A ROOM OF OUR OWN
Follette, Isabel B. La
A Room Of Our Own By Isabel B. La Follette AWOMAN with little if any formal education but a fund of living knowledge observed to me recently as she mopped the floor, "Folks say to me 'What a...
...All the boys can't do that but they can at least get their teeth into some interest which will bring growth...
...Our boy in the Philippines keeps writing me for books, even text books, which he intends to plug away at whenever he can...
...SITTING out the war, as thousands upon thousands of them are doing in lonely outposts all over the world, is a soul-trying assignment, and even the lads who have been in Europe with its rich background of cultural and historic interest have had little chance to stretch their minds...
...Except when in actual combat, which is a relatively small percentage in both time and men at any one time, the days are taken up in a daily routine which is probably necessarily dull from its repetitious nature and is most stultifying to any active-minded lad...
...But letters from him and reports from his friends in various theaters all carry the same refrain—the terrific boredom of Army life...
...When our boy left fci overseas I talked fc him at some length on the proveUtjon that we couldn't know where the fates would take him, nor would we choose the form of travel prescribed by the Army, but that he was going to "see the world" willy-nilly and that it would be well worth his while to make every effort to learn as much about it as he could...
...Even if your boy is not usually a "reader," I would send something anyway, suggesting that if the book does not appeal when he tries it, to pass it along, as any outfit contains boys who are starved for some kind of mental stimulation...
...One boy who fought in France and Germany wrote his mother of his great disappointment on not getting to Paris, while another's letters home described living in a German palace in such utter boredom that he hoped he would be sent to the Pacific where . he would at least be doing something...
...Gifted soldiers like the Mauldins or Hargroves find themselves an outlet in cartooning or writing...
...Phil, Bob 3rd, and many of our overseas readers tell of a real demand among some of their companions for The Progressive, which keeps them abreast "of developments at home...
...Bob has got hold, of several strange (to me) books in this way and got a great kick from some of them...
...To take care of this problem, of course the services organized correspondence courses for soldiers which I am told have been well patronized, and recently large numbers of college professors have been sent to Europe to carry on courses for the boys there...
...In return he writes that his copies of Field and Stream are worn ragged, and wants me to send the back issues of his sports magazines stacked upstairs in his room...
...YOU will know the interests of the boy you are sending to, but I'd take a chance on trying a few experiments...
...I am sending him some of the great classics, like Tolstoy's War and Peace, which, under his present circumstances, should mean even more to him than in normal times...
...But, as I wrote Bob, I can send the books...
...A Room Of Our Own By Isabel B. La Follette AWOMAN with little if any formal education but a fund of living knowledge observed to me recently as she mopped the floor, "Folks say to me 'What a wonderful experience your boy is having seeing the world and all those strange places!' I tell them 'Thank you very much but I wouldn't choose to have him see it that way!' " She was expressing the thought of most parents of men in the services sr.d doubtless the sentiment of the men themselves...
...The rest is up to him...
...Perhaps he is too young to appreciate what I am driving at, but if he would really apply himself with this end in view, he would get a liberal education...
...However, for the great majority their assignments are such that they can't, or think that they can't, take advantage of such opportunities and they feel that their minds are "rusting out...
...During the 3 years Phil was gone I kept sending books...
...There is a natural tendency to be critical of "the French," "the Germans," or "the Filipinos," when one would rather be living at home, but an intelligent and inquiring mind can gain a wealth of "education" by studying the people and country where he is...
...It occurred to me that it might be a good idea for many of us who may be sending Christmas packages overseas again this year, even with the end of hostilities so near as I write, to put a little time and thought on intellectual as well as material fodder for the lads...
...Also I send Phil quantities of 25 cent mysteries which are still passing from hand to hand about the Pacific...
...Pocket editions of the great books are available at most bookstores and many drug stores...
...As I wrote Bob...
...A letter this week reminded me that I'd better get "on tla ball" regarding Christmas • packages if he was to get them any time in the neighborhood of Christmas...
...ALONG with the reading material, however, 1 keep stressing to Bob 3rd that he try actively to learn all he can about the country he is in—the Philippines at this moment...
...When he was on an "operation," of course he had no time for reading, but during those periods of lull which make up so much of Army life, he got great pleasure from these books whenever there was a spare moment...
Vol. 9 • August 1945 • No. 34
