Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1893-03-23

alt iii We come 70 Maine, Sald l.
THAT is my state"
We passed through several rooms sim
liar 10 that devoted 70 New York
There was something deeply impressive
In the orderly arrangement Of the mil
itary titles standing forth sharply up
on the white placards. II was like
walking through a vast camp The
great host whose individual his
tory surrounded me seemed TO be
on guard. The valor of the nation was
gathered about me. On every hand
were names associated with heroism
upon the field. This regiment was at
Gettysburg; that shed its blood in the
Wilderness. The solemnity of death
was upon those white cards that stood
in rows as Of tents, but no observer with
a trace OF sentiment could fail 10 realize
that the dead, no less than those that
still survive, are in this very day de-
tenders of the nation by the record of
their courage and devotion.
Here is Maine" laid Col. Ainsworth
''Who shall it be?"
Col Charles w. Tilden. of the SIX
teenth," said !; and in less than a min
ute the whole gallant record of this sol
der was before me, the story which |
had heard as a boy in the little town
whence he had gone to the war There
was the charge at Gettysburg from
which he did not return; the imprison-
ment in Libby's noisome dens; the es-
cape, recapture and second escape; the
record of what he had suffered in the
rebels hands, and his return to the
ranks of the bluecoats The minor in
cidents which / had remembered and
which had caused me to take his case as
test were all there in black and white
Then l tried others a humber ranks
and found the same accuracy in every
instance. | spent less than half an
hour in the room. The information
which received would have taken
months to secure under the old system.
Much of it, indeed, would never have
been obtained
OF course great care is taken to pre-
serve these records from improper use.
No person with doubtful errand can
learn anything which he might use for
malicious purposes to annoy the living
or discredit the memory of the dead
There are endless stores Of queer
acts in these boxes. was interested
in the Indian troops. They were am
told, of little use TO the service-not
enough, | judge. to pay for the keeping
of records which include such names as
Yut-tuk-ko-k and Wa-ta-She-
/ ko-wily-hoy. Some of them, however,
had names which were more to the
point. One box, remember, contained
the records of those who alphabetically
fell between Liar" and MIXED Wa
ter" What the water was mixed with
anybody familiar with the Indian char
acter can guess.
did not expect TO come across the
name of jefferson Davis in this collec-
ton, but little reelection might have
prepared ne for IT, He served in the
First Mississippi infantry in the Mexican
war, and there was an interesting ac-
count though told with military brey-
ity-of the operations near Monterey,
In which he took part in September,
1916
Now and then during my stay amid
the records ! saw men with small
baskets passing rapidly through the
rooms
They are the mail carriers said
Col Ainsworth II have introduced a
system of communication between the
various parts of the office hich obvi-
ates one Of the worst forms of delay ex-
sting under the old system In such a
large office as TINS, where papers pass
through many hands much time is or
dinarily lost 10y the accumulation OF
matter upon the various desks 4 clerk
would finish his work upon great
many papers and then transfer them to
thc next man who might have been
waiting in idleucsS for some hours
That Is, impossible now. | have mes
.enger9 who start from the main office
1T five minute intervals and make the
rounds Bach clerk has d basket or
card, bearing the numbers by which
various department, are designated
When H. has finished work ON a paper
Ia fastens to it Il card bearing the num-
4 her If the department To which if ShenId
20 next. The carrier takes il from a
/ box provided for it and delivers il by