To the Editor of the Crimson:

By way of introduction let me state that I am a graduate of Harvard College, Class of 1925, who is now on active duty as a Chaplain of the United States Naval Reserve. My present assignment is as Chaplain on board the USS Solace, the newest and finest hospital ship of the U. S. Navy.

I am writing you at this time to ask your cooperation in a matter of vital national defense, maintaining the high morale of our men in the service. The Solace, the first hospital ship to be added to the U. S. Navy since World War days, has been fitted out as a modern 432 bed hospital, the equal of the most completely equipped hospital of its size on shore. While the Bureau of Navigation has supplied us with as many books as it has been able to do, I think you can appreciate the fact that the men in Sick Bay, in the various wards, etc., need almost a different book each day in order to keep them occupied and amused. In other words, there is a big demand for books. Since we have men on board from Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, Columbia, Penn., etc., nearly every kind of book is in constant use. When a man is on the Sick List and is several thousand miles away from home, when our ship is at sea for days at a time, a book or magazine is a real luxury even if it is several years old.

We would appreciate it very much if you could in some way appeal to the patriotism of the student body, and ask them to hand in to you any book or magazine (Popular Science, National Geographic, Saturday Evening Post, Liberty, Colliers, etc.) with which they have finished, and which they would be willing to pass on to some service man who is in Sick Bay. I honestly know of no finer way undergraduates can help at this time than the one I have just mentioned.

The matter of getting the books to us would be a very simple one. Simply send the books and magazines contributed in a wooden box or boxes to The Supply Officer, Navy Yard, Boston, Mass., for further transfer to Chaplain C. D. Chrisman. USS SOLACE, by first available Government Transportation. I am counting on the Harvard undergraduates to stand by us at this time of national crisis.

Thanking you in advance for any inconvenience may cause you, I remain, Very truly yours.   CHARLES DANA CHRISMAN.   Li.(jg) ChC-V(S), USNR.