The Monticellonian., 1918-03-22
$500 GERMAN PRISONERS OF
 WAR IN THE UNITED STATES
Officers Men From the Vessels nerned at the Beginning of the War and Men Arrested Alien Enemies Since the United States Entered the War Are Being Treated
 in Most Humane Manner.

! And the Germans have been per mitted to find amusements for them selves. They have developed life of their own. They developed it and perfected it until what a few months ago was merely an internmeHt camp has now become center of every kind of activity. On the river banks q German village was laid out. It is suggestive of old Heidelberg. the | crooked streets of Nurnberg. or some little village in the Black mountains. One almost forgets that one Is in the mountains of North Carolina as he walks along the narrow. crooked streets Of this German village. fanked an either side hy artistic playhouses built by the men themselves. The houses are not for living in. although i ingenious stoves have been built to keep them warm from stones picked up along the riverside. And the houses themselves are made from scraps of lumber. from broken branches of trees. from little pieces of wood. They are shingled with tin cans and are papered within and tinted at very little expense.
 At the head of the roadway is miniature Gothic church. Its lines are good; it has pews within It. pulpit. and all the accessories of q church. But it is merely a play church. Flow CTS of all kinds are planted, and in short time the German village was q flower garden And when this work | was completed the men who had con structed these buildings organized classes for study. One Of these houses is an artists studio; two or three are cabinetmaking shops. Some old men are weaving They are plying all the trades that they learned in their idle hours on shipboard Wonderful mo- saic work made out of cigar boxes Is turned out. as are little ships complete l in every detail.
 Y. M. c. A. Takes Hold.
 The Young Mems Christian assoeia 1 Springs, as 1t has followed our sol diers to their cantonments. and it came with plans for service. with money enough to buy lumber. but no money l for labor and the representative of the Young Mems Christian association called number of the German sea men together in their camp and asked them if they would be willing to build 4 Young Mems Christian association building if supplied with material and toolS Immediately the men organized q construction squad. They gave their 1 labor gratuitously. They erected a big building. probably POO by 150 feet, ar tistically designed. as clubroom and sehoolhouse, and immediately all the classes were filed Four hundred men were immediately enrolled. The Ger mans produced their own teachers. 1 Classes were established in elementary and advanced English Other classes were formed in French and in Span ish. Shorthand, geography, chemistry. marine engineering, and navigation are taught. All day and all evening these classes are at work studying various subjects.
 Similar classes were organized in the officers detention camp.
 The Young Mems Christian associa- ton has also stationed secretaries and inaugurated work at Fort Oglethorpe and Fort McPherson. Ga. and at Fort Douglas, Utah. They have cooper ated heartily with the government and have rendered most valuable serv- ice along the lines of work usually car ried on hy the religious, educational athletic, music, and gar dening.
 Life is irllsome in any camp. The men get what the doctors call the s.barbed-wire sickness" II affects mems minds to he kept in an inelosure with nothing to do. That k the most serious complaint.
 There have been but few attempts to escape, and the guarding of the prisoners is relatively easy.