lar centers. We are on the great Salisbury Plain, in the midst of
thirty miles square of weltering mud during the long winter months. To
realize what a hut means to the men in such a place, we must understand
the unnatural situation created by the conditions of war. Here are
multitudes of men far from home, shut out from the society of all good
women, taken away from their church and its surroundings, weary and wet
with marching and drilling, often lonely and dejected, in an atmosphere
of profanity and obscenity in the cheerless barrack rooms, and tempted
by the animal passions which are always loosed in war-time. The men
need all the help we can give them now, and need it desperately.

Now can you measure just what a big warm hut means to these men as a
home, far away from home? The red triangle at the entrance gleams
across the whole camp and stands for the three things the soldier most
needs.

It stands, in the first place, as a pledge for supplying the _physical
need_ of these hungry, lonely, and fiercely tempted men. A dry
shelter, a warm fire, a cheerfully lighted room, the bursts of song,
and the hum of conversation make the men forget the wind and rain and
mud outside. Supper and a hot cup of coffee satisfy their hunger. On
the notice-board is the announcement of the outdoor sports, football
tournaments, and the games, where the thirty thousand men of the
division will compete in open contest on the coming Saturday, under the
direction of the Y M C A. Whatever the soldier needs for his physical
life, whether it is to eat or to sleep, a bed in London, a cool drink
in the thirsty desert, or hot coffee in the trenches, it is furnished
for him by the Association.

The hut also provides for the soldier's _intellectual_ and social
needs. The piano and the phonograph, the billiard tables, draughts and
chess boards, tables for games, library, and reading room keep him
busy; and the concerts, stimulating lectures, moving pictures,
educational classes, and debating societies provide him with
recreational and mental employment.

The far deeper _moral and spiritual needs_ of the soldier are also met.
As the evening draws to a close, one sees the secretary in his military
uniform stand up on the table; hats are off and heads are bowed at the
call for evening prayers, which are held here every night. On Sunday
the parade services of the different denominations take place in turn
in the Association hut. Weekly