The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1918-09-29
WOUNDED AND WELL
SOLDIERS WANT BOOKS
Many Soldiers and Sailors Want the
Classics to Rcad-Some Prefer
Popular Novels
ALI READERS PLEASED
The American Library Association
Esta blishcs Libraries in Hospitals
Camps. and Ships With Foreign
Languages Included.

He was a young Italian, soldier
in the American army He nao peen
wounded. but now he was Wen
enough to help in the domestic WORK
OF the big base hospital not far from
New York city There is free pooiic
library in the hospital. one OF tne
many libraries established in army
and navy camps, transports and hos
pitfalls, by the American library asso-
citation. Every minute of his hme'
when he Is not working the young
Italian soldier spends in readlhs. the
hospital reports. He has read many
volumes OF the classics, from LAME
Inferno" to Plutarch's Lives ana
Plato's Dialogues
In addition he has read three DO
graphies of Napoleon. Froudes tae
sar. Macauleys Lays of Ancleh'
Rome. Maeteriinck's Measure OF the
Hours. Hudsons Psychic Phenomena
and Maturin's Laws of Spiritual Lie
These books give something to think
about while he is sweeping the long
corridors of the hospital. 4 sweep.
he saws, but" he adds proudly,
This is the United States Army"
Not all soldiers read the classics,
but they all, or nearly all read some
thing. Most of the foreign born want
to read books in their own language
and books to learn English. Every
library In the camps and hospitals
supply these needs
At Camp Funston, Kansas there are
an unusually large number OF foreign
born soldiers, and the library Is well
supplied with foreign anguage 1T
erature. I'VE have books in Fre
German, Spanish. Modern Greek,
Yiddish. Norwegian. Swedish, Poiisn
Roumanian, Russian and Bulgarian,
reports the librarian in charge, ana
they are all in constant clrcuiaton.
Some Of these books are by native
authors and others are translanons
from English, for it is desirable tnat
our foreign born soldiers become "a
miliar with English and American
books The other day Greek boy
brought a book to the Librarians desk
to be charged. The librarian, not be-
ing able to read Greek. asked the
boy what the book was !.
why don't you known" exclaimed
the soldier TITS Sherlock Holmes
These translations are extremely
useful to the soldiers who are try
ing to learn to read English. They
will read book in their own IAN
guage and then tackle the same book
in English. Knowing what the story
is about makes it easier to read.
| Knowing this. the librarian at Camp
Gordon, Alabama, got several copies
! OF Robinson Crusoe" for use among
the foreign born soldiers who knew
| little English. Almost every one read
| the immortal Crusoe in his native
languag e. and 1t was a good book for
| them to make the basis OF English
/ study.
| The greatest demand for foreign
! language books are from Poles,
French. Spanish Jewish. Russian and
! italian soldiers. About the stiffest re-
quest the library association has had
SO far was for the Arabian Nights
In the original Arabic. A professor
in Columbia University was appealed
to, and before long the homesick
soldier from the far east got the pre-
cious book OF stories his heart craYed
We have at least forty nationalities
represented in our great American
army and while we hope, when the
army gets back to the United States
every man in it will be speaking En-
glish huently, there is no desire &c
make him forget the language he
| learned at his mothers knee. Above
all there is no desire to wean him