Show I 1 GERMAN SOLDIERS READING mark twain is said to be a popular author at the german front not mark twain in his yankee vernacular but translate ed into a tongue of which his own description is you dive blindly in at the beginning of a sentence and come out at the end with the verb in your mouth in the same medium soldiers eis fighting for the fatherland read we are cold old an eng lish author baden powells adventures as a spy the german of course does not neglect his own authors goethe says gilbert hirsch writing in the new york evening post is perhaps the most popular book I 1 in the german army such a fact forces this writer to the conclusion that to the question so often heard in america where is the old simple germany that loved poetry and philosophy the answer is at the front fighting in the trenches of france in the snows of russia he says q 1 I have read a letter from a high school boy of 18 living in a trench near artas arras begging his parents to send him a copy of a german bible a letter from a lieutenant half frozen in the snows of a karpathian Karpath lan winter who in the same sentence in in which he casually mentions having just shot a russian tells of hi his S excitement and admiration on rereading the witches sabbath acen scenes s and wondering a what goethe would have thought about the present war I 1 have been told that there have been numberless demands from the front for a new brochure goethe and aristotle and evey book seller to whom I 1 have put the question of what he sends to the front is sure sooner er or later to say owr and of course theres theras goethe literary digest |