Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1898-08-18

graves. The funeral rites are military.
The Protestant chaplain is an Episco-
palian and the casket is wrapped in
the American flag. AS many of the
veterans go to the grave as care to do
So, and caisson gun carriage is used
instead of a hearse. The fife and drum
corps accompany it. There are six cof-
fin bearers; the chaplain throws in
handful of dust. The squad fires sa-
lutte, and the bugle sounds taps"
Only Beer on the Grounds.
There is a "canteen" on the grounds
a beer hall-but the restrictions are
sharp and those who want stronger po-
ia tons than beer so outside. Many of
these soldiers are old and broken phys
ically and mentally. They would spend
every cent of their quarterly pension
money if a check was not kept on the
reckless. This drink evil, they tell me,
is ahated, but it is still something ire
mendous; and with it goes debauchery.
The men may obtain leaves of absence
for from thirty to ninety days to visit
their families, and occasionally seeking
change of scene they are transferred
to another home. l saw the dining hall,
which seats over 900; and there are two
sittings for total of $500 men at each
meal. I think of no bigger family in
the state. 1t requires AS pounds of Cof-
fee for two drawings and fifty pounds
of tea. 1t is made in four boilers, each
holding 260 gallons. A days bread is
made from seven and a half barrels of
flour, When they eat pies they eat 720
of them. 1t requires eighteen bushels
of vegetables for meal. cooked in nine
steamers, each holding two bushels.
Eleven cases of eggs, each holding
twenty dozen, will do for a meal; and
fifty attractive hams from Cudahy were
making ready for tomorrow's breakfast.
In a huge boiler was 157 gallons of
cream of maise" for supper. Govern
lor Wheeler urged me taste of every
Thing. He pulled out a ham bone that
we might smell of it (the test. he said),
and gave me some boiled beef that was
rich and delicate.
"Nine-tenths of our Wisconsin farm
ers do not live as we'll as do our SOL
diers in the home" he said.
The Brains in the Library.
There is endless chatting among the
men on the Varandas and under the
trees. / heard old men telling each 9TH
er stories in the hospital-bits of expert
ence with flavor of profanity. They
Were shattered wrecks. ! doubt if the
conversation amounted to much, but
they We're passionate about it as boys
telling about camping trip. There is
a library Of 5000 volumes, and in this
building one sees the intelligence of the
soldiery-some superb forms and mar
tial bearings, strong faces and that
handsome iron gray hair we associate
with men who have faced danger There
is building for cards and checkers and
bagatelle, and room for billiards. Not
even buttons or matches may be used
for Wagers. The theater is being en-
larged to 1,400 seats. Here ambitious
companies appear, subsidized by the in.
Stitution management.
The discipline for offenders includes
withdrawal of privileges, guardhouse,
extra work, and many are discharged
from the home as incorrigible. The gov
ernor holds court every morning. There
is work in the dining room for seventy
five men and hundreds of others. For
this they receive pay. Some send
i to their families. There is a veterans
social club, made up of the hundreds
who have taken the Kelley cure, and
the enthusiasm of some of those who
once We're sots and now are free is
convincing. The treatment is given by
the official medical staff, but the
graduates" are frank to say there is
no immunity for those who persist in
tampering with alcohol
About one in five of the veterans are
in the hospital, of which there are eight
wards. There are twelve female and
sixteen male nurses. The steward is a
brother of eX-State Treasurer Har-
shaw. The equipment is modern and
Spotlessly clean. There is one ward for
the insane. There is another ward for
the helpless-scores of poor fellows I'M
able to feed themselves or to keep their
persons neat. There was a row of
rooms with one or two beds in each.
In one room was veteran who broke
his leg trying to learn to ride bicycle.
y weight attached to a cord hung over
the bottom of the bed, showing the sur
g1eon's work. In the other bed was a
man reading newspaper,
This gentleman thought he was the
bigger fellow of the two
The patient smiled Il grim, sheep;sh
smile. but said nothing. He had been
badly bruised in some row.
Wounds Dressed for Thirty-fve Years.
There vas a cancer case--the face
already badly eaten out. Such are the
hardest rooms to keep in good Odor.
There was a room where an expert
dressed from fifty to seventy-tive
wounds day, some Of them dating
back to the war. The ambulance was
about to start for the train to meet a
new case-a man paraly2ed. Transport
tation had been sent him and there was
a sympathetic welcome and a home for
the rest of his days awaiting him.
What blessed thing is human gov
eminent at its best!
Some of these men have families else
where, and the pension money is care
fully saved and sent To them. But
most of them are out of touch with
home and women, who gladden. life and
smooth the pathway to the grave.
Death and separation have done their
work and thu old fellows. stOical serene,
free from cares await their end.
There was a pathos to it all 1t is
grand thing that these refugees are pro-
vided and we honor the men who
wrecked their futures in many cases to
hold the republic together.