The San Francisco call., 1898-12-21

architect. In the office of the Collector of the Port, in the custom house, In the Board of Health, in the Captain of the Ports office, in the commissarY. in the quartermaster'S in fact in all places which need men of education and intel ligence representatives of the First Cal ifornia Volunteers will be found. En- listed men as well as officers attest by the excellence of their work the high standard their regiment has assumed.
 Twenty-Five men from Company B, under the command of Lieutenant Ramm, have been assigned as a guard at the lighthouse of Pandacan. They will be relieved in turn by details from other companies.
 Last Sunday Colonel Smith and all of the officers not on duty took trip to the head of the Pasig River and across the immense fresh water lake at it's head, from which it has its source. The trip was undertaken with the dual idea of obtaining little relaxation and affording the officers chance to acquaint themselves with the lay of the country in case they have occasion to look after MT. Aguinaldo in that part of Luzon. The trip was an entire sue cess and much information was ob- tained which will be invaluable in case we are forced to undertake cam- paign.
 pr. O'Brien, having performed his one month of service in the smallpox hos pital, has once more returned to the de lights of Manila life and is Gu1rtered with the Oregonians, whose surgeon has been ordered to take Dr. O'Brlen' s place in the hospital. I understand that a surgeon from each command will take a month of this unpleasant and danger ous duty in turn.
 Canteens have been established in II, STa tXV0 II her tastefully fitted with a large room and long bar for the men and smaller private room for the officers. Canteen checks are issued to the men in any amount up to $5 and are charged against them on payday when their salaries are drawn. The boys each take a turn at tending bar and when the regiment returns home there will be no lack of experienced mixers in San Francisco. All sorts of liquor, both hard and soft, Is sold, cigars and canned goods are likewise opta1naole. Tn fact most anything one needs can De obtained at the canteen, from brandy and soda or a box of blacking to 6 bobtailed monkey or Wad or spiritual grace.
 Company dining rooms have been es- tablished throughout the entire bar racks, so now the boys who once ate their hard tack and drank their coffee while sitting in three inches or water and mud experience the luxury or slt- ting on benches and eating from plates which are white, though plain, placed on boards which atone by thelr smoothness and cleanliness Tor the lacK of a table cloth.
 To sum up the situation in few words, we are as comfortable as cir cumstances will permit and well pro- vided for in every way, save In the mat ter of food, which is abominable.
 Before l close 1 must touch on one subject which 1 would fain pass by and which I have purposely left to the last owing to the reluctance with which speak of it at all. l mean that portion of the news which relates to the sick, the dying and the dead.
 Every precaution that humanity can suggest is taken; every result that science can achieve has been accom- plished, yet the hospitals are crowded to their utmost capacity and the burial ground continues to increase the num- Der of it's headstones day by day.
 Since my last article two more of our regiment have been mustered out for ever and others are hourly awaiting the orders which will summon them to their eternal home. The two deaths l refer to are those of Sergeant Charles Lemon of Company and Private w. D. Cook of Company F.
 Sergeant Lemon was an old National Guardsman and probably one of the best known members of that organiza- ton in the city. He entered the First California at the time of the reorgani- zation as private; was made corpor- al shortly before the call came for vol unteers and was promoted to the rank of sergeant during the present cam paign He was well known in business circles at home and his death will be greatly felt on the borderland of two seas.
 Private Cook was an excellent sol dier, a good comrade and a man. He was a crack athlete and one of the last men we expected to lose through ill., ness. Both deaths were directly due to that dysentery which has carried off so many of our boys.
 It is a strange fact that Death in recruiting his ranks seems able to choose and have his call responded to by the very best among us. In almost every case those to go were the ones we could least afford to spare. It mat ters not whether Deaths summons comes in the shape of conflict, accident or disease, 1t is invariably answered by the very flower of our chivalry.
 Hermita Hospital, which was started by Colonel Smith and Dr. Mc- Carthy, is doing splendid work under the SupeTNlSlOn OI LIT. fdTTelI. It IS an ideal place for convalescents. and the care taken of our boys who are sent there is manifested by the condition in which they are returned to their con- panies.
 In connection with pr. Farrell and the work he has done down here. I hope The Call will do him the justice to mention his services on the night of the battle of Malate. In ali the reports I have seen of that affair he seems to have been entirely overlooked. On the night of July 31 Dr. Farrell had entire charge of the field medical staff. Ex- posing himself with an utter disre- gard for his own safety he accom- plished the duties entrusted to him so well that within an hour after the fir ing had ceased there remained not a single wounded man who had not been attended to. In pursuance of his duty Dr. Farrell went further than he was obliged to, and the hottest portion of the fight found him attending to the wounded on the very top of the trenches.
 Owing to the crowdihg of the Red Cross and other convalescent hospitals, a number of our sick have been sent aboard the Scandia to recuperate on the health-giving sea breezes that sweep in from the ocean. Amone these