Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-03-19
INTERESTING PERSONAL AND SOCIAL NEWS
DON CARRUTHERS
IN ARMY WORK
Writes From Peking, China
of Visiting Interned Aus
trians in Camp

Donald w. Carruthers, son of Mr.
and Mrs. James B. Carruthers, this
city, writes from Picking, China,
where he is engaged in the work of
the Army Y. NJ. C. A. for Legation
Guards, called the Princeton Work
in Peking," as follows:
Dear Family:
To-day is the day when the house.
hold god in the Chinese household
goes up to Heaven to report on the
bad deeds of the past year that have
taken place in the home. The chi
nese think that if they put sugar
over his mouth and place piece OF
candy therein that he will be una ol e
to open his mouth and thus they Will
be spared having their family mis-
deeds brought to light. 1t seems
rather tragic that the Chinese people
imagine that they can fool the pow
ers that be so easily. ] believe many
times in our own religious life we
try to fool ourselves into believing
we are playing the game on the leve..
This is very hard time for the ma
tive Christians for they have to be
unwilling to worship their ancestral
tablet. A Y. NJ. c. \. man in the
language school said that his teacher
came to him and said that If he
made the step toward becoming u
Christian he would have to break
with his family and about thirty of
his relatives. This step of going ia
to the church in China, although per-
haps in some cases a mere matter
of outward form, yet>it means real
sacrifice. The teacher was told that
he must make the decision for lnn-
self and he in the end might be used
as a powerful example if he decided
to come through
On Friday I rode outside the city
on my eX-marine steed, about ten
miles to the camp of the interncd
Austrian guard of $50 men. The
work of the Army Y. NJ. c. A. is still
international and so it was my fun3-
ton to see how the men were set
ting along. One of the men whom
had known quite we'll before was
anxious that I should visit him and
so l cid. They are quartered in
Chinese barracks and have every
thing that one could desire with the
exception of liberty and of course
this is a much wanted privilege at
this time. One man who was the
machinist on the battleship before
she was scuttled in Using Tau, has
been working on a model of steam
engine for the past seventy-siX hours.
Another is also working on the same
kind of work. One of the men in
the band at present is arranging 'nu-
sic and composing as well as in
structing male chorus. | Went
through the barracks and saw many
of the men who formerly came to
the Y. NJ. c. A. and they all appear
ed pleased to see me. One man
cracked his heels together in true
military fashion and came to smart
salute. The men thanked me very
graciously for coming out to see them
and on leaving told them that men
might be Christian brothers together
even though their nations were at
each others throats.
The German internment camp not
far from the Austrians is quite in
teresting l am told because of the
rigorous routine there enforced by
German systems of efficiency. to
S, breakfast; to 9, English; to 20,
mathematics; 10 to IL, Chinese: II
to 12, skating: 1880, dinner; 1.30 70
2-S0. afternoon nap; 3 to 4, singing
or band practice; to 5, soccer foot-
ball. ! am told that the time passes
very rapidly in this camp while there
is tremendous tagging in the camp
of the Austrians.
On Friday night I went to the ice
carnival of the international ReCrea-
ton Club and had n tolerably good
time. There were many costumes,
even down to n man who skated in
side n paper stove, with smoke COM
ing out of the smoke pipe.