the fight.

What a thrill went down the line when that news got to the boys out
there in the woods fighting. One boy told me that a fellow he told
wept when he heard it. Another said: "Good old ----! I knew he had
the guts!" Another said: "I'll say he's a man!" Another came in one
evening and said: "I'm going to quit cigarettes from now. If you're
that much of a man, you're worth listening to!" Another said: "If I
get out of this it's me for the church forever if it has that kind of
men in it!"

Is it any wonder that they brought their last letters to him before
they went into the trenches? Is it any wonder that they asked him for
a little prayer service one night before they went into the trenches?
Is it any wonder that they love him and swear by him?

Is it any wonder that when one of them was asked how they liked their
secretary, the boy said: "Great! He's a man!"

Is it any wonder that when another boy was asked if their secretary was
very religious, responded in his own language: "Yes, he's as religious
as hell, but he's a good guy anyhow!"

That kind of service will win anybody, and that is exactly the kind of
service that the boys of the American army, your boys, are getting all
over France from big, heroic, unprejudiced, fatherly, brotherly men,
who are willing to die for their boys as well as to live for them and
with them down where the shells are thickest and the dangers are
constant.