V V V K | C- V] WORKING AND PRAYING Y TOGETHER '53‘S YA /VC. .A. l \r r Published by the Foreign Department, National Board of the Tonng Women’s Christian Associations of the IT. S. A. WORKING AND PRAYING TOGETHER T HE Body without the Spirit is dead; and, conversely, that Body in which the Spirit dwells is vitalized with the life that cannot help overflowing. It is only as we, the individuals, of this great Association are spirit-filled that we can hope to render worth-while service to our fellow-beings. “Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit”; and such are the times in which we live that the “gift” of each member in each Association is in demand. “For to one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom, and to another faith, and to another gifts of healings, and to another divers kinds of tongues; but all these worketh the one and the same Spirit.” It is, indeed, only through unity of Spirit and diversity of gifts that the Young Women’s Christian Association can hope to accomplish the task before her — a task as high as heaven, as deep as the soul, and as wide as the world. The Association headquarters building in New York is increasingly active in interests which radiate to the ends of the earth; not only with regular programs of work, but with new plans born of war conditions. Besides the usual work in College and City there have been established in our own country 107 Hostess Houses, 145 Club and Recreation Work Centers, 10 Emergency Boarding Houses, 17 Clubs for Colored Girls, 24 Centers for Foreign-born Women, 13 Industrial Centers, the Bureau of Social Morality which has provided 2040 lectures; and these new branches have kept a staff of 675 Secretaries and Workers steadily busy. In addition to this new work in the home land, more than 100 Secretaries are working in France and Russia, 81 are laying foundations in the Orient, and the field of South America is opening. “T TNITED AMERICA” is the slogan of the Division for Foreign-born '-'Women. Its object is to sustain the morale of women who cannot speak English, throughout the difficulties accentuated by war; to alle- viate the bad conditions from which their families suffer; to help them appreciate and adopt the good things of America and to give them a chance to exhibit the skill and ideals which they have inherited. There are four divisions of this department: one for camp and community service for foreign families of enlisted men; one for international infor- mation and service through the foreign press and foreign-language speakers; one for the organization of international institute community centers for foreign-born peoples, and one for reconstruction period work for service after the war. 3 The Lnited States Government has requested that the funds for war work be raised by a United War Work Campaign. Accordingly the seven organizations engaged in war work are planning to drive shoulder to shoulder in the fall campaign. This is the seven-fold line: Young ^ omen's Christian Association, Toung Men's Christian Association, War Camp Community Service, American Library Association, National Catholic ar Council, Jewish Welfare Board, Salvation Army. The budget for the war work of the Young Women’s Christian Association is $15,000,000. Is it tremendous? Our God is equal to it. And it is our privilege to cooperate with God. T HIS is a period of rapid growth for the Canadian Association. hile undertaking the stupendous task of war work they have not called a retreat in other directions. On the contrary, they have added a secretary for the western field and two for the foreign field. Mean- while the work of the Girls’ Department is advancing. The Dominion Associations now number 19,000 members, with student work in all the universities, teacher training colleges, boarding schools and high schools. In thirty-eight cities and towns clubs, classes, lunchrooms and residences are keeping up their standard of good work. The Y. W. C. A. hopes to organize several new Associations and Hostess Houses, and at the same time be able to assume its full share of responsibility for work in France. I T is difficult to find words to express our feeling for our sister Associ- ation in England, the band of Christian young women who have led the way and borne the heaviest burden of the War Work. When Edith Cavell. the English martyr, was waiting in her cell the night before her execution she said to the English chaplain, "This I would say — standing as I do in view of God and Eternity — I realize that patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness toward anyone.” Loyal to her own, helpful to all. unafraid, loving — a typical English woman! It is this fibre in the Young Women’s Christian Association of Great Britain which is enabling the organization to increase its staff and extend its service. Their great concern is that through all the service rendered the radiance of Jesus may shine. They ask us to join them in praying "for a fresh belief in the joy and power of prayer: that we may know how T to make prayer a real thing to every girl whom the Associa- tion touches: for a like new joy in Bible study and guidance in methods: that the Retreat Conferences arranged by the Religious Work Com- mittee may be centres of blessing: that the War Work at home and in France may be a witness to Christ, that the girls who use the Blue Tri- angle Huts may see Him as the Lord of all life; for the foreign and Overseas work, that God will call the best of our young Christian wom- anhood to this service, and that the British Association may be ardent to send and support them.” Here is an incident showing the spirit of Association work in England. A group of Association leaders from America were being shown through a large munitions factory in England. The din of the machinery was terrific: no other sound could compete with it, yet in an alcove stood a piano. "What use can you possibly find for this piano here?” one of the leaders shouted to the guard. He smiled enigmatically. 4 and she persisted, "What good is it? No one could possibly hear it?*' Then he explained, e need it during an air raid. We get the signal, all the machinery stops, the lights go out, sometimes it is very dark, everybody sits quietly at her place — all but one, and she goes to the piano and plays. Last time we had an air raid they all sang "Nearer My God to Thee." " He paused a minute, then he added, "That piano is a great comfort to us.'* The visitors turned and looked down the long rows of girls and women intent at their work, and felt that the courage of these British workers was worthy the best efforts that any organi- zation could give. That the Toung Women’s Christian Association is invaluable to the women of England has been proved in many ways. Wherever fac- tory conditions are undergoing changes the Association is there to help in the readjustment of the girls, and in centers long established its influ- ence never wanes. The Government realizes the Association's success and is backing it up in all its efforts to care for the physical, mental and spiritual lives of the vast army of women workers who are "sticking it out in the factories because Tommy is sticking it out in the trenches.” T HE morality and courage of the French women during the tragedies this war is bringing them have gained our admiration and made us feel very near to them. Especially is this true since we are sending our manhood to fight side by side with theirs. In the trials both industrial and social which came with the war. the French felt the need for help and called upon the American Association. Secretaries were sent them and are continuing to go, their number at present being ninety-six. These are a strong link in the chain of friendship which binds our inter- ests to those of France. Through the establishment of social and recre- ational activities for munition workers, for those in government employ and for nurses, the Association is helping the womanhood of France to preserve its much needed courage and strength. Nurses, signal corps girls and those connected with the Red Cross find a bit of home in the Association foyers and a place to relax after the emotional and physical strain they are enduring. The loyal spirit of France is expressing itself a millionfold through its women, all of whom from the poorest peasant girl to the woman who until now knew nothing but luxury, are giving of their best efforts unstintingly. And what of the reconstruction period which will come after the war? — the rehabilitation of town after town, which already follows every retreat of the invader? The Voung ^ omen's Christian Association will have its part in this service, too. and great is the opportunity then for consecrated women. S EVEN American workers were in Russia establishing club centers in Petrograd. Moscow and Samara: but recently accompanied the lega- tions of the Allies when they were forced to take refuge in Stockholm. These secretaries are now eagerly awaiting the first opportunity to return to their work in Russia. The country is in such an unsettled con- dition that more than ever she needs our spiritual support for the thou- sands of women and girls suffering through the nation's tragedies. “When the anchors that faith has cast Are dragging in the gale, I am quietly holding fast To the things that cannot fail." 5 r I ''HE neutral countries of Europe afford peculiar opportunities for the work of the Young Women’s Christian Association. Sometimes it is to help women in transit from one country to another, sometimes to plant that which has been uprooted, sometimes to initiate volunteer workers, always keeping the established work vigorous and opening new opportunities. There is a growing desire for Bible study and spiritual help, a deeper longing for Christian unity among women. T^HERE may come times when the soul is so overwhelmed that it is “too tired to think, too tired to pray.” Perhaps that may be one reason why no requests have come this year from the Young Women’s Christian Associations in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Germany, Hun- gary, and Malta. All the more, then, it is our responsibility to carry their needs, with ours, to the Father “who giveth to all men liberally.” M ANY doors of opportunity in factory and business are beginning to open up to Moslem girls in Africa. They need safeguarding and training; they need Christian poise. The Association is already doing a great deal and hopes to press forward. A girls’ club has been started in Jerusalem. Two new secretaries have been sent out by the British Association to Egypt. South Africa now has a training center for workers and missionaries. Everywhere Association clubs are helping with Red Cross work. U NDOUBTEDLY very little organized Christian work has been pos- sible in Turkey these latter days; but there must be thousands scat- tered throughout that country who have received the light of God and who are remembering that “Tho’ sundered far by faith we meet around one common mercy seat.” It is surely hard for them to live out their ideals, and dangerous for them to give Christian service to other women. A USTRALASIA is responding wonderfully to the efforts of the Asso- ciation, both in town and city. Many new buildings have been erected where the work is going forward enthusiastically with Bible study classes, lunch and rest rooms, and classes in hygiene and physical training. As the work of the Travelers’ Aid has increased many volun- teer workers have come forward to assist the women and girls, who are traveling in greater numbers than ever before. The nation-wide inter- est in the League of Honour, the larger summer conferences, the Train- ing School for Secretaries, the “Australian Women’s Quarterly,” the plans for opening a Y. W. C. A. Australasian Hut in France, the call for an Australasian Secretary for Singapore, and the supporting of a student secretary in India and a city secretary in China — these are marks of the past year’s advance. “TYELIGION in everything” is the ideal of the Honolulu Association, whether in the regular routine or in the newly organized Patriotic League, War Work Council, and Hostess Houses. One thousand a month is the record for club attendance, — small girls, large girls, yellow, brown and white. Their activities cover Work, Play, Love and Worship. The Hawaiian girls by entertainments raised one hundred and sixty dollars for wool which they have converted into socks and sweaters for soldiers. One club has undertaken the education of a little Chinese orphan girl 6 Miss Elizabeth Zachariah, recently appointed student secretary for Mad- ras, is the first Indian woman to hold this position. Probably th is small mother now holds a strand of yarn and l(nits socks and sweaters for her soldier husband in France. How close together we feel these days over the thought of a strand of yarn! ( 1 ) Miss Talfa Kato, graduated from National Training School in 1915 , is general secretary in Tokyo. ( 2 ) Miss Lee, graduated from Tokyo Higher Normal School in 1916 , a Chinese member of the Japanese Y. W. C. A., was given a farewell party as she left for America to study in the Chicago University. ( 3 ) Miss Yuri Walanabe, gradu- ated from Earlham College in 1916 , is student secretary in Tokyo. in Nanking. In fact, the Association in Hawaii is teeming with activity: the women of the Islands are on tiptoe as their vision pierces beyond the blue horizon and they join hands with Christian women the world over. E ARLY in the war the Young Women’s Christian Association in India recognized its duty to the English and Australasian nurses coming there. In 1916 the first Nurses’ Club was opened in Bombay, since which time three clubs have been started in Mesopotamia, where the summer temperature reaches 130 in the shade, where mosquitoes, sandflies and other pests make life almost unbearable and nerves are stretched nearly to the breaking point. The Nurses’ Club with its piano and books, its attractive furnishing and dainty tea rooms, has been a real boon to many a woman serving her Empire in its time of need. A club for Indian nurses has been started in Bombay. There, also, the Government has given over to the supervision of the Association three establishments to be used as homes for women in Government service. Bible women are working among the 22,000 factory girls in the Bombay cotton mills. Two secretaries have been released for work among the soldiers, and military authorities are asking for more help. The Colombo Association has been hostess for hundreds of nurses landing at that port and recently has established a playground for the children in one of the poorer districts. “Service” has taken on a wonderful new meaning to hundreds of women in India. The war has brought into their lives a vision that never can fade. In the last four years the doors into a wider, fuller life have swung open too far to close again. India is a garden of love- liness choked with weeds. Laborers are needed who shall uproot the cruelty and ugliness, and care for the tender plants. “Send us leaders!” is the plea from women of all communities. Mohammedan, Parsee, Sikh, and Christian women have sent their men to fight for Europe’s freedom; have responded to the call of their Empire, and have busied themselves in every variety of war work. Not only do they need leaders now, but when peace comes an outlet must be provided for their awak- ened minds and spirits, for they cannot go back to the old life and ways. Shall their call go unheeded? Shall these new impulses and desires be allowed to dissipate? The Young Women’s Christian Association stands ready to answer, “Here am I; send me.” A ND what of China during these days of world upheaval? That she has placed herself with those forces which are seeking to establish the rule of justice on earth is symbolized by the five-barred flag of the republic which floats over New York’s “Avenue of the Allies.” Has that symbol any reality behind it in the spirit of the women of that great land? That those who have a chance to hear of how they may help “do their bit” respond gladly is evidenced by the group of fifty who meet from week to week at the Shanghai Association to roll band- ages for the American Red Cross. Their deftness and exactness make the bandages among the best that are turned in. Then there are those college girls in Peking who have done such a splendid piece of social service in “giving a chance” to thirty small children from the flooded 8 country district whose families had lost everything. When the president of the college suggested to the students that they might undertake the entire responsibility for a group of refugee children they responded most eagerly and started in at once to secure funds by holding a meeting to which outsiders as well as students were invited. Their dramatic powers coupled with their enthusiasm produced a sufficient financial response to warrant the bringing in of the little refugee children. They were housed in some buildings just outside the college compound and here they were taken care of — body, mind and spirit — by the college girls. This meant the giving up of free hours that would ordinarily he given to personal pleasure in order that the little refugees might be taught the Chinese equivalent for a b c’s, the necessity for bathing, and other equally interesting and heretofore unsuspected joys. When visiting their compound in company with one of the college students it was hard to tell which gladness was greater, that of the children as they sang lustily one of the hymns they had just been taught, or that of the “older sister” who had caught the joy of service. One of the Chinese secretaries of the Peking Association gave a month to helping in one of the refugee camps and was so gripped with the needs there that on her return she personally interviewed govern- ment officials and was the means of securing a grant of $5000 for extra relief in that camp. In other Associations, the members have started schools and playgrounds for some of the children who would otherwise be begging or quarreling on the streets. Are these not evidences of a desire to give of self — the kind of giving that makes for justice and good will? One does not have to look far to discover unlimited opportunities for such giving. Make your way through one of the courtyards of the factory where between two and three thousand women, of ages ranging from twelve or fourteen years to nearly eighty, are employed in making soldiers’ garments. They sit on the ground as close together as their work permits, — in the open courts when it is warm enough, inside the ill-ventilated shelters during the winter months, for a wage not more than eight cents for a ten-hour day. There are other factories, too, em- ploying women, match factories, silk and cotton factories and for them also must there be justice. Is there not an even greater challenge than before the war to share in leading the movements which stand for equal opportunities for all God’s children, that there may not be the future heart-breaking need in China that exists in Europe today? The after- noon sun across the Avenue of the Allies strikes with one shaft the flags of the two greatest republics. They are working together for justice. T HE war is having an increasingly marked influence in the life of Japan. Like the nations of the West she is facing bigger problems, greater opportunities and larger ideas today than she has ever met before. In industry there is greater activity, tremendous restlessness and a great factory problem. Six hundred thousand women in factory life without adequate protection and without Christian impulse is one phase of the situation. While it is true that the wages of laborers have increased, the cost of living has risen quite out of proportion, and the recent rice riots have been much more serious than the papers have told. The industrial activity due to the Avar is causing redistribution of popu- 9 lation. Two hundred people a day are moving into Osaka, and certain suburbs of Tokyo have become huge industrial centres, the majority of the workers women and girls. Many girls are leaving home to go into industry, many other girls and smaller children are left alone at home while both parents are away at work. The Young Women’s Christian Association in Japan is helping to solve some of these problems. By the opening of work in Osaka, Kobe and Kyoto, its opportunity is increased by about a million women and girls. Two secretaries are to be in Kyoto this winter for language study. Kobe is to be opened by a secretary who was for several years w r orking among Japanese women in California; this makes another link in the emigration chain from Japan through Honolulu to the West coast of the United States. Everything that the Association can do to prepare Jap- anese girls for the Western life will help cement the chain of real friend- ship between our two nations. The Osaka Association was organized in the spring of 1918 after preliminary work of but six months, with the Christian “Iron Woman of Japan” at its head. The first public meeting w 7 as attended by a thou- sand women and girls, and the preparations, including preliminary scrubbing of the hall, were all made by the new members of the board, some of whom never did manual work at home. The meeting itself was an inspiration and a challenge for the years to come. A very com- mon question of the women of Osaka is, “What is the Tokyo Association doing? We can do that!” The Tokyo Association, with a much larger industrial population than Osaka, is emphasizing for the immediate future, work in one of its large suburbs, Oji, which has more than 12,000 women in its factories. ^ hen planning a meeting for the girls in one of the factories last spring the authorities advised the Association not to give any religion in their program because Buddhist and other religious agencies had tried it and the girls had been bored. This was accepted as a challenge and the most interesting program possible w 7 as worked out, including the teach- ing of some hymns to the girls and a Christian talk which lasted forty minutes and held the undivided attention of the girls. After the meet- ing games were played, toward the end of wdiich some of the girls asked permission to give a folk-dance which a few 7 of their number years earlier had learned and taught to each succeeding generation of factory girls. The Association people could hardly tear themselves aw 7 ay from the girls even after two hours and a half. Besides w 7 ork for girls living in the factory dormitories, there must be work for girls living at home or boarding, and welfare work including day nurseries and visiting nurses. Two other classes of girls whom the Tokyo Association wants to help in a much larger way are the girls in business and telephone offices and the hundreds coming from the country to take up nursing. Their education has been meager and their ambitions have had but little guidance. Often shy and unsophisticated, they do not easily find friends and homelike surroundings. The Tokyo building is most effectively attracting girls and women to the Christian fellowship of the Associ- ation. A Japanese pastor when asked his opinion as to the future of Association work in another city said that he expected little from it until it could have a building, a visible sign and seal of its invitation to girls. io The Yokohama Association has been developing bigger work for the students in the government schools, besides the special work for business girls and girls preparing to come to America. Another line of work done here is that for Chinese girls living in the city, girls who for the most part have nothing to occupy themselves with as they are merely living with their families employed in business in Yokohama. Both Tokyo and Yokohama Associations have had their share in relief work for the war. Garments have been made for soldiers in Mesopotamia, bandage rolling for Red Cross has been a regular em- ployment, and now the call has come from Vladivostok for work for the 5,000 women and girls who are refugees from Russia. This is aside from the needs of Russian women already in Yokohama. With the “squads of American engineers, British army officers, Red Cross parties, Russian, Persian, Armenian and Rumanian refugees, groups of Ameri- can Y. M. C. A. secretaries going to or returning from Russia, occa- sionally a secretary of our own Association,” perhaps few spots not ( 1 ) First Aid for South America ! This employee is helping her company co-operate with the United States in supplying beef for the Allies. ( 2 ) Red Cross service, expanding horizon, Christian fellowship, these are the rungs by which many Chinese women are climbing into the sunlight. directly in the war regions meet with such variety, and Yokohama catches the reflex currents from all parts of the world. If the Association can do a good piece of industrial work in Tokyo, the largest industrial centre in the country; if it can show worth-while work for girls in business, for nurses, for students: the same work can and will follow' readily in other large centres. Our Association commit- tees are made up almost wholly of Japanese women. We have a Jap- anese national secretary, a Japanese general secretary in Tokyo and in Yokohama, a Japanese student secretary and other workers — but other cities are asking for the Association, wanting to do whatever has already been done, and we must have a much larger staff than is even in sight now. The biggest need is for leaders, most of all Japanese leaders, and without more American secretaries they can not be trained to take the responsibility and the leadership that is and w'ill be theirs. C ONNECTED with our own Continent by nature and by commerce is South America, so much like the United States in climate and re- sources, and yet so different in customs and ideals. The problem con- fronting women is appalling. The home, as w r e know it, is rare, women are but little trained in home-craft and men seek their amusements elsewhere. Literature and conversation are often tainted with false moral ideas. Spiritual standards are very much in need of correction. Girls plunge into a life of business and pleasure without thought of what the future has to offer or require. And yet they are not indifferent to their own needs; more and more, as South America is drawn closer to the heart of the world, these women beyond the Equator are learning about other women and they want the opportunities that have helped others. As our sister-continent becomes more involved in world trade, the need for Christian Association work there becomes more impera- tive, the call for it more urgent, the readiness of South American women for cooperation more spontaneous. We have three secretaries in Argen- tine, but what are they among so many? “We have a little sister. What shall we do for our little sister in the day when she shall be spoken for?” A ND so, in days of stress and agony, the Christian women of the world are weaving the three-fold cord of faith divine, hope eternal, and love unceasing. As the pine forest is overthrown and buried deep beneath the broken mountain, and under the load sinks down until all the billows and waves have gone over it; so the nations are suffering under the avalanche of war; but the waters wash away the earth and decay and the golden sunshine absorbed by the dark pine forest floats again to the sur- face in the form of translucent, glowing amber. So it will be with the world when the war is over. “Wherefore we faint not: but though our outward man is wasting away, yet our inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is for the moment, worketh for us more and more an eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. Yea, I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed to us-ward.”