Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1915-07-20
WAR PRISONERS
ENTERTAINED BY
OPERA FAvOR|TE
\BS Associated Press.)

Paris opera tenor, in wooden shoes.
dirty, mud-streaked trousers and 8
threadbare brown sweater vest, sing
! ing arias from La Tosca Mignon and
the Barber of Seville on a rude wooden
stage whose scenery" consisted
one rudely painted drop and a few
stripes of colored paper, to an audi
ence of five hundred French and Bel
gian soldiers, all of them as dirty as
he, was one of the entertaining incl
dents which the Associated Press cor
respondent encountered on his visit to
the great war prisoners camp at Goet-
tingen.
Jean Many, until last August tenor
of the Opera de la Gate Lyricque il
Paris, was the singer. 1t is doubtful
If in his best role b : ever sang better
than he is singing now, seven or more
times week, that prison life may be
more endurable for the thousands Of
his fellow prisoners.
The opera at Goettingen has its own
orchestra which consists of a pianist
on the stage in his shirt sleeves and
down among the audience. English
soldiers in khaki as violinists and cor
netists, Belgians as f1utists. French
men as cellists and Frencm lawyer as
leader.
1t is noteworthy that the Russians
who are present in the camp in large
numbers, neither are represented
among the musicians nor attend the
concerts to any extent. AS in every
other camp, they prove to be willing,
automatic, husky workers who have
little interest in anything, but eating
all they can when they come back to
camp at night, and in loafing in dull
satisfaction afterward
Prof. STANCE of the University Of
Goettingen, the friends of every soldier
interned regardless of national, is the
"instigator' of the concerts; he is
president of the tiny university at the
camp and instructor of most of the
classes; he is supervisor of the four
language library; he is editor-i chief
of the French newspaper and will hold
the same position on the English jour-
nal that is contemplated and, above
all, he is the confidant of Russians,
French, Belgians, Flemish, English an l
Canadians
Goettingen camp lies high up on the
hillside above the charming university
town which many Americans know so
well. The camps 81 wooden barr
racks Its four huge kicthens, fou-
canteens, store rooms and hospital
buildings are laid out symmetrically,
with broad, paved street in the mid
RI Ia NeT % sa1N al. 4.
oughfares lead. The hillside location
has facilitated the work of making and
keeping the camp sanitary The soil
is hard clay, and deep drains from
top to bottom have been built in the
earth. They lead to the outskirts Of
the camp, and here connec with the
sewerage system of the town of Goet-
tingen proper.
From the start the greatest care has
been paid to hospital arrangements.
Earlier in the war, when big batch Of
Russians was brought in, cholera was
discovered. One of the prisoners was
dead when the train arrived, and SO
more died later. That was the begin
ming of an isolation camp that has
been extended until today there are
rooms for typhoid, tuberculosis, scar
let fever and other communicable dis
eases.
"Goettingen has the some tremendous
influx of letters and packages that
other camps have. The staff of CEN
sors read $4,000 outgoing letters and
cards, $4,000 incoming messages every
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