The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-11-13
GEN. WOODS ST0REROOM
DONATIONS TO SICK SOLDIERS AND
OTHER SUFFERERS IN CUBA.
Many Gifts from Poor wOmen-MOther
and Two Daughters Who Made and
sent One Hundred Night Robes.


Correspondence of the Associated Press.
SANTIAGO DE CUBA, Nov. Lit is an
Interesting and touching sight to go over
Gen. Leonard Woods storeroom where are
kept the goods shipped by the Red Cross
Womens Relief and other organizations, as
well as donations big and small sent by
private individuals for the use and COM
fort Of the sick soldiers and sailors and
others in need of assistance in this hither-
to unhappy land. where sickness and star
walton have brought so many thousands to
the verge of death, where the very luxu-
rance of the weeds cry out against man
kind for not using the earth for the benefit
Of themselves, where the nature and char
acter Of the inhabitants have been so
blunted by contact with their oppression
that they have developed all their vices
and added a cringing, fawning, unreliable
civility that is not the fault of the people
themselves so much as the natural results
Of their birth and surroundings.
The storeroom is large place under the
custom house, and in it you will find a most
miscellaneous assortment of articles of all
kinds, including champagne, whisky,
brandy, ginger ale, quinine, medical neces-
saries of all kinds. two muffs, seven over
coats and one pair of shoes that must evil
IDENTIFY have been intended for the KIondike
originally. Yet, it is not the grotesque ma
ture of some Of the gifts that makes the
lump In ones throat hard to swallow, but
the beautiful and touching humanity ex-
pressed IN the gifts themselves which
breathe such a spirit of pure benevoIence,
loving kindness and self-sacrifice that in
that storeroom you feel yourself in some
sanctified spot if not in the very portals
Of heaven itself.
Many Of the gifts, especially the smaller
ones. are accompanied by letters expressing
the intention of the donor. These letters
often give an account of the writer that
show the gift was purchased or made. as the
case may be. at considerable sacrifice of
money and time. One woman and her two
daughters in Leon county, Florida, made
and sent one hundred night shirts and the
money for the material had been taken out
OF the savings from their chicken and egg
fund which generally supplied them each
year with clothing. II this year the dreams
of that family are not quite new and
fresh looking as those of some of their
neighbors they will have the proud con-
seriousness that theirs was duty nobly,
faithfully and well done.
Another poor woman. widow in Maine,
who lives by washing the clothes of four
families, worked and sent fifteen house.
wife's fittings, each with the necessary ar
ticles of that most useful institution in the
kit of soldier or sailor.
From California came two dozen Jars of
orange marmalade, the gift Of another
widow who owns an acre OF ground on
which are a few orange trees that are her
only source of income. These are only a
sample of hundreds of such letters that
Z have been received here since the surrender
of General TOral. Christians, Jews and
Atheists announcing their belief and unbe-
lief have added their quota to the whole, a
common feeling of human brotherhood an
imating seemingly the entire community,
breaking down all barriers of casts and re-
Hgion, the whisky dealer and wine mer-
chant vying with the bishop and the tract
distributor to see who could do the most.
Little children have sent their pocket
money, Sunday schools have foregone their
annual excursion to send the money that
would have been spent upon it to aid the
sick at Santiago de Cuba, and the entire
population have given to the world an OBJ
Ject lesson of human love that has never
before been equaled in the history of the
world.
The Red Cross and Women's Relief have
done a noble work and are still engaged
in II, and the history Of many of the gifts
sent through these sources must be even
more interesting in many instances than
be like the play of Hamlet without the
Prince of Denmark himself to describe all
this human love without mentioning the
man who is at the head of this great dis
tribution, namely, General Wood, who since
April has proved himself a soldier, physi-
clan, administrator and philanthrophist
whose work in Santiago de Cuba had ele-
waited the opinion the world had of Amer
lea higher than ever before, high as that
was. To General Wood is due the good
health of the city, its clean streets, its grad
ual renovation and the security that is felt
by all classes. AS distributor of charita-
bic supplies he had brought it to a system
that renders it next to impossible for any
to be Incorporated and the fervent wish
of all the people here is that no change
will be- made, even for General Woods own
advancement, a rather selfish way of look
ing at it, but nevertheless absolutely true.