tians and they are always a marked class. The "Holy Joes," as they are called, are constantly under observation. They are frequently found among those who voluntarily expose themselves to the many dangers incident to a sailor's life. They know that in the profession of arms the Christian belongs in the place of danger.

The benefits that will result from association work in the navy will be world-wide and will be helpful to foreign missions. It has been my privilege to see our missionaries and their work throughout the world. No one can fully appreciate the great good that has been done by foreign missionaries until they can compare the converted with the unconverted in the distant lands and islands of the sea. The missionaries need no word of commendation from me. Their work speaks for itself and any man or woman who honestly examines the work of our foreign missionaries must admire and rejoice in the results that are brought about by the noble men and women whose privilege it is to scatter the sunlight of the blessed gospel.

It can be readily seen that as the work of the Young Men's Christian Association in the navy increases more men will become followers of our Lord and Saviour. They also will go throughout the world as missionaries speaking, if not by word at least by their lives, of the great Master. We all know that one's life often speaks louder than one's lips. Who can estimate the influence for good that would be felt throughout the world if our sailors were Christians.

The environment of our men on board ship is in many respects all that could be desired. They are well cared for, have plenty of work, plenty to eat, and their hygienic conditions are nearly perfect. The officers and men are in close touch with. each other and the relations between them are all that could be wished for. The laws of the navy place the men forward and the officers aft, and compel the men to wear white tape on their sleeves to signify their rank and the officers gold lace. But both share alike the dangers of storm, disease and battle.

The routine of a man-of-war is always arranged for the recreation as well as for the drills of the men. The day is passed quickly and Saturday with its half-holiday and Sunday, with no drills and liberty, is always welcome. If there is a chaplain on board ship, and frequently when there is not, weather and other circumstances permitting, divine service is held on Sunday, and prayers daily at evening hammock. Whatever may be the particular belief of our chaplains there is heard upon the decks of our men-of-war only the story of the cross and its teachings. Church service on board a man-ofwar is always impressive. At the time appointed, in obedience to the order "rig church," everything is soon ready for service. The chaplain's desk and the chairs and benches for

officers and men are arranged at the place designated by the captain, and all being ready the bell is tolled.

During service the church flag, a white pennant with a blue cross, is run apeak and the colors lowered just below it. But it is only the white flag with its symbol of the suffering of our common Lord and Master that is ever allowed to float above the Stars and Stripes.

From what I have said, it will be seen that the men are surrounded by their friends when on board ship, but to-day as of old they are the prey of the most vicious and depraved class when on shore. A man-of-war'sman as soon as he is clear of our navy-yards or lands from our ships is met by men and women whose only interest is to get what money he has and then desert him. Often he is drugged and frequently is beaten because he has but little money. There are but few places on shore that our sailors frequent where they are safe from imposition. Thanks to the gracious generosity of one who is beloved by the enlisted men of the navy, they will have in the Young Men's Christian Association naval branch in Brooklyn the best accommodations in the finest building that has ever been built for sailors. The men of our navy at last have a place where it will not be necessary for them to get drunk in order to be welcome. They have now a place where they are sure of a clean welcome and a word of cheer, where blessings wait them instead of curses. The benefits of the naval Young Men's Christian Association to our sailors and marines are not only temporal; they are also eternal. giver of that building and the women of the Women's Auxiliary of the International Committee have the unbounded heartfelt thanks and respectful homage of the officers and men of the United States Navy.

The

There are certain conditions in the navy, however, that need no change. The navy is for peace. It strikes only when necessary. Never during the one hundred and twenty-five years it has existed has the navy been a menace to the country. Sailors are not a bad lot. They are easily influenced for good. From the time of Admiral Paul Jones to the admirals present on this platform the sweetest music a sailor ever heard is the voice of his wife in prayer and the laughter of his children.

The navy knows where it belongs and remembers that according to its practice and tradition a second call for duty is not necessary. Our place is in the outer line of defence of our country, for the protection of the homes of our people. Our duty is also over the seas. Wherever we go it is our privilege to carry the flag that we all love, and we demand, and give, if necessary, the protection that is the right of an American citizen.

WOMEN'S WORK FOR THE SOLDIERS

AND SAILORS

MRS. E. A. MCALPIN, CHAIRMAN WOMEN'S AUXILIARY OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE

I am to speak of "Women's Work for the Soldiers and Sailors." I love the soldiers, and I love the sailors, and I am going to tell you about some personal work that I have had with them. Our auxiliary was started in the autumn of 1897. Two gentlemen who are sitting behind me and I hope they feel very guilty-asked me to meet them in the home of my brother-in-law, Dr. McAlpin, and there they had the coolness to suggest that I should start an auxiliary. They might as well have asked me to fly to the moon. I didn't know how to start an auxiliary, and to tell the truth, I hardly knew what the word "auxiliary" meant. But I thought I wouldn't confess my ignorance to that extent, and I said, "Well, if Mrs. Russell Sage will help me, I think I may undertake it"-because I knew that all over the world, Mrs. Russell Sage's name was known, and I was a very quiet, small body who wasn't known even in New York City very much, let alone outside of it. And then there was another that I wanted to help me, and how she has helped me, and how she has backed up the work with her magnificent generosity and earnest Christian spirit you all know-and I refer to Miss Helen Miller Gould.

Well, our auxiliary was then formed, and we strove to take an intelligent interest in the International Committee of the Young Men's Christian Associations in New York. The next winter the war came, that terrible trial and peril and trouble our country went through, and the work of the auxiliary was turned largely into the work of the Geneva Cross, and the members worked that way, doing magnificent work, too. I am proud of them. I can praise them and say anything I like about it, because I am ashamed to say I was away and didn't help them at all. All I did was to help in taking care of some sick, typhoid, poor, miserable soldiers that came back afterwards. I was very glad to do that and get them well again, but that was very little.

Our work went on, and we had parlor conferences and heard with intense interest the reports of the secretaries as they came back. Never shall I forget one day when Lieut. Hearne came back from Manila, and at one of the parlor conferences, he told us about the soldiers and the awful need there was for reading matter in the Philippines. So every woman I met I told she must gather up all the Christmas literature she had and send it down to 3 West 29th Street, the headquarters of the International Committee. Poor Mr. Millar had so much literature on his hands he didn't know what to

do with it. I don't know how many tons he sent out. I would like to take the credit of it all, but he said, "Your auxiliary didn't send all of it." However, we sent a large share of it.

In October, 1899, the government of the United States sent word from Washington that a secretary could be sent, a representative of the Young Men's Christian Association, on every transport that went to the Philippines. Oh, wasn't this a magnificent opportunity! There was no time for a general canvass, there was no time to go about soliciting funds, but a member of the auxiliary stepped to the front and said, "Send the men," and six men were sent to the Philippines. A magnificent work they did there. One of the officers said that the greatest heroes that were out there were the representatives of the Young Men's Christian Association. Think of the quiet work they did, work that the world will never know of, but a work that is written up there!

That is why there is an auxiliary, for if I had not had faith in God to know that what God had promised He was able to perform, I never would have dared try gather together an auxiliary to back up the splendid work that the International Committee was already doing. But I knew if God had a work for women there, that He would bless our efforts, and He has blessed them above anything we could ask or even think. Last winter I went down to Havana, and I stayed at Camp Columbia for about a month. Mr. Moody, the representative of the Young Men's Christian Association there, is doing a magnificent work, not only among the soldiers, but among the officers-and that is not an easy work. One of the officers said to me, "That man Moody is all right." I said "I guess he is"! Then another officer said to me, "Do you want to have a meeting for soldiers"? "Oh," I said, "don't I! I want very much to have a meeting for soldiers." He said, "You shall have it, and I will tell every man of my troop if he doesn't go to hear you talk I will reprimand him.' I said that was rather a Mohammedan-like way to get men into a service, but I would have it. So the announcement was made that I would speak in the pavilion, and dear Mr. Moody felt a good deal of anxiety about that meeting. He came to me and said, "I don't know whether you are going to have ten or fifteen or twenty." "Well," I said, "I will give a talk to five. We can have a splendid time."

I shall never forget that night. I wish I could picture it to you as I saw it-that wonderful parade ground stretching out in the light of a moon which was like harvest moon in August here-it was the last of January. The night was warm and lovely. As I walked across the parade ground I saw from every side the soldiers gathering into the pavilion that held several hundred men. When I got there the pavilion crowded up; we never knew how many were there. The men

sat around outside, and all around the pavilion in the moonlight I could see the tops of their hats as I talked to them of the Christ, of Him Who said, "If I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto Myself." And oh, what an audience that was! What a wonderful time we had!

I will just touch a minute upon the work at Porto Rico, with headquarters at San Juan, which is the center for supplies, and our auxiliary has also furnished it with the music-box and the graphophone and the stereopticon and the books. Those traveling libraries are doing most magnificent work. In the army we all know when the men are off on the plains how far away they are from everything, and so we send books, music boxes, games and all sorts of things to them to try to make life brighter for them.

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I wonder if you all know that our jackie as a rule hasn't a place to go when he comes on shore but miserable, low dives and grog-shops and saloons that not only rob him of his manhood, but every cent he has in the world, and leave him to die in the street. That has been the condition of affairs in the past. The officers of the navy felt there was a tremendous need there, as was pointed out in the beginning of the evening, and so a work was started in Brooklyn, in Sand Street. little house was rented, and there the sailor could go in and get a meal for a moderate amount, a comfortable bed to sleep in, a locker in which to place his clothes, and a bank-he could either deposit his money in a safe or put it in a savings-bank. Very soon the need became so great that that house was outgrown; and then another was taken and that was outgrown; and so there was nothing to do but to build a splendid naval branch. But where to get the money, how to do it, was the question. Now I don't dare to speak of anybody's name again, but a member of the auxiliary stepped forward and said, "I will do it." And now there is being built near the entrance to the navy yard, in Brooklyn, on Sand Street, a magnificent stone structure, and it will belong to the sailor; it will be a place where he can always be comfortable and have all the comforts of a home. Not only have we done that, but Bibles, Testaments and Psalms have been sent out to every man that wants them, and in each book a little text is written, and the initials of her who gives it.

So we feel that as we uplift our sailors and soldiers, we uplift our nation. For-and now I speak directly to you soldiers and sailors on this platform-where you go you are in a sense nationalists, representatives of this great nation. I am so glad there are so many of you here to-night. I wish there were more. But oh! be careful, and as we take up the white man's burden let us beware lest we bind a burden on the brown man.

May God bless you, and may God bless this magnificent as