e
went away, but returned again a few minutes later, and that time his
eyes were full of tears as he cried, 'O Missis! I did think you'd have
kissed me when you saw how bad it was,' and, like the good woman she
was, she kissed him as his mother would have done. Let no one think
that's what the ladies of the Red Triangle usually do, for it's not, and
yet in that simple story you have the whole secret of the success of the
war work of the Y.M.C.A. Time, and time again, one has been through
every base camp in France, and has traversed the whole British line in
France and Flanders, and wherever one has gone one has found the men
yearning for sympathy and longing for home. Not that they want to return
home until this fight ends in victory, for out there they have learned
what war means; they see it robbed of its romance, and they are
determined to see it through; they fight that this war may end war.

With unfailing loyalty to the high aims of the Red Triangle and with
conspicuous ability ladies have served the Y.M.C.A., and through the
Association the men of His Majesty's Forces and the munition workers, in
all parts of the United Kingdom, in France, and in every part of the
Empire, and have won for themselves a permanent place in the movement,
whatever its future may be.

CHAPTER VI

'GUNGA DIN' OF THE RED TRIANGLE

'You and your Association seem to me to be truly
hitting the nail on the head, and working for the
good of our soldier-lads, one and all. I have
watched the Y.M.C.A. procedure at many camps, and
have found it exactly adapted to the wants of
large numbers of young men taken temporarily away
from their homes and normal
associations.'--GENERAL SIR IAN HAMILTON.

ONE of the most striking of Kipling's characters was Gunga Din, the
Indian water-carrier. He was not a fighting man, but when fighting was
taking place he was in the thick of it, risking his life that he might
carry water to slake the thirst of the fighting man. 'Gunga Din' was the
appropriate name given to one of our leaders in France by a British
Tommy. Those who do not know are sometimes inclined to sneer at the
Y.M.C.A. man for having a 'cushy' job, but it is hard work from start
to finish. His job is never done and very often is attended with
considerable risk. His work may carry him right into the front line
trenches and though it does not take him 'over th