The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-01-02

that some of the others read aloud.
These are some of the facts given
by Theodore Wesley Koch of the Ii.
brary of Congress, who has spent
much time in London and Europe
since the war began, to illustrate the
urgent need that soldiers have for
reading matter In former wars many
of the fighters have been illiterates,
but this is war of educated men, of
moderns who have lived by print as
much as by bread, and miss nothing
so much as the morning newspaper
and the evening magazine or book.
In England there is a famine of the
cheaper editions of books caused by
the insatiate demand from the front
What the soldier wants is some
thing to make him forget what he is
going thru. He often prefers maya
zines published before the war to the
more up-to-date ones which are filled
with accounts of what he is daily liv-
ing. Fiction, of course, is what he
wants most of all, and modern tales
of adventure, mystery and love are
perhaps most in demand; while the
old masters of storytelling, like Scott
and Dickens, are reported to have
vogue in the trenches which they
seem to be losing at home.
But fiction is not the only thing in
demand. Many of the men who are
interned or wounded have chance to
study for the first time in their lives
it. Thus one private was made SUI
premely happy by a book on gas-fit-
ting, and was confident that when he
came back to civilian life he would be
better equipped for his trade.
musician, who had never read much,
got hold of a copy of Browning, and
discovered that his training had given
him a keen appreciation of the music
of words. He is now reading Keats
| and Shelley, and always has a volume
Sta ard iolx n
pocket.
The first organized attempt to sup
ply the British forces with books was
cured the use of great English man
sion for the purpose, and got the CO.
operation of the newspapers. Books
came in by the million, filling the halls
and stairways. A professional librarian
| had to be called in to sort and cata-
logue them. There was everything
among the contributions from stand
ard works in rare bindings to the
merest rubbish. Hint to Mothers,
and 'Meditations Among the Tombs,"
| Talks About Dressing" and barrels
full of old sermons were among the
things that some people thought the
soldiers might like to read. Or maybe
| the owners wanted to get rid of them.
Drays had to be requisitioned to haul
away this junk. Persons who want to
send books to soldiers are urged to
send things they themselves have en-
| joyed. Kipling. Jack London, Conan
| Doyle, Florence Barclay and Hall
, Game are among the we'll known au-
thors that are sure fire" in the
| trenches. I
| Travel and history also take Men
at Salonika wanted histories of Greece,
for example. The soldiers travels Of
ten inspire him with new interest
fin the wide world. Text books of
languages are also welcome can
talk pretty good Russian now" wrote
one sailor, but not with their gram
f, mar"
@The British Prisoners of War Book
Scheme" which is also described by
Mr.. Koch, is perhaps the most re-
markable educational movement that
has grown out of the war. 1t was
started by three Englishmen who were
iinterned at Ruhleben in Germany
They wrote to some of their friends in
England, asking that they be sent
books which would enable them to
put in their time in serious study. One
| of the friends to whom this appeal
was addressed was Mr.. Alfred T. Da-
Ivies, permanent secretary of the
Welsh department of the board of
education. He set out to organize a
system for supplying educational
books to Englishmen interned in Ger
many. The problem he faced was
difficult one, since the men interned
included all sorts from day laborers
and jockeys to professional men and
technical specialists An appeal to
the public for books, however, brought
an enormous assortment of material.
Within the first year, nine thou
sand books of an educational nature
were sent to Ruhleben, where four
| thousand civilians were interned. The
whole camp was organized into an
educational institution. Among the
variety of subjects were found. The
pupils were roughly grouped into
three classes; those who had been
preparing for some examination when
they were informed, whether for the
| civil service, the merchant marine, or
for a college degree; those who al
ready had entered upon a commercial
or professional career; and those who
were bent on following some form of
learning for it's own sake, such as
antiQuarians and scientists.
This particular camp has subse-
quently won ! the sobriQuet of the
university of Ruhleben," and the
claim is made that much solid e1u-
cational work is going on at this camp
| of prisoners as in any university in the
British empire. This certainly seems
to be an idea worth promoting The
| work of most of the universities in
| Europe has been interrupted by the
| war. Students and professors are in
the ranks or doing other necessary
| war work. AUTHORIZATIONS in our own
universities were much lighter this
year because of the great number of
students who had been enlisted or
drafted. Only medical and divinity
students have been exempted. If the
war goes on another three or four
years, the work that universities do
for civilization will be as completely
interrupted in this country as in
Europe But something of the loss
NAV be saved if prisons and hospitaIs
and camps can be organized for edu-
cational purposes. In fact, it would
seem that something positive might be
gained, for the kind of education
offered at Ruhleben. instead of being
bound by precedent and tradition, is
determined by the needs and requests
| of the pupils Every man who has