Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1898-07-02


,ity of Chattanooga, which is itself about
five hours of fastest railway travel from
Nashville, Atlanta, birmingham, Ala. In
other words, this little station il miro
miles from city of $1,000 people that is
as far removed from any other city as
Boston is from New York. That COMPARE
son may convey some impression of its
isolation.
4 month ago this little station was but
q squat telegraph Office, weather beaten
and solitary, By the track Within radius
Of a hundred yards were three other build
ings-two dwellings, and roadside
store" a good bit farther along the
road was smithy. That was all there
was 80 days ago of architecture or inhabit-
ants at Lytlc's.
But the frown Of Mars has been to Ly-
ties the smile of prosperity and the SYM
Dol of multiplication. The deserted, dusty
road that curved across the solitary rail-
way track, past the lonely semaphore, to
reach the frcnt porches of the rural post
Office and grocery. is today like the main
street of % boom mining town at the edse
of an auri.eroas reef The gold bearing
strata arc the pockets of the $4,000 volun-
tecrs campcd within riding distance of
this mushroom town 1t is deposit that
needs TO dclvirg, no washing. no stamp
ing, no refining 1t mines itself trans
ports itself and joyously deposits itself in
the gaping receiving vaults OF Lytle's.
In short, Lytle's is klondike It's
placers need not to be hunted. They are
not frozen gravel, dug with much travail
from fire looscned beds of icy streams.
They need no seeking They offer flinty
and brittle resistance to no pckax. They
need neither labor nor coaxing. They are
what is called in American slang "a good
thing" and they just ''push themselves
| along" with unrestrained cagcrness.
For, be it understood, the American
VOLUNTEER, not limited, as is the regular SOL
der, to a salary Of si3 month, has his
purse weighted with the spoiis of de-
voted hoElc. He bears with him the loot
of willing hands ;,bout his hearth and he
| forgets not the injuactions that follow him
| to heed his health and coddle his comfort.
Could there be better, richer, more
| profitable market for Cheap Johns Could
| there be created u more thirsty desert to
be irrigated with apollinaris and rep:
A look down the vista of the main
street of the new Lytlc's carries ere IL vi
siOns of q rough hewn city born in a night.
There is at bost but narrow space be-
tween the railway track and the edge of
the National park, where the camps are
pitched. That national reservation is
sacred ground. 1t can be invaded by no
mercantile enterprise. So to this strip, as
narrow as gulch in Colorado the hunt
crs for the soldiers gold are confined.
| bf h-.,
| highway, as packed with vehicles us is
lower Broadway or the Strand OF the
Boulevard DIES Italiens. A hundred cries
of contending riders rend the air. Each
side of the jammed way is lined with
booths, hastily tackled together, of I'M
painted pine, raw, glaring, offensive to
the eye, but in harmony with all the dis
cordant scene. Each shed is provided with
a projecting shelf, where is displayed ev.
erything imaginable to cat and drink and
every conceivable article of gear from
shoestrings to pyiamas.
Near this street eff vocal noise and
money making activity there has been
erected a theater. This home OF Thcspia
is built of rough boards The seats are
benches. There are two rude boxes The
proscenium arch is a Eafter. Shakespeare
could never have performed when he frs,
fed from Stratford to London before q
rudcr audience mid ruder Surroundings.
The play is only a hodgepodgc of low
variety, though it is relieved and given q
dash of Parisian chic by one graceful, CO
quettish. artistic dancer, who has the
teinerity to assume the Spanish sobriquei
of Pepita. Her dancing. while graceful,
is as daring as her name, and the soldier
audience bowls uproarious approval
Meantime between the theater and the
Midway trains loaded with arriving r.gi
ments snort and toot and back and crunch
along the track. The new troops, bag
gard and weary. disemhark, answer roll
call and are marched away across the field.
to their places Of bivouac and tent pegging
Lytle's Is at once an entrance and the
hackdoor to the vast Chickalnauga camp
1t Is Coney Island militant, a martial
Oyer-the Rhine. 1t is wild and rapid and
noisy. 1t Is not altogether good for the
volunteer soldier, but it win probably Ok
him no great harm