The Abbeville messenger. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1884-1887, 1886-01-26
A IN LIFE.
Army Wrecks, and tho Way In which
They werc Made.

"You want to know why ! gave the
old fellow a d~ollar?" asked an ex-army
officer, as l questioned the propriety Of
the donation that he had made to a
rather rough specimen of humanity,
who had asked for money enough to get
him Il dinner.
1.-The case stands this way" he said;
s'thcre are men who ask me to help
them who cannot get their own consent
to ask others. This is not because | am
under obligations to them, but because
they know that I know the stuff they
arc made of. Now, this poor fellow
was always run down at the heel in the
army, but he was an exceptionally brave
a l " seen him do a great many
things that l felt at the time l could not
have done. His one good quality was
his capacity to do the right thing in
time of battle OF in time of great ex-
element, and I have complimented him
scores of times upon deeds of uncommon
bravery.
"While he was in the army his mother
died, and his father made a d%isreputablc
marriage. In the very last year of the
wal his wife ran away with an old rival,
and the boy that he cared most for went
to the bad. The first thing this good
fighter did when he left the service was
to use his pay and extra bount, in pro-
longing a disgraceful spree. He got
into all sorts of trouble and disgrace,
and nobody cared to have much to do
with him. / found him sick and ready
to die. Remembering what the man
had been, and remembering the dis
couragemehts that met him when he
came Il of the service, I r:ade en- at
tempt to save him.
II did save him in so far as prevent
ing him from becoming a drunkard is
concerned, but since the last engage
mcnt in front of Atlanta the man has
rot had the spirit of q squaw. He has
worked hard, but nearly always at a
disadvantage. When he gets down he
comes to me because he knows that I
will understand that he is in need. lie
is the sort of fellow, you know. who,
rather than submit to any humiliation
from m old comrade, would walk out
the pier and jump into the lake. Ny
heart is sorcly troubled over the ques-
ton of what we shall do with such.
men.
"Therc is another type of the untor-
tunatc soldier of a higher grade than
this that ought to be looked after. The
young man who went into the army
from the purest and highest motives.
who lost his health and strength and
capacity to do in the hard service of
actual war. and who came out Of the
service saddened, proud, and high
spirited, rs only a thoroughly educated
soldier can he, and took up the burdens
the new burdens-of civil life. with
out a murmur, with scarcely n hope
such n man stands for a class. There
are thousands of men whose army edu-
cation stimulated and cultivated a nat
ural pride that was very great. Their
experience in the army contributed also
to the growth of a sensitivepcss that
has become morbid.
"Their struggle in life since the war
has not made them grumblers. but it
has not blunted their s~ensitiveness.
They have eve asked for pension or
for favor of any kind. Some of them
are burdens to their family, or are de-
pending for their support upon appre-
ciative friends. They arc dropping off
by the hundred every year, going down
without n murmur, without any credit
mark, with simply a crooked leg or an
empty sleeve or an ugly scar pointing
to a record of rare courage in the army.
1t is not strange to me that such men
would rather come to an old comrade
for help than to go to a soldiers homo
or to the public. I can't explain it. but
I can understand it, and so I gave the
man a dollar. Chicago Inter- Ocean.