The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1899-01-02

| tons of life wherein we thlnk our
| selves of some account ara swept away
! on the field OF battle. We see that one
| bullet can let them all out of US, but
| the tender care of the surgeon, the
| kindness of that good fellow next to
us. who carried us off the field, that
| cup of cold water-these facts remains
to teach US that goodness remaiueta
! forever, while evil passes away
| Tacitus and Plato retire before Shat
| ter and Sampson; the best room in Hol-
worthy or Yale is inferior to the poor
i est plant on the miry side of swamp
| in Cuba, and examinations give way to
reviews. Starvation, rations irregular
and very poor, take the place of meals
| at Delmonico'S to the man of luxury
and fashion. He likes to come back to
! primitive man, and see on how little
| he can subsist. Rude, severe, uncom-
Portable privation seizes luxury by the
curls and turns her out of camp. How
often have I wondered at thai scorn of
| life which I nave seen seize the very
prosperous? How often have l asked
myself what could make one willingly
give up the joy of living, each day
more beautiful and more full than the
last, and yet / have seen weary brains
turn from the fullest cup and seek
solace in suicide, and I Cannot but be-
| lieve that to many a man he summons
to battle and even to death las been
a welcome one.
All, happy he who knowing how to wait,
And also how to watch, to DOW, to stand
On life's broad deck alert, and at the
prov
To seize the happy moment big with Fate
From opportunities extended hand.
When the great clock of Destiny
strikes now.
The most unlucky part of this sud-
denly improvised war of ours is the
unnecessary loss of life 1t is said by
experts that the loss of life at Santi-
ago was twice as great as it should
have been. In the first place we under
rated our enemy and sent undisciplined
soldiers to meet the trained experts of
a European nation. There was such
morale and such bravery that victory
perched on our banners but at what
terrible sacrifice! One can hardly talk
of economy of life, when the reverbera-
lions of West Point are echoing in ones
ears, but when it is your son or mine
who is sacrificed we are apt to think
of something besides va1or, obedience,
patriotism.
1t is, however, no longer an indiffer-
ent Caesar who looks down on a dying
gladiator. 1t is no longer diSsolute
Empress who turns down her thumb
that he may fight the longer. 1t is a
father who watches for his son. it is
a mother who prays for him. 1t is a
sister who goes to the front as a train
ed nurse. It is President full of COM
passion and gentleness who desires
peace more than conquest. With these
conditions the Nation becomes one
great heart whose veins and arteries
are bleeding through their sons. 1t is
the most extended sympathy. Our
soldiers are all dear to us.
Their lives are bound to ours with
mighty bands,
No mortal strait, nor Death itself, with
his prevailing hands, can separate.
Therefore these reverberations of
West Point are most solemn, most pro-
foundly affecting. It is the place
where one can hear a volley fired over
a grave with patience, because one
feels that the young hero has con-
quered the last enemy, that Death is
swallowed up in Victory.
And what a noble place to hear the
hundred guns that announce peace.
Sound trumpets! Ring out We bugles
wave the Star Spangled Banner for
peace, blessed dove, only scared away
for a little, has come back to US, and
over a few hallowed graves weaves
with US the unfading chaplet of fame.
M. E. w. Sherwood in New York
Times.