voluntary religious meetings are also
held. At one end of the building is the "quiet room," where groups of
Christian soldiers can meet for Bible classes or for prayer. At
regular intervals evangelistic meetings are held. On our last night at
this hut, on a Sunday evening, twelve hundred men gathered to listen to
the Christian message.

Of the three bars of the triangle, it is this which stands at the top,
which unites the other two and which is the dominating factor of the
whole. And yet nowhere is religion forced down the throats of the men.
Rather it is the aim to make it the unconscious atmosphere of the whole
hut. It is a striking fact, to which every soldier will testify, that
while the language of the barrack room and beer canteen is often
reeking with the profane and the obscene, the whole tone of the
Association hut is entirely different. As one soldier says: "You don't
realize the enormous difference of atmosphere between this and any
other place where soldiers congregate. A man simply does not talk bad
language and filth here; he learns to control himself." Thus the
threefold work of the Association stands for the whole man and for the
whole manhood of the nation.

In many ways the Y M C A hut seeks to meet the soldier's every need.

1. It is his _club_, where he meets his comrades and in the freedom and
friendship of the place forgets the irksome drill, the endless
restraints, and the stern discipline of military life.

2. As we have already seen, it is his _home_, the place where he writes
his letters and keeps in touch with his family and distant friends.
Nearly twenty million pieces of stationery are sent out free for the
soldiers each month from the London central office, and the sign of the
red triangle on the letter head brings weekly joy and cheer to the
broken circle in the distant home. It is here that the lad is helped
to "keep the home fires burning" in his heart and to hold true to those
high ideals. One little girl when visiting the Crystal Palace, upon
seeing the sign of the red triangle, said: "My daddy always makes that
mark on his letters when he writes to us at home."

3. It is his _church_, for out on the desert, or in the jungle, or at
the front, there is usually no other church building for religious
services. The following is taken from a typical Sunday program in one
of the huts: "6:30 a. m., Roman Catholic Mass; 7:30 Nonconformist
service; 9:00 Anglican service; 2-3 p.