The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-03-24
SEEN AT SOLDIERS HOME,
oLD VETERANS DISCUSSING THE
 MAINE DISASTER.

ror oncie sam Should He Need Defend ers-What Reporter Saw and Heard During Visit to the Model Institution at Noroton Heights-The New Build ings.
 'Do the soldiers at the Home discuss the Maine disaster and the prospects of war;" asked reporter for the Advo- cate of one of the veterans walking up the hill towards Fitch's Soldiers Home on Noroton Heights. He was one of the youngest of the old soldiers, for he enlisted before he was the regu- lation age, and told a little fib that the recording angel will never notice when writing the patriots pedigree.
 "Oh, yes" he said. Its war talk all the time We have all the daily papers and we talk it over among ourselves all the time'
 ''Do the veterans think there will be war with Spain?'
 Well, now, it is hard to tell. One
 
 say the very opposite"
 T suppose that when man has been through one war he's not anxious for another one-he's had enough, eh?"
 That's true in way. Still, many of us would go again if war was de- clared" ,.
 In front of the Home a number of the veterans were slowly walking ! through the grove, taking advantage of the fine weather Adjutant Dart was in his office, busy over big book. He furnished the visitor a conductor in the person of Charles N. Reed, the of hcer in charge of the chapel, who kind- 1y explained everything that was to be seen.
 A portrait of the benevolent Mir <, Fitch hangs ih the office, and the Home is his monument. It was originally in- tended for soldiers orphans, and since it has been used by the state for it's present purpose it has been greatly en- { 1arged and improved.
 At no previous time, said Officer Reed, has the Home been so full as now. There are three hundred and orty-eight places set in the big dining room-four messes at one of the long tables, which means sixteen men; one waiter to eight messes or thirty two men. Everything was as neat as wax, fresh and pretty as a school girls pie ture.
 Here are the kitchens. Big, shining bronze boilers in which corned beef is being cooked for dinner, big ranges, everything big, and warm and spotless. H. ~ies{ !. Ia, and this the product of his skillful fands-bi loaves of soft, white bread How many? One hundred and ninety baked to-day, he answers. One barrel and half of flour at least. And when its baked they slice it with a cutting machine.
 We leave these lower regions for the wards-the regular dormitories and rooms They are large, long rooms filled with cot beds-filled, too, at this season, with the men resting, reading or playing games. There are plants in ,smany of the windows, gifts from the Womans Relief Corps or other friends
 The restrictions upon the occupation of the inmates are few. Discipline must be maintained but as to occupa- tfOn inside or out, that is left almost entirely to their own will and pleasure.
 There are sad sights in the wards; men who must have an attendant roll up one or both empty sleeves every morning and pin them across the shoulders; men who must hobble around on one leg; men who can scarcely hobble around at all, they have the rheumatism so badly; men who are thin and pale and old and de- crepit; men with faces so bronzed with long marches in sun and wind that they will never show pale again, yet with the heavy furrows which pain ploughs draws deep in their foreheads; men of all degrees of suffering and ex- perience.
 We enter the room termed the smoker" Here Is where most of the war talk is carried on, for here is where the Advocate and number of New York dailies and others bring their news from the "seat of war" which some of the men think must be the ed- itors' arm chairs In the offices of New Works yellow journals. Our genial conductor says he hasn't read the Ad- vocate much lately, but then he adds that its file is so surrounded by the men, for hours from the time it is re- ceived, that he can't get at it.
 We pass on from the main building across the lawn, past the waving flag, which, officer Reed sadly remarks, has been at half mast very often lately, there having been so many deaths in the Home: past the two cannon which stand near by as if ready to defend the old flag; down the walk to the hos pital where sixty-eght of the brave boys are shut in. But first we take a peep into the laundry, where the .cleaning up," after big washing, is in progress.
 How everything shines in the hospit- al. Absolute cleanliness, if there is such a thing, prevails. Men look at us from pain-worn countenances. In yon- der cot is white-haired colored vete- ran, a reminder of the regiments of the black boys in blue, who fought for their country's freedom and won their own.
 Dr. Brownson has been one of the hospital staff for some time, but new physician has recently taken the place of the former Dr. Page-Dr. Martin Bowling of New Canaan. There are two head nurses, with two assistants. We note the pleasant reception-room