The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-05-17
It WAS A DAY OF SADNESS
PATHOS IN THE DEPARTURE
OF THE VOLUNTEERS

One of the Occasions When Nobody
Was Ashamed to BE Seen With
MOistened Eyes - Forced Levity
Carried with 1t the Evidence
That 1t Was COunterfeit-Te-
dious Waits for the Train to Start.
She was just plain ordinary woman.
without a trace of beauty in either
face or form. What attempts she had
made in fermentation in the way of
bows and ruffles had only added to the
utterly commonplace effect of her
whole person. And now her heart was
breaking. For, under that gaudy blue
silken waist, there was a heart,
heart which was as loving as any
which may beat under more becoming
costumes. and the object of it's affec-
ton was her only brother, and ne had
enlisted. And so she just stood and
leaned her head, with it's wonderful
creation of laces and flowers, against
the hard boards of the side Of the
weather beaten old palace car and
cried and cried. She was totally una
ware of anything but her grief; she
cared little that there were thosSwho
gaZed at her swollen eyes and stained
face and smiled broadly, and then turn
ed away to hide the tears which would
come in sympathy.
The object of her grief pulled his
head in through the window after
final handshake'\ he had kissed her
when they stood on the platform some
moments before, and, as the train
pulled slowly out Of the long shed, she
buried her face on a sympaZing friends
shoulder in an agony of despair and
they were soon swallowed up in the
crowd.
Everybody cried yesterday. Those
who had friends or relatives among the
companies cried, as matter of course.
and those who had nobody in any of
the regiments just cried because they
couldn't help it.
1t is probable that the thing which
had the most significance to the visitors
. to Camp Ramsey yesterday was the
final roll call of the companies The
men seemed to feel this, too, and rather
disheartening attempts were made to
liven things up q bit by boisterOus an
swering, which was responded to by
Just as mirthless and very noisy
laughter. But there were few who
didn't wonder if the roll calls to come
would find every one answering, and
If the zone, two, three, four along
the line would always be complete, as
now.
AS the company stood in line at rest
waiting for the final "'Bout Face"
they eagerly grasped the extended
hands of friends or some times mere
acquaintance, and many of the awk-
ward young fellows took the tiny forms
of their gray-haired old mothers into
their arms and were not ashamed to
let the tears stream down their tanned
faces.
1t all seemed so hard on the old
folks who must stay behind. and it is
|. not always cowardliness which makes
a man resist the temptation to enlist
when he sees the quivering lips of the
old father and the tear-filled eyes of
the old mother. His duty may be along
different lines,
AS the men marched in companies
; from the sheds which had served them
as barracks for so many days, the
crowd made way just enough to let
them pass and then closed up and
crushed after them, for each company
had its hundreds of friends who wanted
to say good bye
The cars rapidly filled and then sum
burned faces and roughened heads were
stuck through the windows and rapid
fire of comments on the crowd in gen.
eral and some people in particular, be-
gan. The people crowded backward
and forward between the cars and
hailed everybody they could lay any
claim to knowing and many whom they
couldn't. Photographs and cards were
exchanged here and there and an as
tonishing number Of letters promised to
one another.
There were babies, mothers and
grandmothers in the crowd and every
where were little sorrowful groups,
sometimes fathers and their families,
sometimes mothers and sons, and some
times just sweethearts who felt that
now indeed their own particular world
of romance had come to an end. Per-