The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-10-11
NOSTALGIA HTTACKs 10Th.
War Horses Get just as HOmesiclS as
the Soldier Boys.
From the New York Press.


From the New York Press.
And those volunteers" remarked the
man with the ponderous diamond horse
shoe embedded in his bosom ARE not the
only warriors that pine away and die
from nostalgia. Horses are far more sus-
ceptlble to the disease than men-that is,
they were so in the civil war and don't
see any reason to suppose that their tenn
peraments have changed since then.
"Of course, when a poor, four-legged
brute with no shoulder straps, comes
down with nostalgia the doctors don't dig
Nifty IL with such dude diagnosis. They
simply report that such and such horses
in such and such a troop are off their
feed and let it go at that. But IL is
precisely the same thing, the disorder de-
velops in precisely the same manner and
the equine victims of it manifest identi-
cally the same symptoms, and, what 10
more. the chances Of their dying from it
are infinitely greater than are those OF
a soldier, simply because it is impossible
to bolster up their courage by telling them
they are going home soon. That is the
only medicine that will keep the disease
in check and, of course. you can't admin
ister it to a horse unless you speak its
language.
And when you come to think about
it," the man with the ponderous diamond
horseshoe continued, 1.-The prevalence or
the disease among army horses is the
most reasonable thing in the world As
is the case with the volunteers great
majority of the war horses come from
the country They were bred and raised
in the country, and until they were drafted
into the service they spent all their days
in the restful quiet of the farm. The
government prefers to buy country horses
both for political reasons and because the
animals ARE more likely to be free from
the pavement soreness and other disorders
which afiiict city horses. 1t also has its
buyers select animals pretty well along
in years-anywhere from 5 to years old
when these rustic beasts are torn sud
denly from their rural homes and plunged
into the hustle and confusion Of camp life
it affects them just as 1t does their mas
ters who have enlisted. Most natural thing
IN the world that it should because both
have been brought up the same way. You
take a city bred man or a city bred horse,
and they would go through a thirty-year
war with never touch Of nostalgia,
Loss of appetite is the FIRST symptom of
equine inconsistencies. Heroes that at home
were the most hearty feeders became dain-
ty and particular, and refuse to look at
anything offered to them. Then they be-
come restless and nervous, pound their
feet to pieces, If you don't watch them.
and from sweet-tempered, honest workers
they become onery and sulky rogues, IN
fit for everything. 1t doesn't take long
to kill them off-less time than It does
to do for a soldier. Two weeks will fix
them generally. Working without nour-
ishment is as disastrous as fighting on
an empty stomach and the beasts soon
contact a cold or a fever and either die
or are killed.
tout of a consignment of 200 horses sent
TO the army corps with which / was sta
toned in Tennessee, more than one-third
of them became absolutely useless from
sheer inconsistencies in less than month.
Twenty or thirty died and the rest we dis
posed Of as best we could.
"Another circumstance which produces
equine nostalgia among army horses Is
the fact that a great majority Of them
have been separated from a mate, with
whom they have been accustomed to work
for years The moment they realize their
partner is missing they go into the most
abject mourning, and refuse TO be recon-
ciled. Time and time again l have seen
horses literally grieve themselves to death
in an army camp because their room
mate was separated from them.
There may be such a thing as mule
nostalgia, but / never saw any army mule
that did not have SAND enough to keep IL
10 himself