Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1898-08-10

thing, lie pulled out 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 ,,nder the
tres. heard old men telling each 9TH
er stories in the hospital-bits of experi-
ence, with flavor of profanity. They
were shattered wrecks. / doubt if the
conversation amounted to much. but
they were passionate about Ii as BOYS
telling about camping trip There is
library of 5000 volumes, and in this
building one sees the intelligence of the
soldlery-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 offe uders 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
, 1t to their families. There is 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 liz
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 IL 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
rooms with one or two beds in each.
In one room was a veteran who broke
his leg trying to learn to ride a bicycle.
A weight attached TO cord hung over
the bottom of the bed showing the sur
geon's work. In the other BED was a
man reading q newspaper.
This gentleman thought he was the
bigger fellow of the two"
LII y
smile, but said nothing. He had been
badly bruised in some row.
Wounds Dressed for Thirty five Years.
There was a cancer case-the face
already badly eaten out. Such are the
hardest rooms to keep in good odor,
There was room where an expert
dressed from fifty to seventy five
wounds a day, some of them dating
back TO the war. The ambulance was
about to start for the train to meet a
new ease-a man paralyZed. Transport
tation had been sent him and there was
q sympathetic welcome and a home for
the rest of his days awaiting him.
What a 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 the old fellows, stoical serene,
free from cares await their end
There was a pathos to it ALL 1t is a
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.
But / could not get away from the
thought that but for war, this great
waste of manhood, the necessary idle
ness, the profltless waiting for death,
the mono onstruutiveness of it all might
be averted.
Photographs of Dead Soldiers.
J paused in the governors office be-
fore leaving the grounds and saw on
the walls what was new to me-musty
photographs. taken on the spot. of the
dead slain in battle in the civil war.
Modern art plates miss the point, In
the originals you see the stark, tumbled
form: the gaping mouths; the open,
fixed eyes, aAd the bodies are those of
boys.
God deliver the nations from war and
deal wrathfully with the vicious mis-
creams and shallow-pated fools who
merrily precipitate its horrors.
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