The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1888-05-10
A REMARKABLE LETTER
From GarfeId's Private Secretary to Private
DaIzell.
Private DALzELL, Caldwell, 0.

Private DALZELL, Caldwell, 0.
My DEAR SIR: Dear old brother feel like
saying, for as we get farther and farther away
from the great war, and sec and feel its mo-
mentous significance, and the sad lack Of appre-
citation Of it, and neglect to garner the full
fruits of SO much suffering for such holy cause
1 feel like calling every old soldier-especially
every private-a brother.
! have just received your circular Of March
10 about your book. Surely you will get your
1000 subscribers. / will certainly do what I
can to help you.
Yes, / have known much of you, or rather
heard much Of you through the press and from
your own publications, etc You are aware, |
suppose, that you are classed by large number
of people who know or have heard Of you as a
crank" Well, so am /. So, whether you are
one or not, or whether / am or not here is a
bond Of sympathy. How different cranks may
be, thought You have made it universally
known that you served in the war as private.
l have alluded to my service so seldom that
even many intimate friends of late years do
not know Of it, and / only recollect in all my
life seeing two references to the fact in the
press. One of these was but few days ago,
when the Chicago Tribune. in a scurrilous arti-
Gle about me, put in its list Of suspicious cir
cumstances Of my life the fact that 6 he is
veteran soldier"
Do you remember one Sunday forenoon in
/ lay in the grass and looked and listened
you sat up, and stood up, aud walked around
and around me, and told Of your conception of
Reunions of the old soldiers; how you had
worked, and risked, and lost and earned the
reputation Of a lunatic in the effort by a sys-
tenn of Reunions to bind the old boys frmer
together in the bonds of love and brotherhood.
was trying to make out whether you were
crazy or not. / concluded you were not
then.
And, my dear fellow, have you not learned
that it is Oftener the good one does, or tries TO
do, that gets him into trouble or disgrace, than
the evil. You have suffered keenly, / have no
doubt, as the result Of the ridicule and misrep-
rcsentation Of your well-planned and generous
efforts to organize and honor your old comrades
of the war. But don't fret. You don't know how
much you have done. One day service in that
great army entities you to more honor than
all the pretensions Of the mobs who sheer at
it. And He who ooketh not on the outward
appearance, but into the heart, will make it all
right in due time and keep it right throughout
eternity. ! sometimes read high-tOned edit0-
rails on the necessilyof public economy in con-
nection with the proposition to give each old
soldier pension of $500 year. Such extrav-
agance with public funds in dangerous! Such
eXtravagant toll and suffering as some old SOL
diers endured was dangerous, too. What would
some of these able editors" take, and stand
-
in the mud, wet, sick, hungry and cold. You
| have done this many a time. l have myself
few times / have never asked pension or
reward Of any kind for my service, and 500
/ per year, more or less would particularly af-
! feet my way of living. But there are many old
| soldiers so situated that it would make all the
| difference between comfort and distress to
/ them. Who should begrudge it? Certainly
10 patriot. Why should not the men who rea-
/ son that the Government can be ruined by
/ such recognition Of justice, and not those
who plead for justice-not charity-be classcd
| as cranks?
! started to acknowledge your circular and
| say few pleasant words / have written q
! long scIeed. / shall not read it over, for if I
! did, it would probably 20 in the waste-basket.
| BE sure you have my sympathy for the success
| of your book, and shall have what little aid l
can give. Truly, yours
THos. NJ NICHOL.
| THE CAMBRIDGE, 334 Fifth Ave, New York.