5,000 troops bound for France, East Africa, and Persia, weighed
anchor, and sailed out of Bombay harbor with the first twelve Y M C A
secretaries on board. Arrived in France, permission was finally
obtained from the Commander-in-Chief to land and begin work on French
soil.

Here the moral problem made the work of the Association a crying
necessity. Soon there were some 25,000 Indian troops concentrated
around Marseilles. These men could neither safely be let out of bounds
nor kept contented within bounds. A cordon of troops around the camp
could not keep vice out. The Y M C A was needed as a counter
attraction. Upon an outbreak of drinking and immorality on the part of
a group of Sikh soldiers, the whole garrison was called out to witness
these men stripped and flogged in exemplary punishment. The Sikhs felt
this to be such a public disgrace that they asked for the use of the Y
M C A hut in which to hold a council meeting. They finally decided to
ask one of the secretaries to address the whole body of Sikhs on the
subject of intemperance and impurity, for the Association was already
tacitly recognized by all as the dominant moral force in the camp.

One of the Indian secretaries, Mr. Roy, addressed the soldiers at their
own request for an hour and a half, and a remarkable scene of
repentance was witnessed. Men arose on all hands, confessing their
sins in respect to these two special failings and requested that
penalties be imposed upon them by their own priest in accordance with
the custom of their religion, as a punishment for the past and as a
guarantee for the future. For nearly two hours the men filed by their
priest receiving penalties. Later on they held a service of their own
in the Y M C A hut on Christmas day and took up a large collection of
copper coins as a thank-offering to the Association. They felt that it
had been their one friend in a strange land.

It should be clearly understood, however, that of necessity, in the
very nature of the case, the Government of India imposed upon the
secretaries the strict obligation of silence regarding the propagation
of Christianity. They entered the work on the understanding that the
men could live out the spirit of Christ and express it in silent
ministry under the motive of Christian love.

It was striking to see how much real Christianity could be packed into
_life_ when speech was forbidden. The pent-up prayer and love and
sympathy of the workers