Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-06-05

bottoms Of the Mississippi, l always
made my men take off their shoes while
/ resting and before going to sleep at night
Many a winter, bitter night l went among
! them to see that my order was obeyed.
| The consequence was they had better
! health, a sturdier strength, and could
| march harder, faster, and farther at a
| stretch than any other command in the
| army"
! The photographers all over the country
/ have been working on emergency orders.
| The boys could not 80 away in service
| toys without leaving with their best girls
and the good old mother a photo of their
martial selves. Every form of picture
from tintypes at quarter bunch TO
imperial busts at 50 a bust have been
lavishly distributed. OF course. in the
knapsack of every one Of Uncle Sans
foot and horse goes the blessed counter
felt presentments of parents, wives. Dull
cineas. and other friends, all of which
will be pleasing enough to dissipate the
monotonous hours and ennui Of earlier
home-sick days in faraway camps.
Shaving outfits Of elaborate construc-
ton, portable boot-blacking kits, button
and threat boxes, needle and pin cases,
liliputian drug combinations, and court
plaster envelopes, stationery portfolios,
fountain pens, packages of foot ease
and hundred other small wares that the
imagination and forethought OF fond ones
can conjure for a soldiers necessities are
forced upon the boys, all unconscious
that when real war is met these things
will largely litter the highways, and in
the end the sons Of Mars will be shaving
with jack-knives and plastering rosin
soap on their cuts and bruises.
GETTING NEWS.
f- hn cd
ton given to nearly all the boys by their
parents and chums. to be needed in case
of battle or wounds. The dear ones do
not realize that when the dread event
arrives the boy may be many weary miles
away from any ticker, and that military
discipline may have laid an embargo
on all private dispatches. They do not
know, ALSO that mails will often be
weeks in reaching troops in the hills,
and chapparals of Cuba, and that, even
if a wire should come through that John
ME is down with the fever" or is "se-
riously wounded" a passage for parent,
or brother. or sister TO the field hospital
will be almost as impossible as a Sunday
excursion to Mars himself
War telegraphy is also a costly busi-
ness, and often will not be undertaken
unless messages are prepaid" and for
warded at sender's risk. Therefore, II
ought to be recognized at once that
when the army is in Cuba only general
news will be available, as a rule, and
special communications infrequent. In
that case, 1t is best to rest on the old
saw, that mo news is good news"
WILL BE KNOWN.
One Of the saddest features OF war that
impresses q visitor to our national ceme-
teries, made necessary by the late war
between the States, is the vast number OF
graves that are marked unknown" |
These are the poor fellows who died along !
the fiery front of the battle, and upon |
whose persons, dead, bloody, aid tram I
pied, II not ransacked, could be found I
no card, letter, or paper Of Identification. !
Tens of thousands OF homes all over the I
land preserve the memories Of fathers ,
and sons and brothers who marched away |
with patriotic ferver and never came /
back-the time and place and manner of |
whose deaths have never been ascer-
tanned.
In the present war the government will !
furnish aluminium tags with company
and regimental numbers, that will aid
largely 10 identify the dead, while manyt
are providing themselves with leathern
cases and waterproof cards giving all
data for certain Identification
n case OF death or accident. These are
wise precautions, and should be generally
adopted by the volunteers.