The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1918-02-02

tV-OA ill III dALiy oAoNiPiAIC, dld
lightens the hard work of marching
and soldering immensely. Many a COM
mander has said that he does not fear
the outcome when an army goes into
battle singing. Already it has been
found that u soldiers are anxious to
sing under skillful leadership, and we
know that we must meet on the west
ern front an army that is not only the
most highly trained in the world in
military tactics, but also trained in
singing. A German regiment on the
march will sing in a way TO make ones
hair stand on end. The men will swing
along to a German song that runs
for six beats, and then will stop
abruptly for two beats, and sing Tor
four beats more and then stop four
beats. Every national resCurc that
we have in the way of ragtime and
college cheers will be needed when we
meet the trained singing soldiers of
the kaiser, and as we learn from them
in trench fighting and bombing, so we
must learn from them in this.
Idle Time Is Organized.
The other day a New York lawyer
who was a pacifst until war was de-
clared, but who now understands that
sometimes the best way to get peace is
to fight for it visited his brother who
is training in an eastern camp. He
found his brother hard and brown,
every inch a soldier, keen for the west
ern front, and glad to be in the army,
but he also found that his brother had
a great deal of time upon his hands
which it was difficult to use to advan-
tage. In civil life the kid brothers.
day can be pretty efficiently planned.
When he gets done at the Office or fac
tory he has sports and social interests.
can read or study, and make every half
hour count in a general scheme of
work, play, and self-improvement. In
the training camps there must be a
different scheme. Surroundings are not
always so favorable to study, and
many an hour which in civil life would
be utilized to some useful end is idled
away. But this idle time is also being
organized and in ways that not only
make for personal improvement but
for better citizenship. At some of the
environments it has already been dis
covered that hundreds of recruits cam
not read or write the English language.
They come from sections in the coun-
try settled by European immigrants
where the parents language has been
retained and contact with Americans
-. - 49,. r,,p;o;o-t C1ae-oc ~ INpn
lish have been started and when these
boys come out of the army they will
be American in speech and ideals. The
French language and French geography
are being widely taught because it has
been found that these studies make the
most direct appeal to recruits.
Then there are the sports. Many a
country boy who has lived far from
baseball and football and many a city
boy whose interest in boxing and wrest-
ling has found outlet only through
sporting pages of the newspapers will
find in camp not only the opportunity
to play these games for himself but to
| learn under a competent instructor.
Each camp will have one of the best
college coaches in the country, and the
| sports will be organized in a way to
give every recruit his chance to play
the game he likes and to excel in it.
Can Find congeniaI Pals.
There will be other attractions In
| camp for the kid brother. Suppose he
is a farm boy who has had few oppor-
tunities to get to town or few pals
when he got there, or suppose he is
that even more lonely chap, the boy
| who does not find his sort of pals in
the gangs around his neighborhood.
Turn him loose in a city of 10000 fell
lows his own age, with his play or
ganized as well as work, abundant out
door exercise, and good food, careful
medical attendance, supervision, and
personal hygiene. For the first time in
| his life he feels the fascination of team
| play, and has the benefit of associates
that will meet his very idea of what
! good pals should be. If he is red
headed, freckled, and Astounding in
rough boyish energy, and likes vigorous,
harmless deviltry, he will soon find
around him a gang of his W kind
larger than he ever hoped to see in his
life, and one hat will help him develop
his every aspiration, whether it be to
lead or to follow the lead. If he Is a
quieter boy with inventive or artistic
or literary tastes he can soon find con
genial fellows of his w way of think
ing, pals who probably understand
what is In him better than anybody he
has ever met-better than he under
stands himself.
With all these attractions 1t might
be thought hat the kid brother would
never want to leave camp, but he will.
and the director of training camp &C
~tiyities knows that he will, and has
provided for him intelligently. 1t has
been found that soldiers in camp will
go to town whenever they have an
hours free time.
When Uncle Sam set out to select
sites for his army environments last