good tune and loves a crowd; the quiet place does not so much appeal to
him. At the Y.M.C.A. he found diversion for his hours of leisure;
opportunity for study if he cared for it; libraries, classes, and
lectures. There, too, he found an expression of religious life that
appealed to him, the inspiration that comes from religion without the
controversy and sectarian bitterness which, alas! too often accompany
it, a religion to work by and a religion that can do things. Before the
war nobody had heard of our mystic sign, but within a few weeks letters
bearing it had found their way into hundreds of thousands of homes,
bringing joy and consolation wherever they went. That, in brief, is the
story of the coming of the Red Triangle. And what is its significance?
As the emblem of the war work of the Y.M.C.A. it has not been chosen by
chance, but because it exactly typifies the movement it represents. The
threefold needs of men are its concern, and its programme is adapted to
meet the needs of body, mind, and spirit, whilst its colour symbolises
sacrifice. In an old book of signs and wonders called _Mysterium
Magnum_ the inverted triangle appears as a symbol of the divine spirit,
and in the third year of the war a famous Belgian painter asked
'Qu'est-ce-que c'est--cet Y.M.C.A.?' and without waiting for an answer
went on to say that the Red Triangle meant emblematically--'Spirit
informing and penetrating matter,' which was, he supposed, the function
of the Y.M.C.A. 'The Y.M.C.A. is attempting the impossible,' said one of
its critics; 'it is building on the apex of the triangle.' Thank God it
is. Yes! and thank God it has achieved the impossible. If any one had
dared to foretell four years ago, a tithe of what has already been
accomplished, no one would have believed it. The secret of the inverted
triangle is that it is upheld by invisible hands, and it is the full
programme of the Red Triangle that appeals so irresistibly to the men.
If we were merely out to run a canteen, others could perhaps have done
the canteen work as well, or nearly as well, as the Y.M.C.A. Others
could run lectures for the troops, and others cater for their spiritual
needs, but it has been left to the Y.M.C.A. to formulate the appeal to
the whole man--Body, Mind, and Spirit--and the appeal to every man,
irrespective of creed or party. Every man is equally welcome in the
Y.M.C.A.--Protestant, Romanist, Anglican, Free-churchman, Jew,
Mohammedan, Buddhist, H