The Indianapolis times., 1935-10-03
City Boys, Years in Vienna School,
Glad to Be Home So They Can Walk
on Grass and Play Regular Games
Brothers Warned Against
Talking Politics Abroad,
Spokesman Says.

or in the cheering section at Short
. rige High School football games this
season. He is Gaar Johnson, IA. son
Of Mr.. and Mrs. Fred Bates John
son 30 AIaple-ct.
Yeah Shortridgel7 yells Gaar.
with Just a suggestion Of German
+ accent.
But that accent doesn't mean that
f he is different than any other Amer
lean boy.
+ Despite four yearr during which
he and his 11-year-old brother,
Frank. studied in Vienna, his inter-
ests center around American boy
f activities.
/ Probably the most vigorous OBJ
7 lection he can register to the life of
a European schoolboy is the lack Of
f opportunity for outdoor play His
father Is a noted Indianapolis at
I tOrney and Mrs Johnson has
Travelled extensively in Europe.
Il wouldn't like to be an Austrian
boy" Gaar says. The don't really
play football over there. they have
round ball, and they kick goals. but
they don't have any teams like We
90. Boys just get out and play
that is. if they can find a place to
play.
You don't dare step on the grass
+ ir the park, even if YOU do 90 there
TO play Gaar complains. If you
do. you are fined two schillings.
Even if you have your oWn yard,
which most boys don't, yOU wouldn't
step on the grass not any more than
you would step on a flower bed here.
When I went to England with
some friends in vacation time We
visited Oxford. 1 remember how
surprised I was to see people walk
ing on the grass he said.
Boys, at :, Debate Politics
Lack Of outdoor play turns the
thoughts of even very young boys III
Austria TO subjects far beyond their
years. Gaar believes.
You wouldn't ind a 7-year-old
American boy here arguing about
politics and Hitler" he says. But
when we were in Vienna, the wOm-
an who took care Of the children in
our kinderheim-that means a sort
Of Childrens boarding hOme-had to
warn my brother, Frank, not to get
into political arguments in the park.
Frank played with Leon TrOtSky's
fr-f,A
kinderheim, too. Frank got lot of
ideas from him Seva was bitter
about the political situation, and he
and Frank spent a lot of time
criitciSing it and Hitler"
Girls Were Also Anti-HitIcr
Anti-Hitlerism was in evidence
among the girls at the kinderheim,
too. Gaar remembers.
There was a girl there who had
come from Berlin-her name was
Eva Reich" he recalls. She talked
lot about Hitler, because he had
ordered books burned which were
written by her father. She was
Jewish, and her father. a physician,
had left Berlin to so to COpen-
hagen. Hitler made speeches about
the danger in her fathers books,
Eva said"
Ga2r's European education was to
have ended this year, but his par
ents originally had intended sending
Frank back to Vienna to continue
study under a tutor there.
War Scare Caused Change
The European war scare in
fiuenCed them to keep Frank in In
dianapoliS this year. and enter him
in Orchard School.
L think that was a good idea,
Gaar cOnfdeS If there is a war
and I guess every one is expecting
One-I certainly wouldn't want to be
in Vienna, ard neither would
Frank
Franks opinion had to be taken
secondhand. Represented in pub
lie utterances by his older brother,
he was very busy.
While Gaar described the life of a
European boy. Frank was climbing
a tree in the large front yard of his
fathers home