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THE COURIER
Mftt-iTffTria
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THE WIDOW IN PEACE
Town Topics War Correspondent.
Surely someone was wise in select
ing Montauk Point as- a camping1
ground. It is ideal; sea breez, se
bluffs, salt air and ocean on one side,
lake ajul fresh water on the other,
rolling hills, rocky and dry soil and a
fine harbor, and an 'opportunity lor
perfect kcwerage.
Its only drawback is the lack of
preparation. This is appalling; If it
le true that it was thought out and
Milceted as a place for our home-coin-ing
soldiers to rest anti rcemieraie
long before the arrival of the Bound
Bobin petition asking to nave our
army brought away from Cuba, than
tlws neglect to prepare for them is
even a greater crime tian appears on
the surface. God. knows the surface
is black with) crime.
'Long Island railroad officials tell
me that ten days before the arrival of
troops not a Contract for transporta
tion had been made, and they knew
nothing officially of the Cf manes so
soon to be made upon them. The road
itself js a one track Toad, and trains
are side-tracked for the passing of
other trains. The trip from New York
is scheduled for four hours. The time
to go back and forth is always rrom
five to nine 'hours never less except
by accident. You drag along' in stuffy
old cars quite as bad as those run
ning between Chattanooga and Chica
mauga. You are fed on candy, fruit
and newspapers. When you reach
Mbntauk you strike a pandemonium
that makes a wild western- town civil
ized in comparison. And this within
a short distance of great, Greater New
York.
Wooden bheds make waiting rooms;
a long rough-board building makes a
lunch-room. Down the dusty road aire
coming army ambulances bringing
sick soldiers to the station and tak
ing to the different camps incoming
passengers. Around the stntiom are
army wagons, buckboards, dilapidated
carriages, milk cans empty, milk cans
filled, protected with ice, and souring
without ice, and hucksters and intol
erable heat and thick, .stifling dust
and people people!
In it all, filling all space, are our
weary sick soldiers; soldiers coming
to rhe statiom to leave on furlough.
Some "too weak to walk ride over the
rocky roads in jolting wagons; others
Crawl along on legs that are so feeble
a halt is made every lew steps;
again, pale and sick looking ones sup
port weaker ones, and then -there are
stretchers on which Test almost lire
less ones who are carried the three or
four miles by the well ones. They,
getting to the station, rest in the
shade of the sheds, wait for their
transportation, and, then, if still aK,
take the first outgoing train after
they Teeeive this precious paper
many of them without money and
all of -them without attendance go
ing -home, or somewhere, out of this
work of theirs for glory and country.
As I hung around the station? arc
hour or so waiting for some kind, any
kind, of a conveyance to brio" me up
here "to the general hospital, I could
but wonder why these- hbnor-scTing
heroes of outs, with suffronrcolored
and sk?n.-dravm' faces and almctd; im
possible step, some of -them with a va
cant stare in their eyes, were allowed
to go away.
Three more were alighting from a
high lumber wagon. Their haver
sacks were too heavy they could nor
lift them down. There was no one to
help them. 1 collared an idler and
enlisted hkn into service. The tliree
boyish faces lighted up. 'With wan
smiles they told me they belonged So
the First Illinois infantry and wero
going home to phicago. As they spoke
of borne a look came into their eyps
and a tremble into their smile that
would have reminded .their mothers
of their babyhood. But these boys in
the early twenties were bent; their
faces were yellow and there was a
look of age, death-cold, in tli5r faces
that come sometimes in the infirm
sixties. They had their furloughs and
they were to' get their transportaJtibn
here at the station. I told them I
would watch their haversacks while
they attended to tills. In a few min
utes they returned with the light nil
gone from their countenances and
with it -their superficial strength. The
despair of disappointment was wits
them; they would not he able to get
transportation for several hours, there
were so many ahead of them, and per
haps then all the trains would Ihj gone
and they would have to wait into the
night ami possibly all night. They
sank dknuni on the ground. I asked
them why they had started' in such
feeble condition. One of them said:
"They told us in it he hospital we
were able to go, and There was- no
room for us so many more sicker
than we were, waiting to come in. We
are all right. Some of f he boys were
brough't down on stretchers I am
afraid th'ey will never see home."
I went to the department, in one of
the wooden sheds where transporta
tion was being issued, to see if in
some way these three who were so
anxious could get the next train,
whidh left in-an hour. I found a man
standing on a box or barrel in "the
centre of the one large room. Soldiers
were packed in around him without
moving space, waiting for their names
to be called. My three soldiers who
were resting in the shade seemed bet
ter off than these. Every face had n
piteous hope thnt his nasne would be
the next one called; every face had
that same look of ghastly death, in
fection; I had not the (heart to ask
thnt any wait. I turned back to my
Illinois boys. They were sleeping,
with their heads resting on their hav
ersacks. A man stood near, watching
them. Jlis face was pale. with a sup
pressed emotion. As I looked at jim
he said: y
"If my boy could only have been
one of these" he did not try to hide
his tears. "I hare a furlough in my
pocket for him, but he died this morn
ing." He said he would help those "boys to
get their transportation and their
train.
A woman passed me on the plat
form. She was supporting a young
soldier, a head taller than she. He
had that vacant, dazed look in his face
and was deathly white. They were
mother and son. She had found er
hoy for whom she had been hunting
a week and was taking him home.
All the steps to this platform, every
bit of shade, all waiting rooms, lunch
room, 'baggage-room, every available
spot was filled with soldiers, waiting,
waiting, waiting for transportation
home and to hospital I could -not
understand. It looked as if someone
were trying to shirk responsibility
ib get (rid of them. If tliis Camp
Wikoff was theirs to rest and to re
cuperate, why were they being sent
.away?
I finally succeeded in gettSng a seat
in a wagon, and was brought to the
general hospital. Here I found that
150 soldiers had, been taken from their
cots, and told to dress to make room
for others, some of the nurses antf
doctors said, while others, more indig
nant, said it was to get ready for tne
president's coming, and to hide from
hfmall it was possible to hide. On
further inquiry, I found that 500 sick
had been sent away before the coming
of the president, and they were still
being forced to leave their cots and
dress. In making the effort to rise
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To the Rescue.
PfllllBlU was in danger
PLUG 7; Acre would be
an army of men (who chew it) ready
to rescue it: large enough to shovel
Spain off the map of Europe No
other chewing tobacco in the world
has ever had so many friends.
Remember the name
when you buy again.
and dress they would fall hack faint
ing, and one poor fellow, after Jhree
attempts, fell back unconscious, lie
died this rooming. As I saw and un
derstood these things, I looked sty the
blue 6ky above, and I wondered if it
realty could be our own beautiful land
where such barbarism is existinjg; if
it was God's own country, that we
profess to love, where dying soldiers
are ordered to move, to make readv
for others to come or for the coming
of the president. I worked dilugenjtly
to discover who gave such an order.
It was impossible to find out. I only
know the order was given.
A1 great deal was done to get ready
for the president. It was surprising;
the amount of work that can be done
in two days. If work for tliie home
coming soldier hod been' done 031 the
same scale, there would not be xuese
horrors tb tell' now. The president
and the poor soldier are the innocent
victims of of much! 5
The last one thought of in this war
of ours after he is set to- fighting Ss
the poor soldier. He says nothing
complainingly. He -tells you facts
without comment. Two things, how
ever, are very plain. His hatred and
contempt for General Shnfter, and his
dead patriotism. If this war against
Spain's inhumanity should chance not
to be quite ended, it would be wise
not to muster out too many of our vol
unteers. Where should Ave get our
sex, ones?
It is -not the ignorance of volunteer
and their officers that has caused the
most of thhi suffering Senator Hannn
to the contrary. In a recent inter
view he is quoted as saying "the ill
ness among troops comes from the
volurtteer ranks." It is a very small
per centnge of volunteer troops at
Gamp Wikoff, and the illness is the
fame among the regulars. The glori
ous "Fighting Seventh," United States
infantry, are encamped on a bhiff
overlooking the ocean. Out of the
900 left 300 are ill; They were entire
ty without hospital accommodation,
and without one drop of medicine. All
hospital, room, being filled to over
flowing, thb regiment's sick were ty
ing in their own tents and lying 01
the ground. Bags for straw had been
given to them, but they were too ill
to fill them. Proper requisitions had
been; made by the officers for flooring
for tents, for quinine and other medi
cines and necessities, and red tape was
probably unravelling. .Mrs. Ellen Har
den Walworth, who represents the
Wowan's National Belief association,
heard' of the distress in the ' Senth"
and etarited immediatety with im
mense boskets of delicacies and gan
ger ale in her carriage. Following
were two carpenters and1 a wagon full
of "2x4's".for flooring. On. the way
she stopped at Major Brown's, hhff a
requisition signed, then at the phar
macy, where the order was filled, and
in two hours the "Fighting Seventh"
was beaming with gratitude, and the
government could have all the time
it wanted for tape work.
The government m the course of
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