officers, from President Wilson down, planned wisely and sanely to
meet the physical, mental, and moral needs of our boys both at home
and over seas. And the results achieved proved the wisdom of the
endeavor. _Had the plans been less comprehensive the results would
certainly have been far less gratifying._

My own experiences cause me to draw the same conclusions that many
others have drawn. "Over there" man stood out before his Maker, his
very soul uncovered, and prayed with a frankness he had never
expressed before. And God revealed himself. We may not understand the
psychology, nevertheless one soldier saw, or thought he saw, Christ in
a shell-hole stretching out his hands in forgiveness and blessing.
Another saw God the Father giving absolution as his straining eyes
caught a glimpse of the crucifix. Another felt "The Presence" as the
inward quietness which follows action crept over him. Whatever the
form, the effect was the same. Men met God face to face and lived.

A captain of infantry coming out of the Argonne fight on September 30,
said: "I have never been a professed Christian. I have always
considered the testimony of so-called Christians as the imagination of
religious fanatics. But I saw Christ up there, and I shall never scoff
again." A private standing near turned to me and said: "We all felt
the same way about it. It was mighty real to us."

Not many decades ago preachers used death as their most telling plea
for sinners to be converted. The tragic death of a "sinner" in a
community where evangelistic services were being held was always held
up as the special warning of God. The crude way in which this truth
was presented does not, however, disturb the fundamental fact that
death does have a sobering effect on human judgment and human will,
and that in the presence of death souls do more naturally seek after
and find God.

A private of Company I, 165th Infantry, was in Base Hospital No. 117
suffering from shell-shock. He said: "There were only seven of my
company left. We killed our share of the Huns before they got us, but
the slaughter was awful. To see all your comrades shot down around you
and then to lie helpless on the field--minutes seemed ages. And
decisions were registered in heaven which we can never get away from."
This boy had been gay and frivolous at home, with two automobiles at
his command and plenty of money to use as he wished. He had never been
forced to the serious consideration