stops n in the hut and wants to know whether I can marry him to a hospital nurse. They are both from Maine and must they go hack to be married there or can they be married in Massachusetts. Another night a man comes in from the ambulance corps. He is a churchman from the Cathedral in Cleveland. In the bitter weather he has no quilt and can't sleep. As I had arranged to stay that night in the barracks with the soldiers, I lent him my quilt, until I could bring him warm woolen one from Boston. * * * But even more absorbing is the religious work among the soldiers. And never have I seen men so open to the most direct advance. And never have these advances been repelled. Every Sunday there is a celebration of the Holy Communion by the clergy of our church in three of the Y. M. C. A. huts. We have a field altar on the platform and army blankets folded and spread for the men to kneel. From 27 to 36 men take the bread and wine each Sunday morning at 8:30, and from 50 to 80 attend the service. Throughout the big room still others are quietly writing or reading. But all is done in the utmost reverence. Then there is a song service at the base hospital at 10:30, which is attended in increasing numbers by convalescents, wardmasters, nurses and doctors. In the evening the chaplain is generally expected to speak in one or other of the Y. M. C. A. huts, and a very plain talk he makes it. The way religion crops out on every hand is most amazing. Again and again men would come to me with questions. Whether we question their Biblical interpretation or not, these boys are looking to the Bible for guidance. And they are turning to the Christ as never before. In one Y. M. C. A. hut alone as many as 200 men a week openly take their stand as Christians, and enter their names upon the war roll. But it is in the hospital that you come closest to the men, and they seem to hunger for friendship. This young manhood is taking its religion in dead earnest. After this war are these men coming home to us to find their fathers sitting on the same old back fence of religion; or shall they find that we have marched beside them in spirit and found God the surest strength and refuge that human souls can claim? _____________________________________________________ Experiences of Rookie Chaplains in Texas Camp Jan. 1, 1918. My Dear Bishop Perry: - I am taking advantage of the bishop's absence to write the enclosed account of a "Day at Headquarters." As "rookie" chaplains we have bad some very amusing experiences in the camps and we have all had some experiences of a very different character in coming into personal contact with the men. Nine o'clock at the office of the diocese of West Texas which is also the headquarters of the War Commission. There Bishop Capers with his khaki-clad staff of chaplains and his bright-eyed and nimble-fingered stenographer are gathered to begin a day's work. The bishop is always smiling, no matter what circumstances arise to add to his worries. At the start of the day the blessing of Almighty God is petitioned for. During the day there come telegrams asking for investigations regarding soldiers who are reported to be ill at the base hospitals. While the bishop is doing all this the chaplains have started their rounds of the camps. There are now stationed at Kelly Fields about 40,000 men, and ther will shortly be a great many more. There has already been prepared for the chaplain at the bishop's office a list of men concerning whom in-auiries have been made. Sometimes he finds them on guard duty, or at mess, or in the air. There are sometimes inquiries, made regarding men who are eventually found at the hospitals, but never yet has inquiry been made regarding a man whom he has found in the guard house. We are proud of this record. Sometimes he spends time in posting bulletins on the company's boards; announcing services or asking the churchmen to communicate with him After leaving the fields the chaplain continues his duties by visiting those men whom he has found to he ill at the base hospitals. What Chaplain Cameron is doing at Kelly Fields, the diocesan chaplain is doing at one of the other camps, or perhaps dividing his time between several of them. Eventually the chaplains find their way back to headquarters at the bishop's office and there every item of their day's work is laid before the bishop, who in the meantime has often covered more ground than either of them. In the evening permanent records are made, in the form of card files, of the work that the day has brought forth and of the results that have been achieved. There are frequent conferences, committee meetings, and personal engagements with the soldiers themselves to fill up and close the day's work.