Y. M. C. A. WAR WORK DESCRIBED

A series of letters recently received from W. H. Trumbull, Jr., '15, captain of the 1914 University football team describe conditions in Europe at present and their relation to the work of the Y. M. C. A. extracts from the letters, which have been published in pamphlet form by the Y. M. C. A. War Work Committee, run as follows:

"Having been privileged to visit the British Y. M. C. A. work at the very front, we were taken in the afternoon on the 20th to the old battlefield of B--.We now got our first impression of the real thing, because never before have I seen such devastation. Absolutely not a tree was left standing, and hardly was there a square yard of ground which had not been churned up by a shell. Yet amid all this we were driving on a road equal to any of our state roads, and which is typical of all the roads which are built across the fields up to the front lines. In addition to the devastation we were welcomed by a huge shell breaking not more than a mile away, but which seemed to me only a few yards, and yet we kept going. We finally stopped near a dugout which up to the 7th of June was used by the Y. M. C. A., but it was finally blown to pieces. When in use it was only 400 yards away from the German lines.

"The Y. M. C. A. work is done among the walking wounded, and the first of these hospitals that we visited was just receiving the first trainload of the results of the morning's battle. Box-car loads of these suffering men were handled cautiously and gently by the orderlies, and the first building they entered was the Y. M. C. A. marquees. Here they passed by the counter and were given free cocoa, bread, cheese, crackers, and cigarettes. Can you imagine anything more wonderful than coming in, after being out in the enchase for days, perhaps, cold, wet, and hungry, and being given a nice hot cup of cocoa with a word of greeting? I cannot tell you what an impression this sight made on me, but it surely made my heart ache. Having seen the battle from the start, I could not help comparing it with the evolution of a football game. All preparations were made for the start, the men went forward with a grim determination, and after the battle everything was in readiness to receive the men, and the spirit of victory was in the air when the word of welcome was given."