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TURN THE BOYS' THOUGHTS HOMEWARD, SAYS FOSDICX, ASKINGJJO-OPERATION'I Washington.— (Special.)—Just before leaving for France to suporlnj tend tie demobilization activities of those organizations which recently took part In the United War Work Cainpulgn, Raymond B. Fosdlck, Chairman of tho Commission on Training Camp Activities, was Interviewed With regard to tlio present situation of oor overseas forces.Tho problem presented by the gradual demobilization of more than two million men three thousand miles from home is one which will tax all oar social resources, said Mr. Fpa-filck. It Is above all a morale problem, and It must bo faced as such, with the full co-operatlon of families and friends here In this country, if it is to be solved successfully. Every one who has a son, a brother, must help.:-While the war was on our boys were fully occupied; they were still filled with the spirit of adventure, looking forward rather than back. Now, however, the fighting Is nt an end. They are going to remain, most of them, muny months doing work which will be neither excitliig nor particularly Interesting. They will get lonesome, bored and terribly homesick.-■'-The $170,000,000 raised In the recent United War Work drive Is to be t»ed proclsely to bridge over this period by providing recreation and amusement But no amount of more money expended in such a way will be enough. What these boys really want not diversion, but human Interest and sympathy. These tilings expressed In letters from home will worm their hearts and create a home atmosphere around them, evon while they are aoaent from the family circle.Such letters may be a very necessary sheet anchor to windward In the case of some boys. The thought of some one waiting for them, counting On them, will, more than nnythlng else, muke them hold back and think twice before plunging Into situations which might mean harm and unhappiness for them.. .tf-We have raised the cleanest army the world. We have kept it clean. yje hope to bring It back as clean and fj-rong aB It was when It left us. But lile we believe our soldiers will Stand the present test—the hardest of tdl In some ways—as bravely and ftjceessfully as they have stood every Otjher test of their manhood and endurance, It Is our duty to give themSthe help we can..This, as I have said, can best be repdered by means of letters which .•jrtll begin now, at once, not only to patisfy their home longings, but to tjjru their thoughts from tasks already pltshod to the long years of life of them.”• w —----f HOME FOLK8 MUST HELP.Washington.—(Special.)—The War ‘ jjppartment Commission on Training jiup Activities has lilt upon an lm-npriunt and entirely new Idea in the *$ettere-from-hoine plan ju6t un-npunced..FSPull the boys through the most trying period of their service by writing •me right kind of letters, letters full of ’tbe home feeling, the mother feeling. ■ *P|ils appeal Is made to mothers, fa* ‘ jjierB, sisters and sweethearts by the ,.5®ar Department. It Is hoped that inll-i^Dus of Inspiring letters will be writ-t£i the week of December 15, deBlg-,jijppted as Letters-from-home week, --.pulpit arid press are eo-operatlug to rfcuke u great success of the plan.Suggestion for Mother's Letter.Son of Mine:They’re sending you home to me at last Through all these months of waiting and longing I’vo been wearing a star for you and holding my head high and thinking wonderful thoughts about you. I've watched you through ocean mists and dreamed anxious dreams. Yes, and cried a little, too, : but not when people could see.And now you’re coming home. Oh, 1 it seems too good to be true. I’ve Just I read your letters again. They say so | much more than you ever thought -when you wore writing them. Just happenings—that’s all most of tho things you wrote about were to you. But to me they said you were facing the biggest tiling In life, facing It j bravely, as I should want my son to , face 1L You were offering your body and your soul for a thing bigger than you or me or America.When I wrote to you I tried to • write cheerful, encouraging letters, | because I did not want you to go Into 1 battle feeling that I was holding you I back from the big sacrifice. It’s only now, when the fighting Is over, that I -can let down a Little and be Just your mother, Just tho woraun who loves you better than anything else In the world and Is so glad to know you’re coming back to her tkut she doesn’t cure who sees her cry.Perhaps for some of tho boys who have stood with you so finely through these trials the fighting Is not yet all over. The fighting I mean is that between a man and himself, and for many of them this will be the hardest battle of all. During the long days and evenings of waiting before they can start for home thoughts will creep into their minds which will be hard to resist. There will be times after all those months of action when the longing for change and for the companionship of women may load them Into associations which will spoil their homecoming and cqubo them shnmo and humiliation, and even perhups make them unfit to receive the love that awaits them here.You, deurest boy, are Just as human .as your comrades, and feelings like these may come to you too. I don’t usk you to crush them. They ure natural, and they only prove that war has fulled to dry up the well spring of your emotionb. I ask you only to recognize them when they come and to control them with the fine strength you have gained while fighting for the 1 ideals and principles of America. Just; remember that many Joyous years of , life are ahead of you and that the risk of spoiling them and the love that will • fill them Is too tremendous to run for i a short hour of seeming pleasure.Many of the boys who will coma! home with you hove no mothers to write to them. Some of them may think that no one cnren what they do. But somebody does care. America caret. And the girls they will marry j some day care.- And, oh, the difference It will make in their lives If they will Just remember that there is always somebody, always!Ilelp them to remember. Help them to come home clean and fine. Don’t let them spoil everything now. They have been so splendid. If you think this letter will help them give it to them. If they have no mothers let me be their mother until they have come back and taken the high places that await them here. Tell them to write to me. How I should treasure their letters!Anu, of course, you will write to me. Just say thut you understaud—tbot you know why I have written this letter. Then I can wait months—yes, even years—knowing thut you will come home to uie os fine and cleuu os you were when I sent you a way to camp so long ago. MOTHER.
Newspaper Details
Upper Des Moines Republican
Algona, Iowa, US
Wed, Jan 01, 1919
Page 7
Full Page
Clipped by
Algona L.
NA, 16 Mar 2017
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