St. Cloud Democrat. [volume] (Saint Cloud, Stearns County, Minn.) 1858-1866, 1861-08-22

! Enthusiastically endorsed and much more
added BY the members Of the Regiment,
and by citizens Of Minnesota here, who
have been grati6ed At such iuexhaustiblo
open. handed and open-heartsd thoughtful
ness. = : @@2z
f; "Honpr to whom honor"- that is all.
| B T " ! WA CRorrur
! There now, Mr.. CroHat, you and ourself
have changed places ): fo.,: once upon a
time, our prime sin, in your eyes, was
supporting Col. Aldrioh. As he has
gained largely by the change, if his cause
is a. good now as it was then, he has moth.
ing to fear; but one thing We do entre.t
Of you and Col. Aldrioh and King and all
the other friends Of our, dear, distressed
regiment, and this is, that you will stop
talking about that terrible journey to
Washington. A. our relations with the
French Emperor are preearious and he is
known to be careful Of the fame Of tour
Uncle" he may become alarmed lest "Bo-
uaparte crossing the Alps" should be
quite bereft Of interest BY German scaling
the Alleghanics. The lamentations over
that journey reminded Us forcibly Of the
nursery rhyme which runs
II told my mother my feet were tors
A travelling on through Baltimore"
It must have been tho Baltimore route
the poet was thinking Of when he wrote of
the difficulties Of Jordan. It seems to us
that some Of the friends of our Regiment
might get admitted to the opera troup, Of
frog pond, where their croaks would
help to furnish music for the million, and
when our Regiment might be delivered
from the fame inflicted upon it by such
friendship.
We had little idea the morning We saw
our brave fellows march down the rocky
steep Of Smelling, in all tho pride and pan
oply Of war, that by any possibility any
man, woman, child, or even political dem
agogue could represent them as arriving,
just five days after, at the capital Of our
nation = disgrace to the State that sent
them-ail rags and rheumatism, lice and
Notwithstanding like = nest of sick
kittens over q journey which any ordinary
Minnesota woman would perform with a
child in her arms, and no ado about it,
We little thought those sturdy fellows
could have been 80 cheat out" by few
days ride by boat and car that they were
only rescued from death through exaus.
ton, BY ."l;ttle dhrap of whisky" but as
We never were, are not and never will be
= teetotaler: We approve of. Col. AL
d1ich's treatment Of that case. There are
several forms of illness for which we use
brandy, and . sudden failing of the vital
action is one.
We supposed the men were simply tired
and hungry, and thought bread pills would
have been better prescription if taken
with hot coffee.
But We not wish to pursue this subject.
Col. Aldrich did what he intended for a
kindness, no doubt, and perhaps it was
well enough; but all Mr.. Aldrich's friends
know that his usefulness has been greatly
injured by too free use Of stroug drink.
Last winter We were shocked and panied
by repeated accounts Of the scenes witness.
ed in his room. We had known the great
anxiety Of the officers of our Regiment
just before leaving, as to the probable eff:
fccts which liquor would have upon the
men, and when We saw tho account of his
furnishing them whisky, and thought
what effect his example might have on
them, We were seriously alarmed. 1t is
your lsrge-hearted, genial men who arc in
danger Of falling into drunkenness and
leading others there. With the kindest
personal feelings toward Mr.. Aldrich, we
think he has made some bad political mis-.
takes, and rather fear his geniality led to
them.
HIS treatment Of our regiment We can
not think judicious. When Capt. Mark
hams command was en- route to f. Alb.
ercrombie, some of them called at our Of