f sickness and of the
enemy. In summer the alkali dust lies four inches deep on the floors
of their tents, and the thermometer stands at 120 degrees in the sultry
shade. Dixon racked his brain to provide recreation and helpful
entertainment for these hard fighting men. A bioscope, competitive
concerts, a Christmas tree, a New Year's treat, football and hockey
tournaments, and entertainments of various kinds have been improvised
to make the men forget the awful hardship of the march and of the
battle. On Sunday the writing tables are full from dawn till dark and
tons of stationery have been used to keep these men in touch with their
distant homes.

The secretaries have been kept busy handling the big convoys of wounded
as they come down the rivers in the boats from the fighting at the
front. One colonel got up from his sick bed to give his testimony
unasked as to what the work of the Association had meant to these
wounded men. He said that it was not only the big kettles of hot
coffee and the caldrons of soup which the secretaries brought aboard
the boats, not only the warm blankets, beef tea, and other comforts
which had helped the men so much, but the fact that when those men
entered that barge with its weight of human suffering and misery, it
seemed that the touch of Another hand unseen was resting on the hot
brow and feverish pulse of those wounded soldiers.

Bovia McLain, an American secretary, gives us a glimpse of a night on a
hospital barge, with a cold wind and rain-storm sweeping down the
river. The canvas tarpaulin began to leak like a sieve and most of the
wounded were cold and drenched to the skin. Soon the men were lying
not only under wet blankets, but actually in two or three inches of
water on the undrained decks. They were packed in like sardines,
without pillows or comforts. "The whole thing was ghastly and
terrible. Men wanted to change their position or have a broken limb
slightly moved, and a dozen other wants seemed to demand attention all
at once. At times I felt the strain so that it seemed to me I could
not control myself longer, but must break down and weep, it was so
appalling." After the men had been made comfortable, the workers were
ready in the morning with supplies of chocolate and tobacco and other
luxuries. It is no wonder that up at the front when the secretary
invites the men to remain for evening prayers sometimes nearly the
whole battalion stays, and one can understa