South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1919-06-24

propriety demands that the best
thing" and the most encouraging ex-
periences 90 publicly unwritten. .
However, IN the interests Of the
Gospel of Christ. of which gospel +
am an am bassador. and that due
credit may be given TO the soldier
men 10 whom we are privileged TO
speak we venture a few more or less
personal statements.
5000 at Religious Service.
Night before last we conducted n
religious service in the Y NJ. c. A
auditorium hat the largest hut Of
any organization at Camp Pontan-
ezen. There was no attraction pre-
ceding or following this meeting It.
was strictly a religious service and
was so announced and yet when Mr.
| RittenhOuse, singer. arose promptly
at 1880 D. m. TO commence the song
| service that auditorium. which holds
I about 5000. was filled with many
standing. 1t the close Of the song
/ service during which those soldiers
sang as only such body Of men can
| sing we brought them a message on
Gods Measure OF Man" closing
with an appeal for men TO dedicate
| themselves 10 God. 10 which some
| 500 responded. Last night we con-
Quoted service at the Connecticut
hut. where 1 was introduced by our
friend, L. L. Kindig of South Bend,
and where l had a response similar
\ TO the one at the auditorium hut. So
/ whether il be "A sermon or lecture
/ j find that without a single eXcep-
/ tion the soldiers are the most re-
! sponsive body of men that I have
I ever had the privilege Of addressing
I I feel 1 ought 10 say this that the
1 folks back home" might know the
/ truth in regard to the members Of
/ the a. +. +.
Entertainers Render Service.
The entertainer has rendered
I valuable service 10 the army. There
! have been many entertainers we are
/ glad 10 say who have understood just
\ the kind of program that would be
! most helpful TO the average Ameri-
can soldier in France. There have
! been, however. we regret TO
state two classes of entertainers who
have misunderstood the soldier
The first class of entertainers have
| thought that the average member Of
I the A r. r. cared only for some
I thing light and foolish. They have
thought that their duty on the plat
form was simply TO tickle and
amuse," as the soldier did not care
for anything that would make him
think
I a lady entertainer-a reader -
having heard that the writer had
the temerity to speak 10 a company
Of 1000 soldiers upon the subject Of
! Jean Val Jean" remarked 4 am
surprised 10 learn that YOU would
/ address a lot of dough boys on such
"A heavy and serious subject Why.
my elocution teacher in New York
warned me before leaving for France
that l must not read anything only
something foolish and silly as that is
what the boys want. So l have fol-
lowed his advice and have given
them nothing but a lot of crazy fool
ish stuff"
Doughboys Like Serious stuff"
And also she is only one of "a class
do not know that while the average
! American soldier enjoys good
Z laugh yet at least occasionally he
desires something of a different ma
ture This class does ont know that
the soldier Is frequently as we'll ed
ucated as the entertainer and that
he is "a reader of high grade litera-
tUre This class does not know that
should read the copy of The Stars
and Stripes the official newspaper
OF the a. r. r.. which lies before me.
In speaking of the American SOL
der this paper OF today's issue says
His language may be a fearful mix
ture OF American, English. French.
German and army vonacular but in
spite OF il all the library records
prove that Old John W. Doughboy
is highbrow
The average American population
reads mostly fiction Monthly Ii
brary statistics i'm the United States
show the balance all out OF proper
tion, the fiction readers are seveal
times as numerous as the perusers Of
more serious books. But in the army
II IS The reverse. or at least the bal
ance Is about equal
Soldiers Read To Learn.
The Coblenz American Library
association librarian SAYS her soldier
patrons take ont more non-hctiol
. than hcti0n books or course. the
fact that text books and reference
books are sought for use in the army