Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1895-02-28

d uOildF 1Of lOal OF DrSdu. ana. the
| worst of all. there were no books Or
papers to read, or anything to feed the
mind. Soul starvation is the worst
starv alton. In the absence of reading
matter person soon becomes demor-
| alized-is ready TO give away to all
kinds Of crimes and dissipation. There
is nothing that will demoralize CON-
munity Except the absence of good
female society as soon as the loss o
all reading matter. And now, let me
give you one more instance of the evil
| effects of being without something to
! read.
You remember the years of '61-2-S
| and 4 were years never to be forgotten,
| when the land was aroused with war
and ru,nors of war-great armies con-
tended in many parts of the world
such a time as this continent had new
er dreamed of. Men from all walks of
life; from the rich, the middle class,
the poor-of all professions, all classes
,, of people called to lay by their own
labors and take up arms and go into
the active service. Every man was
supplied with food and raiment and
instruments of warfare. But not
morsel of food for the mind, food for
the soul. | well remember at one
time a large army was sent to West
Plains in the Southwestern part of
Missouri, from Pilot Knob, which was
the key of the trans-Mississippi at that
time: a place where all troops and
their supplies were drawn from. l
think, as near as l can recollect, there
were about twenty thousand of all sorts
infantry, cavalry and artillery-and
several hundred great armI wagons to
take the supplies for the 1my. And
| it is surprising what vast quantities of
| food and raiment, with feed for the
| horses and mules to subsist on, are re-
quired. After the army had arrived
at West Plains. they were for few
days kept very busy building winter
quarters. After the army had got well
settled. there was nothing to do but go
through the regular programme set
down. in the manual of war, such a
roll call, drill. and some such work. ex-
cept as each company was detailed to
do each day; and as there was no
mail, no papers. nothing to read, the
| men soon fell into all sorts of dissipa-
| tion-gambling playing cards. etc.
AS one officer told me, they hao be-
came uncivilized-gone to the dogs in
general. He said, 1.-The men have no
books or papers to read; every scrap
of paper that has any printing on it is
read and reread." One day l was in
town and a train of teams came in for
supplies; as was acquainted with the
trainmaster and the officer in command
l said to this officer, "Haye you any
thing for your men to read? He said,
s'Not thing and the men are starving
for something to read" | asked him
if he would take some reading matter
along if would put box of it in his
wagons.
He said, II am ordered to bring
nothing but what is absolutely neces-
sary." asked him if the mind did
not want food as we'll as the body. He
said. "Yes; and if you can get box in
the wagons without my seeing you put
it in, you may do So"
aud got q good new box that would
hold about two bushels. When / got
home l told my wife about it, and she
seconded it; and as she looked the
magazines over to see that the num-
bers were all there, and in order,
would pack them in the box. We first
took Harper's, as long as they lasted,
then Godey's, then Arthur's, and so on
as long as we could find room for a
magazine or tract Or a leaf; and we
filed that box until it would hold no
more. Then l wrote letter and laid
it on the top of the last one. and fas-
tened the cover Oh solid and tight. |
the printed, in large letters on the
top of the box, food for the Mind"
l took that box to the Pilot Knob.
and as drove up to wagon that was
being loaded l saw Lieutenant Norton |
looking for me. When he saw l had |
brought the box he turned his back to- |
wards me until had put the box in
the wagon. A soldier that was inside |
of the wagon packing the things away |
said. whats that you are putting in
here?;' l told him to never mind; it
was all right.
When the train got back to camp as |
the wagons were unloaded-a great |
crowd had gathered around the wag-
ons to see what was brought. When
my box was taken out they saw on the
box, Food for the Mind" An officer
tore the cover off from the box. and
when they saw the letter and the books
and papers, such a shout went up as
to set the whole army on the rush to
ch