The National tribune., 1894-05-24


pass their time, what they read about. tall
about, how they amuse themselves, what theil
general topics of interest are; in fine, how they
| occupy themselves in their long hours of leis
ure.
Beer the old soldier can get, in not too un-
reasonable quantity, at the Home saloon, which
| is piously sanctioned by an act of Congress, in
| view of keeping the inmates within the grounds
so far as possible, and keeping the family re-
| sources at home; of encouraging the soldiers
to patronize home industries, as one might say,
very much on the same principle that man
wife lets him take quiet nip at homo. but de-
cidedly objects to his having good time with
the boys anywhere else.
But the old soldier is pretty self-willed, not
to say obstinate. The Home authorities say
no whisky shall be sold on the grounds, and
beer only in moderation, and that no strong
liquor shall be brought in on any pretense. So
if the veteran wants little whisky he has to
go outside the gates for it.
The dump" is a generic name covering
penalties for all sorts of violations of the rules
OF the Home, which involve other than specific
punishmeDts. A man on the dump is re-
stricted to the grounds during the continuance
of his sentence. Any pass he may have is for
feited, and only by good behavior in future
and working out his dump, can the offender
regain his lost privileges
Working on the dump means doing such
light homework as must be done to keep the
floors and building generally clean and reason
ably free from dirt. Members working out a
dump clean up the halls with broom and mop,
do light work in the way of removing leaves
and little rubbish, and such smaller matters as
can hardly be called fatigue duty.
Within the last year there have been estab-
lished in the Milwaukee and some other Homes
branches of the keely Cure for Drunkenness,
and Gov Wheeler of the Milwaukee Home, in
L. l. IL d,
the benefits resulting from it in other Homes,
and invites members to try it. And the
keely Cure seems an established institution.
The members of the keely Cure Club occupy
room on the floor of the building which con-
tains the Postotfce, Home store and Memorial
Hall, where they form an exclusive little
coterie, and other members of the Home who
haven't any occasion to be cured of an appetite
for whisky, say the keely men consider them
selves the aristocracy of the Home.
Two or three times, oftener in some weeks,
the little chapel bell ringing at 10 in the morn
ing for Catholic and in the afternoon for
Protestant funeral services notifies the in
mates of the Home that another of their num-
Der has been finally mustered out, and soon the
detail of pall-bearers and the muffied drums
announce the arrival of the body at the church,
where the modest services are held. There is
now no music other than that furnished by the
drum and fife corps but until within few
months the organ has added lis solemn notes.
The Grand Army has Post in this Branch of
the Home, numbering over 200 members, but
many members Of the Home wear the GAR.
button wko do not belong to the Home Post nor
attend its weekly meetings. Something of this
is probably due to the fact that many GAR.
men are failing in their sight aud don't like to
go out at night. Others, being selfish and not
imbued with the right GAR spirit, take the
ground that that organization can't do them any
good now, and therefore they don't care to follow
it up. An effort is being made to have Grand
Army hall erected, and the Keely Cure men, it
is said, have subscribed several hundred dollars,
provided they can have room in the building
for their exclusive use. Plans for a building
to cost $1,000 have been prepared, some out
side help has been promised, and the GA K.
men hope for the completion of their hall in
due season.
What queer characters there are among
the inmates. The ugly ones and the pleas
ant ones, the long winded ones the church.
goers and the free-thinkers, the man from the
"ould Sod" who gets up at o'clock in the
morning in the Winter to go to early mass and
crosses and bIesses himself at meals, and three
times day at all events, besides his bedside
prayers, but comes i'll staving drunk at short
intervals, and makes himself nuisance to
those who want to sleep-these are among the
types with which we have to deal.
III pidCSS like Luis Ouu VI humanity
abound. Age brings out the queer features of
a mans disposition-his crankiness, his hatred
of noise-that is, noise made by other people
his intolerance of other folks views, his odd
beliefs, the queer twists he gives matters about
which he reads, the absurd arguments he makes
to support his assertions, and the general re-
fraction of the medium through which he
looks at passing life.
Very many of the members Of the home are
foreigners. who look at things as they occur
through very un- American spectacles; and even
among American veterans there is much of
that kind of ignorance which makes one re-
member and fully believe that i" a little learn
ing is dangerous thing"
The all-absorbing question nowadays is that
of pensions; who got his and who didn't, who
was rejected and who has an increase, and why
this is thus, etc.
But the days of the Homes and their inmates
must necessarily in any event be brief. There
are very few of the men who dwell therein less
than 60 years old. They vary from that mp to
90 and even more, but truly their strength is
but labor and sorrow. Soon the last funeral
detail will be made and few will follow the
veteran to his last home in the cemetery on
the hill, where he will rejoin his comrades gone
before and await the last trumpet and the final
roll-call by the Supreme Commander.