Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1917-08-06

we're able to enlist in the work Of the
| good idea Of the type of men in our
camps which we we're able to enlist
in the work of the association. HaV'
ing four camps to supervise, II was
Of course, impossible for me to re-
main in any one of them more than
few days at time and then would
be absent again for a week, conse'
quently 1t was necessary to put the
responsibility of the work upon these
committee men. l want to state
right here, that in all my experience
in Young Mems Christian Association
work and in church work, have never
found committees who applied them
selves more faithfully to their work
than did these men. In this part1cu'
lar group Of young men, sitting in
front Of the table at the left, is
young Russian physician, who had en-
tire charge of all our relief work in
that camp. His work was 30 highly ap-
preciated by the commanding general
that he was given absolute freedom.
More than once we took walks to-
gether to the nearby towns; as fine
a young man as I have met any
where. To my right is the general
chairman of the committee, an under
officer; to my left a very capable
college fellow, who had charge OF
the school. When l left he had sew
eral hundred men enrolled in half
dozen different classes and promised
me most faithfully that the three
months course which we had out
lined he would carry out to its COM
pletion. The young man standing just
back from the young doctor, with one
eye covered, is a professional music
ian from Moscow. wish you could
have heard him play the violin. He
also had charge of our orchestra and
more than once delighted not only
the prisoners but the Austrian off,
GERS as we'll with musical programs.
Among the other men in the group Is
the leader of our Glee Club; the II.
brarian, who had entire charge Of the
reading room; the electrician, who
operated our moving picture machine;
the manager Of our cooperative store
on the far right, and sitting in front
of the table at the right, my dear
young Jewish friend, "Helsin," who
spoke half a dozen languages quite
fluently and acted as my Interpreter.
This gives You some idea as to
the organization that we were able
to perfect in each of the camps and
indicates also the lines of work which
we undertook among the prisoners.
Ny largest camp was one in which
/ 1000 Servian prisoners were con-
| IN
ganize five distinct groups so that in
stead Of one such committee, We had
in this camp five separate, entirely
distinct, organizations:
81. One among the Servian Off
GERS.
e. Another among the Kadets, or
young men of the student class, a
group of $50 Of the most interesting
men that l had in any camp.
"3. One among the civilians in
| termed. There were 1000 in this group
alone and among them we're some OF
the leading business and professional
men Of Belgrade.
| a. One among the group Of com.
mon soldiers among whom were the
poorest Of the poor.
IS. One among the hospital group.
At the time / left, 5000 out Of the
II, 900 were sick.
! Where shall begin to tell Of my
experiences in these various camps
So many incidents come up in ones
mind that he hardly knows which ones
to select. Perhaps l can do no bet.
ter than to illustrate with specific in,
cidents, the response which the vari-
Gus lines Of activity which we were
able to undertake met among the
! men.
The day that we opened our H.
brary and reading room at my princi-
pal camp and the camp to which was
first assigned at the beginning of
October, l shall never forget. The
men seem starved for something to
read. 1t was a Sunday afternoon;
from o'clock until Z these Russian
prisoners stood in line patiently wait,
ing for their turn to get at the lit
tie window where the librarian was
handing out books. More than 1000
books were issued that afternoon. 1t
was pathetic to see how these men
priced these little volumes as they
went away hugging them to their
breasts. Before two weeks were over,
some Of the books had been read 10
! times.
What impressed one most of all
as he came into these camps was
the fact that a large part of the pris-
oners had clready, after their two
years Imprisonment, settled down in
to a hopelessness that was most de-
pressing The thing that seemed most
needed was that we should introduce
something into the life of the camp
that would stir up some hope again
in their breasts. II occurred IN ma
that If we could bring a piano INTO
the large reading room, we could close
each day with half an hour of music
and so l suggested to the music com.
mittee that from $3.50 until 9 they
put on a brief concert, and asked
whether it might not be possible to
get some men to sing their folk song
and home melodies. You ran hardly