l cup of tea or a glass of Horlick's Malted Milk before we go out
to flounder through the mud to our tents.

This last half-hour is a busy one for the ladies behind the counter
in the outer hall. Long queues of men stand waiting to be served.
Dripping cups and sticky buns are passed to them with inconceivable
rapidity. The work is done at high pressure, but with the tea and the
food the men receive something else, something they pay no penny for,
something the value of which to them is above all measuring with
pennies--the friendly smile, the kindly word of a woman. We can
partly guess at what these ladies have given up at home to do this
work--servile, sticky, dull work--for men who are neither kith nor
kin to them. No one will ever know the amount of good they do;
without praise, pay, or hope of honour, often without thanks. If "the
actions of the just smell sweet and blossom," surely these deeds of
love and kindness have a fragrance of surpassing sweetness.

Perhaps, after all, the hut is well named "Woodbine," and others
might be called "Rose," "Violet," "Lily." The discerning eye sees the
flowers through the mist of steaming tea. We catch the perfume while
we choke in the reek of tobacco smoke, damp clothes, and heated
bodies.

The British part of the war area in France is dotted over with huts
more or less like the "Woodbine." They are owned, I suppose,
certainly run, by half a dozen different organisations. I understand
that the Church Army is now very energetic in building huts, but when
I first went to France by far the greater part of the work was done
by the Y.M.C.A.

The idea--the red triangle is supposed to be symbolical--is to
minister to the needs of the three parts of man--body, mind, and
soul. At the bar which stands at one end of the hut men buy food,
drink (strictly non-alcoholic), and tobacco. In the body of the room
men play draughts, chess, anything except cards, read papers and
write letters. Often there are concerts and lectures. Sometimes there
are classes which very few men attend. So the mind is cared for.

The atmosphere is supposed to be religious, and the men recognise the
fact by refraining from the use of their favourite words even when no
lady worker is within earshot. The talk in a Y.M.C.A. hut is
sometimes loud. The laughter is frequent. But a young girl might walk
about invisible among the men without hearing an expression which
would shock her, so long as she remained inside th