The Mena star., 1898-07-20
At Chickamauga Park.

tents glinting throughout the forest greenery; white tents looking down upon the passer-by from every eleva tion and eminence; white tents re- posing in the valleys and depressions and under the trees; white tents in the open, stoutly defying the almost vertical rays of the sun; white tents to the right and to the left and all around. This is Chickamauga. Armed sentinels walk back and forth. A na- tion is angered. Sentries keep moving; soldiers lounge in squads. or drill in battalions, or musingly meander alone. Flags idly and lazily float in the fra grant breezes. A sheeny gonfalon, the regiments present from admiring friends, swings to and fro. Smoke from the campfres ascends languidly, soon to be lost in the infinite blue of the empyrean. Guns and bayonets glisten in the sunlight Swords clank. into complaining, where the rowels strike, as the sauntering cavalryman walks. The sons of Mars are here as- sembled, and Chickamauga is said to contain 65, 900 souls. The government would have experienced difficulty in finding better place for the assembl- ing of troops. The location is not only suitable, but inspiring and picturesque. From Lookout Mountain, where a madly audacious railroad train springs out of the ground like gnome and skurries up the perceptions acclivity until it reaches the dlzzying summit of the stupendous acropolis, 10 the fur tbermost bounds of the national park, in every direction, the scenery is grand. There is a bigness about every thing. The mountains lift their awe-inspiring forms, carrying their heads on high, man. No one can look at 8 mountain without being the better for it. There is beauty in mere magnitude. Nc tree that rears itself above it's fellows and with the susurrous breeze holds secret communion can be less than sublime, no matter what it's scraggi- ness or nodosity. Mere perspective, that flies like fugitive beyond the vision, is ennobling. Down the valley is vast sweep of undulating ground, and at it's other side rises Missionary d. T I IL a battle field where Titans might fight where ritans have fought. The scene is a SC mon-one of those sermons that can be heard in the silences from God Himself. in which He reveals Himself to tnan.
 The government has done much to beautifN Chickamauga in the matter of road building and monument- building. A great deal of money has been spent on the Ii. 900 acres. Monuments have been erected to mark the spot where fought or fell, or where fought and fell. the brave men of thirty years ago. These granite and marble rec ords tell of those who made history
 
 and of the part they took in the mak- ing. 1t IS right for nation to honor it's dead and perpetuate the memories of its heroes.
 Monuments attract the old soldiers who visit Chiekamauga, and especially those who took part in the conflict. The simple-minded ruralist who re- turns after thirty years to find the spot where he fought and starved and sui fered marked by an imposing and sub stantial monument, whereon is record ed his deeds of daring and valor. feels transported.
 The soldiers at Chickamauga are principally recent enlistments. They are from different states, and are all sorts of people. One of the Vermont soldiers told me that they had one democrat amongst them-a rare curi- osity he thought-and they were proud of him as any set of men are of freak of nature which they select as mascot.
 couple of years in Chickamauga, with it's life ip the open air it's absten- ieus diet, it's regular hours, it's strict discipline and wholesome and develop ing exerclse are worth more to young man than the same period in Yale or Harvard. He would learn to be a man. as any college or university can confer