Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1871-06-29
#slisfsIlaulletaarllss.
TIE SoLD1ER'6 HOME.

While at Dayton a few days since
we determined on visiting the Soldier
Home. Nearly every body does tn;
and all are well paid for their trouble
1t took but little time to make up
party of five for the trip. To enjo.
a trip like this you should always hav'
company, for with your eyes ant
mouth all open you can't see every
thing. If you have company, wha
you don't see they will call your atten
tion to, while you may be of service tt
them in the same way. 60
Took street ear and jostled out the
''Home Roadn about a mileand a half
at which point the earran into a stable
or rather car house. '.,..'- fa..--a - y ~.
"Hello what's this mean ~ anxious
ly inquiries the fattest one of the party,
ttHow far to the Home ?" f-a al
"'Bout two miles," ~. ~, --,s,,
Gracious sakes! Two miles, the ther-
mometer standing above blood heat,
pulverized limestone covering the pike
two inches deep, and q brisk wind in
our faces, The leanest of us let our
chins down considerable. The prospect
was anything but inviting. 39J l
'Don't fret gentleman, don't fret,
the bus will be here in minute or
two and take you there and back for a
quarter, the round trip" cody re-
marked peg-legged tsojer," who no
doubt saw the party was likely to take
spell. i gIHtqBD ".Tz9d .If ~. t1W
Sure enough the Bus, such as it was,
came numbering in. 1t was an old
farm go-to-meeting carriage calculated
to hold a. man, a. woman and
two small children. Here were five of
us, of course the driver would have to
go along making six in all. But who
ever heard of a 'bus that wouldn't hold
all who wanted to go in it, and have
room for one more? No difficulty was
experienced in finding seats, there being
only two of 'em. The ride was more
pleasant than we anticipated. Perhaps
the scenery along the way attracted
our attention to such an extent that we
forgot how closely, we were sticking to
each other. .moh 1fgli- fFJ1a siiG lle
Here we are at the "Gate House." a
neat little stone cottage at the entrance
gate. Avery gentlemanly set of fell
lows live in there. They never once
came out and asked for quarter, but
quietly went on minding their own
business-smoking briarwood pipes and
reading the morning papers. Suddenly
the road makes a turn and the "Home''i
bursts upon our view. A beautiful
villa, beautifully located. We drove
up to the reception rooms and are met
by Sergeant who kindly offered to
show us "round,'' we gladly accepted
his kind offer and started "round." "
Our guide is a jovial chap and we ven
ture he was a good soldier. A one
armed "vet." brings pitcher of ice
water, while another brushes the dust
off of our coats and hats. 7y
"This way gentlemen calls the guide"
"Here is the dining room where we
can all sit down to our regular grub
Sure enough, a large room
with tables and seats enough to accom-
modate ALTO the rear of the, dining
hall is the kitchen and bakery. In
mates of the Home do all the work of
baking and cooking. The guide OPEN
ed one of the dozen boxes in which the
dough is mixed, each one having bar
rel of -four.
''They are just getting ready to mix
the dough for baking bread for our
dinner Tomorrow"
"How would you like to knead all
that?n
"Don'tknow, don't it take heaving
though ?" g, 49,
~-."Your right. Sakesl wouldn't it
make feller sweat sich a day asthis?"
''I think it wouid.'' S
"Here is the boiling arrangement"
pointing to three large kettles fixed in
a range. Each kettle will hold forty
gallons perhaps. -
"For, a massey! you could cook all
we've got about our house and not
have 'em half full either" tea''
"Don't it beat the bugs" says the
other. .4oL $3.50
SIT do indeed"
Our guide seeing they were likely to
be quite slow, motioned us to follow
and we left them in charge of the old
cook.
Here are the Barracks, eleven of
them, each one hundred feet long by
thirty wide and three stories high,
with French roofs, and uniform in size
and appearance. They have windows
on four sides, with no partitions. The
ventilation is perfect. Adjoining these
is a Music Hall, built in the same style
but much larger. Here ''the boys"
have their exhibitions, concerts, lee
lures, &c. There is Brass Band, the
finest we ever heard-a string band, an
English glee club, German glee club,
and a negro minstrel troupe. Beside
these the different singing societies, and
choirs in the city make frequent visits
and give delightful concerts, and trav-
cling lectures and musical troupes
often favor the "Homep with a free
entertainment. There is also a hall
for the meeting of the different soci-
eties, such as Grand army of the Re-
public, Good Templars, &c. ssR
Inst across. the wav is the amusa-