Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1918-01-04
ARMY HAS MANY READERS.
Rudyard Kipling Is the Most Popular
Writer With Robert Service and Wells
Comes Next.


The American army in France is a
reading army, according to Alfred Nj.
Brace, supervisor Of journalism at the
state University of South Dakota, in
an article on CELEBRATES for Ameri-
cans in Franco.
Rudyard Kiplng is the most popu
lar writer among the cxpcditionary
forces. Robert w. Service is second.
IT.. G. Wells is third, with Robert Louis
Stevenson close fourth. a tally vi
thc call for special books has been
| kept hy workers in the Y. NJ. C.. a.
| libraries, and this statement is based
on their iipUrcs.
Though the great call is for fiction,
| 'highhrow' books are also i'll great
demand. Works Oh French history and
life and technical books are especially
sought after In writing Of these IL
brarics Mr.. Brace says:
"Thc book stores of France and
England are being ransacked to sup
ply the American soldiers in France
with reading material for the winter.
Twenty thousand books of fiction and
general interest have recently been
purchased i'm England by the American
Y. NJ. c. A. to help meet the persist
American bases and are to be distrib.
uted by the library department of the
Y. NJ. c. i. through the red triangle
huts.
"Mr. W. b. Briggs, assistant librari-
an Of Harvard university and repre-
sentative ia France of the American
Library as,ocia;ioh, is i'll charge of the
problem OF distribution aud is making
large plans to supply the literature that
The soldiers are calling for.
"Owing to the fact that the supply
Of English books in France is small,
arrangements are being made by the
Y. NJ. c. a. TO meet the growing needs
by securing the supplies from England
when emergency orders are required,
and from America for steady stream
: of books through the American Ii.
brarv association.
, "Thc varied demands from the
T. American ha'' camps for reading ma
d trrial shows great range in taste and
u education, and very pronounced de.
10 sire On the part Of the soldiers to i'm
g prove their minds while in France. \
section Of the American ambulance men
o serving the French army have request
y eel Grc2% and Latin grammars and
= Caesar s commentaries. They propose
T. TO form claS} 10 study the Roman
" campaigns in Gaul, where the larger
e. campaigns Of the present war are being
e fought
!. Clocks on the different branches Of
the military service are being frequent
g ly asked for 10y enlisted men who de-
Il Sire to study in preparation for cxami-
nations for advancement i'll the army.
= There has been n large call, as well,
e. for elementary high school textbooks,
1t algebras. English grammars, arithmc-
Is ties, %comctrcH, dictionaries, and his
&C., tories. y letter was recently received
L n the Paris hcadduartcrs from n rcd
1t triangle secretary Somewhere in
1t France 1T read: we have 200 men
l. andsno books Send us aa4algebra"and
" trieonomctry.
"Thc American soldiers from the
n day they landed on French soil have
n shown keen interest in everything
ld French. The largest number of re-
oil quests for books has been for those
De dealing with French history and things
FRENCH From every available source
French grammarS, easy lessons i'll
French, and French-Englsh dictionaries
have been sought out to provide the
soldiers with means to study the
IL French language and the supply doe:
not keep pace with the demand. French
90 history and biography and DESCRIPTIVE
= hooks in modern France are also N
~. largc demand.
- "The American soldiers GROVE
-: around the maps Of Franco ON Che
- walls and will soon wear and rub then
=, ont OF all recognition. The library de
partmcut of the y. NJ. C.. A. has place.
&. an order for ten thousand copies of
- handy edition of hooks of maps of til,
- western front and for ten thousan,
~ pocket Biographies of Europe. a large
-, number OF outline maps have also been
~ ordered aud will be used in modern
80. war geography classes i'll the huts THU
-" winter.
~ "Books on the war; on European
II? history, ON aviation and submarine war
~ fare, technical books, history. astrOno
~. my and psychology are being called 70
''' in large numbers. Fiction, especial,
short stories, and humorous books ar
~ in demand.
.T "Thc largest number of requests 70
w. a single author thus far have beer
Nv those for the works of Rudyard Kip
Nv ling. Other writers whom the request
~ show to he most popular with the mel
80 nrc Robert w. Service, II. G. Wells an,
" Il. l.. Stevenson.
I"' "A red triangle secretary statione,
", at an American base camp recent,
P made n li,t Of the enquiries for book
''us that he had from group of American
~ soldiers who frcqucntcd the hut o
which he was in charge. 1t was II
VI" follows:
'"' Maps of France; A History o
=" the Civil Wan; August lIare's Walk
~ in Paris; Alechras; Gcometries; Trigo
Il" uom,tric.; William Cullen Bryant
49, rocma; Robinson CruSoe; The Life o
re- General 'thincsc' Gordon; Life d
Sir Philip Sydney; Longfcllow
~ Poems; Tcnnyson 5 Poems; Alan Soc
on cara Poems; Caesars Commentaries
NJ l.at English Dictionary; Hugo
4 French Grammals, and French-Engls
" Pocket Dictionaries.
eft --------------------
~" Amt Ii a Shame