The times., 1899-02-12

concerning the boiling Of water before drinking
the disnfection OF the trenches, the prevention
of our men from sleeping on the bare ground,
were all disregarded II these battlefield and
camp horrors of the American army the out
come of the regime Of politics, then let politics
have needed and thorough shaking up. Let the
field artillery commence bombardment OF the
rascals, and blow them out OF existence, as they
deserve.
Mr. Hemment has equally energetic re-
marks to make on the Commissary De
partment.
One of the most interesting bits of work
is the series of photographs taken just
after the naval battle at Santiago. The
photographer was three or four miles from
the fight, and saw most of 1t, afterward
taking pictures of the wrecks OF the Span
ish vessels and the rescue of Spanish sail
ors.
good part of the material in this book
is not new, many of the anecdotes having
appeared in correspondence during the war,
but little story about negro corporal
at Ell Caney may be worth quoting Mr..
Hemment says:
When they uhe colorcd troops came to barb
WIRE fences. or any obstruction of that kind
which impeded progress, they used TO sneak up
TO them, skulking and creeping from corner to
corner, when suddenly, with a wild dash, they
made gain of twenty or thirty yards. With a
bold rush, swoop and yell they leaped into the
very jaws of death. cOlorcd corporal told me
that night-he in charge of squad OF men
sent out in skiTmishing party-that he had
just located the cause of the havoc wrought
among our troops lie said that he had been
lying in a comfortable position with his men
and doing as much damage TO the enemy as
possible. He suddenly found himself and his
men the centre of fire from northerly dircc-
tion. lie could not imagine where this came
from, when. upon changing his position behind
lara Igs Il IL IL
stone, he looked around for while, and thought
the firing proceeded from large steepe. lie
then directed the fire Of his squad that
church stceple, and with good effect, for when
this church was afterward turned into Red
Cross hospital and headquarters for the distri-
button of food, that some great execution
had been done by somebody.
met this trooper at this same church after
ward and as he saw me he looked up at the
steeple with pride and said: "Mster, you want
TO take picture of that, and hope you will
tell me where ! can get one, for that is where
did the Dons."
And there is no doubt he did for the bodies
of several Spaniards were taken from the steeple
that night
In spite of the slipshod quality of the
authors style in places, the book is in
teresting. and its defects are not as seri-
GUS as they would be in more pretentious
work. (New York: d. Appleton & Co.
$4,000
A book which from any point of view
may be termed unique is Fighting for
Humanity; or, Camp and Quarterback, :"
by Gen. o. o. Howard. We have had this
Spanish war treated in several different
ways. but it is doubtful whether anybody
but General Howard would have thought
of serving it up with Moody and Sankey
sauce.
The weak point of the book is that there
is no particular reason why it should ever
have been written, and that is rather a
comprehensive weakness. The gentleman
who writes the preface is quite as origi
nal as the book itself. He says:
The recording angel has been beforehand with
General Howard in noting these facts. But as
that record is fit for angelic delectation, the
generals audience need not apprehend that in
turning these pages they are likely to come
upon stale mamma.
That is exquisite. General Howard has
appeared before the public in various char
acters at different times, but he has never
before been introduced as manufacturer
of angels food, and the title suits him to
a dot.
1t appears from this preface that Cen
eral Howard did his best TO get a command
in the army when war broke out last year.
spent the summer in sending people to the
other world without preparation, and as
his victims would have been Spaniards it
is sad to think of the possible results. But
his efforts in that direction were unsuc
cessful. Therefore he determined to serve
his country in another way-by preparing
the American troops for heaven.
This much is clear. But as for anything
in the way of narrative, or
argument, or rhetOric-the reader will be
unable to find it with microscope. The
book is written in style utterly inconse-
quent, naive and irresponsible. It is writ
ten for people who can appreciate it by in
stinct. There is no rule by which one can
determine whether General Howard means
what he says or something entirely differ
ent. For instance, here is statement
about the camp at Chattanooga:
/ do not think that at any time there was
sufficient drinking or other viciousness TO ac
count for the terrible scourge of sickness which
set in subsequent TO my visit.
If Mark Twain had said that one would
know what 10 make of 1t. but General
Howard is not Mark Twain, or anything
like it, and he could not possibly have
meant just what he seems to have meant,
and he could not possibly have been face
tious. That is one thing Of which he is in
capable. so WldI III tue NOIlu ulu uc III
tend to say?
But the unique quality of General How
ards book consists not only in the lam
guage. Some of the anecdotes which he
tells are thoroughly characteristic For in
stance, he says that he had friend named
Xenophon Wheeler, whose actual rank was
colonel, but who was addressed much
against his will as general. General How
ard in corresponding with this gentleman,
always addressed him as General Wheeler,
and finally discovered, much to his sur
prise, that all of the letters thus addressed
had gone TO Gen. Joseph Wheeler. He
seems to have been considerably excited by
this, insomuch that he went trotting
around to General Wheeler's room before
the general was up lit was at O'Clock in
the morning., to rescue his friends strayei
letters After that" he says, making a
privileged distinction, / addressed my
friend as Colonel Wheeler" He refers 10
the Alabama generals behavior on this oc-
casion as that of "high-toned" gentle
man.
This book is full of unique features.
Except in the multfarious writings of
Kipling there surely was never seen so
great a variety of poetical quotations at
the head of chapters as General Howard
has used in this present work. Here is one
chapter on the text:
There is a tide in the affairs Of men,
Which, taken at the food, leads on 10 fortune.
(credited, by the way 10 Byron. Another
begins with verse from Longfellow' S
Psalm of Life" badly misquoted, and an
other with this pious sentiment:
Joined in one body may we be,
One inward life partakc
One be our heart, one heavenly hope
In every bosom wake.
Perhaps the idea expressed in the couplet
which heads another chapter may be the
hope referred to:
Grant me- indulgcnt heaven that ] may live
To sec muskeetcrs feel the pain they give!
IL .ho ronnral had imst added to thie