The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1898-09-13

Some of the Sights to Be- Seen end
Sounds 20 Be Heard st r!cn.auk.

Montauk Point Is aS near the jump
ing-off place as Il Is possible TO get In
the eastern country There Is little
wooden railroad station and an un-
painted eating house. where they sell
sandwiches and pie, and milk that is
sour or on the turn some OF the time:
there is also a water tank and two
piers. Then comes a sandy road that
winds up over n hill, and then, scattered
over the hills and holiows. are white
tents in clumps. with sentinels To turn
you back There Is road winding
about that once in q while upsets a
wagon. and there are the finest and
sleekcst mules In the United states
driven by the most accomplished swear
ers In the same United States. II these
teamsters were not colored cavalrymen,
used to the angles OF the army, they
would all lose their minds. for the ordcf
OF one minute is countermanded the
next. and this In turn is recounter-
manded: but it Is "all In the days
work" with the teamsters, and they
have reached the point where they don't
worry. But alr this pals on the civil
ian and especially the trained nurse.
who liz accustomed to having things run
smoothly. Why 1t is hard TO get such
is perhaps now a little palmer. Also,
the nurse has to sleep on the ground.
OF course. the sick soldier grumbles.
He does that naturally. Whether ne ~
justified i'm grumbing when he has TO
beg for hours for a glass of milk before
the attendant brings IL, is FOR the dis
passionate judge To say. When MS
breakfast is brought to. his bedside one
morning at 2 o'clock and the next morn
ing at II. and when the staple medicine
Ia uuinine for everything, perhaps he is
vrf t,aaralv mako POnNfrS4-
tion. Perhaps these stories are untrue.
and yet one may hear worse than that
IL he Will but listen.
But he need not merely listen. Let
him get down To camp from the Third
House some morning at O'Clock. There
are such hours. and they turn out the
sick folk at them. Let him see the
camp ghosts" core UP 10 sick call.
Yellow. dead d-and-alive things they are,
with lips that are the color OF pale
fish worm. They totter along to the
doctors tent and wait an hour or so
till their names are called not resting
in some cozy armchair. but sitting on
the grass wet with the heavy deWs
that fall on that point of land surround
ed by tkNs sea. They get their dose or
auinine--if there are other drugs In the
, pharmacopoeia of the surgeon he
doesn't seem to know it--and then they
totter back and wait till their fever
goes down bit. else the drug does lit
tie good. Their Temperature is at me
danger point of 10S and l04 degrees For
days together some men are unable 10
turn out for their medicine, and their
"bunkies" fetch Ii for them. This sort
of thing when seen. tends TO make
man think that perhaps the soldier does
not grumble much more than ne mas
right TO. or course, II the camp were
far from home. in some country where
II Ia hard to get supplies and the little
Jaintios that feynpf the appptitp when
a man is under the weather, the heart
would not bleed so much. But with
New York only four hours away, 1t does
seem hard.
II will be found difficult to convince
most people that physicians can let
such things go on as are reported from
here. They know the profession to he
brave and generous and self-sacrificing,
and they can't think that army sur
geons are not. They are brave. There
| isn't a surgeon in the whole army that
would think twice about the danger 10
| himself of operating on the firing line.
I with bullets singing all around him:
| There is not a man in the whole medical
| service that could be tempted with any
| money to do a dishonorable or unpro-
| fessional thing. Men who come out tn
| Camp to see a loved boy or brother and
| rave with passion when they see the
| poor fellow dying from lack OF care.
| VOW they'd like to string the villains
| up. They are not villains. They are
slaves of a system. physicians are
tolerabiy touchy people at their best.
but an army surgeon is a little the
most of anybody on earth. He is su-
| perior TO all around him. If he wants
| to stop drill, the president OF the
| United States cannot make the men
march. Naturally he gets TO confound-
| ing himself with the Creator OF the uni
verse. and when some civilian doctor
says Cant be OF some assistance TO
| your" the army surgeon replies. mo.
| thank YOU have everything i want"
| Eugene Wood In Golfers Weekly.