the ports of the
Mediterranean.

III

A new development has now been undertaken by the Association among the
thousands in the munition works in Great Britain. With the whole
nation organized for war, there are millions of workers busily engaged
on ten and twelve hour shifts, turning out that steady stream of
munitions which must ever flow up to the guns at the front, to supply
the army fighting there. Here are men and women without the excitement
and the adventure of the front, toiling all day under a strain, far
removed from home, congested in unattractive surroundings, and it is of
the utmost importance that these workers be kept healthful and happy.

We motored down one afternoon to see the work that is going on in the
great arsenal at Woolwich. Outside, where a year ago were orchards and
pastures, are long rows of permanent buildings which have sprung up on
every side. To meet this situation the Y M C A has within recent
months erected more than a hundred huts in the different munition
centers, which can provide meals for thousands of tired workers. These
huts have already placed the Association in touch with half a million
workers. In the first hut we visited, three thousand of them were
seated at meals in two relays, while two thousand soldiers were
accommodated in the hut during the afternoon and evening. A platform
at one end had been put up for musical concerts and entertainments.
The price of meals varies from twelve to twenty-five cents. Lady Henry
Grosvenor and other leaders have marshalled a force of fifteen hundred
voluntary workers in this group of huts.

So appreciative has the government been of this new development, that
in addition to providing their own government welfare workers to look
after the women and girls, they are permitting the munitions
manufacturers to build new Y M C A huts at government expense for the
accommodation of the men. We passed down long rows of dormitories,
erected almost in a night, where thousands of weary workers were
sleeping during the day, preparing for their night shift. It was
almost a sad sight to see whole huts filled with hundreds of boys from
fourteen to sixteen years of age, all sound asleep at midday. The
secretaries look after these boys in their rest and play and provide
healthful surroundings, a clean moral atmosphere, and attractive
religious influences.

The Young Women's Christian Association has entered the open door for
work among the