The true Democrat. [volume] (Bayou Sara [La.]) 1892-1928, 1898-10-01
HOMESlcKNESS KILLS.
Many Soldiers, Especially Wounded or IN
Prison, Die FROM That Cause.

Many Soldiers, Especially Wounded orin
Prison, Die FROM That Cause.
"Private Harvey Atkins, Company
I, End Massachusetts, died July 25,of
nostalgia.
The above is extracted from an Off
cial report. Nostalgia is, in plain
words, inconsistencies.
A Boston Journal reporter visited
men of military experience andlearned
that this disease is by no means un.
common among troops.
DR.. Abbott, secretary of the state
board of health, who was for four
years surgeon in the civil war, said,
when asked if the disease was COM
mon:
ooh, yes, have seen many cases
of it. Men become discouraged, de-
spondent, lose vitality, and with it
their hold on life In the official re-
ports over five thousand cases were
recorded, of which but few, compare
lively, died. There were a great
many cases-very many more than
five thousand-that never got into re-
ports. Most of them were those Of
boys under twenty"
Colonel William NJ. DIN, who
served in the seth Massachusetts,
through the war, said:
"When q. man got that he simply
lost his grip His nerve gave out
and he ceased to care about anything.
The neatest of men would become
sloyenly and let everything go to the
dogs.
'"There was a man in my company
who was discharged because the sur
geon said he would die shortly if re-
tanned. Another who enlisted in New
York and was sent out to us just after
Spotsylvania very nearly died. He
had enlisted in the 36th because his
first cousin was a first sergeant with
us, but before he joined his first cousin
had been killed. He came to US
therefore, with no friends in the regi
ment, not even acquaintance. W.
nicknamed him Jennie because hi
was q girlish-looking boy. For two
or three months he seemed to steadil.
pine away. He moped about with
Respondent air, and grew thin ant
pallid. There was nothing in tn
world the matter with him excep
inconsistencies. We thought be wa
going to die, until all at once h
turned about and began to pick up
He had got over his inconsistencies an
, he grew steadily we'll again, until h
was fat and healthy. He had at on
time been actually attenuated and il
a dying condition"
A prominent physician Of the Bos
ton city board Of health, q veteran G
the civil war, confirmed the statemen
| that deaths occurred from nostalgi
:, frequently.
) II was wounded and in hospita
myself" he said, Gin q cot next to
l fellow much older than I was, and VIII
, was not so badly hurt, but he g
homesick and lost his grip. He woul
t have got we'll, ordinarily, but he pine
? away for lack of word from home an
+. friends, and he died.
: 81 think many more deaths al
e really attributable to nostalgia tina
d to what they are reported as beln'
2 For instance, o man who is not ser
;. ously ill or wounded lies in ahospita
n where it seems as if nobody care
a whether he lived or died. He Cd
o only lie still and think. The ma
s. comes, and there is no letter for hlr
o That is the last straw. He can't r
y alize at such time that there mt
e have been fifty letters sent him til
h have been lost Or gone astray, OWL
!, to the conditions of war time. t
+ loses hope and vitality. His ner
m goes, and he does not care to live. I
- dies, and his death is attributed
>, wounds OF whatever his regular SIC
~ ness has been, but that man has dl
= = of nostalgia, just the same"