The San Francisco call., 1898-06-26

'Oh, If you don't mind I'd rather
 not"
 These wars are new. Woman has not
 yet found her place in them. If the
 Government had not interfered she
 would have gone to Manila to nurse
 :he wounded, to die of fever, to chafe
 the man in action, to sadden the man
 at ease.
 Barred from the field of war she has
 cluttered the field of peace. Her pres
 ence in the camp has made ducks and
 drakes of military discipline. Her pies
 and cakes have wrought havoc with
 military digestion. Her attentions have
 turned the unaccustomed heads of fool
 ish youth from big farms and little
 towns. Her moneys have been squan-
 dered in dissipations.
 And so sweetly, so generously, so en-
 tirely, so innocently has she given her
 self, heart and soul, to this work of
 blessed interference and so much
 practical good has gone hand in hand
 with the evil she has wrought. that
 here in her own city, where the nation
 has gone into camp, none has had the
 heart to turn her out, to spoil her cup
 of sweets with one drop of sour; few 5 have had the courage to tell her the s truth about herself, to say: "Go home, . my dear, and do your good work there  hats and hoods, your bands and bags, your moneys and many other blessings 2 ito official hands for impartial distri- : button. There is nothing that you can 3 do in the field that men cannot do bet 2 ter. Your presence is tolerated not , desired in the army. You are sweet, s you are good, you are devoted, you are noble, you are infinitely dear-but you are terribly in the way"
 Out of the colder East the blow fell smartly on nerves all unprepared 2 The Astor Battery had travelled com |. fortably across the continent with ? we'll filled grips. besides their haver- sacks, with the equipment of gentle 2 men as we'll as soldiers. They were not ? hungered not, neither did they thirst They were not cold. They were not 5 weary. They were not Respondent Their Captain was not sentimental. The men were picked from college teams, from the diamond and the and that power of endurance . which counts in mountain ar tillery service = the hardest ser vice in the army-the service of moun- s tain cannon and Government mule. Some of them have seen this service 2 with the British and American armies; some of them are going to it for the 3 first time; all are presumably good men despite the reported wealth which ? has beer hung upon them like a curse; none is yet a proven hero. Their s Captain, :. West Pointer and a rigid disciplinarian-chose by rich man who might have had his pick of men for the position, because of his fitness for ft-saw in the occasion of landing his Battery in San Francisco to wait a . summons to the front no occasion for feasting and for flowers He knew perhaps as little of the etiquette of the } Red Cross Society of San Francisco as . the Red Cross Society of anywhere knows of the discipline of West Point. } His intention was to get his men s ashore. up street and into camp as i. quickly as possible. A social function at the ferry was not included in his plans.
 It is not, I believe, included in the plans controlling any military movements. It is. I should venture to say, directly opposed to military usual , ities. When officers of the regular , army have paused their troops en route to break bread with the women of the Red Cross, the courtesy has been mu- , tual
 When it was extended to the Astor Battery Captain March chose to de- cline it.
 Had the matter ended there, as invi- tations usually end, with acceptance or |, regrets, this story need never have been written. ALICE RIX.