West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1898-12-08

helped care Tor their wounded and
bury their dead.
Oh, those Porto Rican bellies! They
are fne featured, some OF thsm. bnt a
iitie too shady. She will get ON a
calico dress, bracelets. u pair 81 car
rings cigar in her mouth, aud think
shes Fixed mp But little shoe lea th.r
Is worn and - millinery shop or kid
glove factory would be as unprofitabIs
as a hennery without chicken. Not
wtthstandlnX the enormous price OF
-four, the biackest and most homelv
tc nale OIL the island uses no limited
amount On her face, hands aud her
hair.
For two days on our way Co Newport
News and day after we arrived, for
soIoe unknown reason, we could not
get governinent ratlons But we did
not 20 hungry. We had all kinds of
grub. Wu bought some and as the
clever hobo would say, we "mooch ed"
the rest With eleven hundred and
thirty head of horses and mules on our
transport and several hundred men the
fresh water supply became exhausted
and for more than twenty-four hours
before landiug, we had no coffee to
melt our hard tack, no water to auench
our thirst. The morning we went
ashore, we made our breakfast on hard
tack and It was not until the next
morning that our supplies were uu-
loaded. All that day we tsasted our
eyes on the many strange sights to oe
seen and fed our sppctitcs on cocoa.
nuts, bananas, piantains, naugos and
such other things as we happened to
meet Late in the evening. not feeling
quite satisfied. we took can, the
same as the ones you throw In the
gutter, went To the company mess of
one OF the regiments camped near by,
just in time to get IL filed with some
sucplus bean soup the cook was pour
ing into the sink, Just at that mo-
ment Bert McCaffrey, a First w. Va.
boy, came along aud said he was think
ing how he would like TO strike some
thing like that aud as he had no dishes.
we ate bean soup tog-ther, while we
talked OF the sights seen that day-of
his girl and mine
The most enthusiastic and exciting
demonstration we ever witnessed was
at Coamoa the day it. was taken by our
army. All morning excitement GER
taiuly ran high among both the troops
and inhabitants. IL was excitement
OF an entirely different nature from
any we ever saw before. IL did not
subside until the three hundred Span
ish prisoners were placed in their cells.
the wounded taken 10 the hospital.
the dead buried. aud quietude came
only with the darkness. When Gen.
Wilson and staff passed through the
streets the iuha bitants, Who had not
90 lie to the hills Tor safety, nocked
into the streets to greet him, little
later the Third Wisconsin Vol INIT
entered the streets, carrying our fag
at the head OF their columns. We
never saw it waive so proudly, It's
stars never seemed TO shine half so
brightly. Their band played Dixie
Land" and ''Ths Battle Hymn of the
Republic" so beautiful, so thrilling.
and the indiscribable natives swarmed
around them, deafs ming us with their
yells.
The road leading between Coamo
and Ponce. is the military road which
finds its way on through the noun
tains 20 the walls OF San Juan. 1t is
elevated and macademized, we'll
ditched on either side, with cuts and
fills and all the streams bridged with
stone, brick and cement, with shade
trees planted every eight or ten feet
on either side, IL is certainly magnif-
cent For several miles you can look
across a level tract OF high grass, CO.
cOanut palms, bananas aud sugar plan
tations and see the blue ocean like q
rolling prairie, while on the other side
are the green mountains with their
sharp peaks piercing the sky--faciaa-
tng the eye aud heart Of the observer
with their ever picturesque grandeur
and sublimity. We generally tried 20
keep up our spirits but we eould'nt
help becoming disgusted when some
tender-foot from Kentucky, Tsnnes-
see or "Old Virginuy" would write US
and tell OF the innumerable aelicacies
they were haviag, or enclose a chicken
leather, picked from the fowl they
had devOured that day for dinner.
The best thing produced on the
island that we saw. we're the large
cattle something not to be ashamed
of.
No state we happened TO be in since
being in the army has treated us in a
more bospitable manner than our own.
One incident was at Huntington where
SIC stopped some 80 minutes while on
our way to Newport News The peo.
pie came foctiuR TO our train with all
Kind OF eatsOses, 50 IL they kuev how
we had Jared since leaving Camp
Thomas. They gave us tobacco
smoking aud chewing, literature ia
abundance aud flowers We hesrd
several Of the boys say they never sa0,
50 many pretty girls ia their life and
II they lived 70 get out of the army
they wOuld surely pay Huntington a
visit. Many times 80 Coauto ~ hen we
wero eating our meals. consisting Of
nothing move than yellow coru meal
nn sh and black cOH,se some one rossId
me sfsff ION. 4 Ia 1. Al.