The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1899-06-11
nonEsICKxEss IN ran AaMY.



The Volunteers Malay That II the
Hardest - Treat sseesssfally.
II Is the wsariness OF heart which 10 20.
day most feared by the surgeons Of the
American army IN the Philippines: the
hope-fatluYe for innumerable men Of the
army In Cuba after whose Names sventu-
ally appear the entrtes: Died. malariai
fever"
Physicians use the technical name ''nos-
talgia" In describing the disease. but
rarely care TO attribute death to n be-
cause Of its many stili unknown phases
and unstudied symptomA The dictionary
definition Of this word 10:
Morbid longing to return 70 ones hemo
or native country: homsstckness, especial
iy In ifs severe forms. producing DE-
rangement OF mental and physical func-
tons"
Writers for medical journals say that
the German army 10 more subject to nos-
talgia than any other in existence: thai
tendency to melancholia when long sep
arated from familiar scenes.
That q man can die from homesickness
seems incredible. perhaps. Yet Z surgeon
OF the regular army whose experience In
Cuba was . varied one told me that after
the volunteers were once in Cuba and in
action the grAvest danger which confront
ed the men was the ''funk'' resulting from
the irresistible longing for the sight Of the
old home and the glimpse Of faces near
and dear. Ny friend OF the Thirteenth
Minnesota In Manila confirms this In the
lines:
The heat bothers some and the roads
are not bloomins Ane. but Ne could not
have finer set Of officers nor be treated
fight and not to play marbles. What In
troubling many Of the boys land we are
not able to get 1t III ID that they know
spring has come In the home country.
and every man OF them wants 20 hear q
blue bird whistle and hear the call OF
the meadow lax The result Of this 10
that the fellows get tugging at their
hearts that feels like big lump. and they
90 down In heap. They don't seem sick.
but they just talk and think all the time
OF home and larruping wouldn't do
them q bit OF good"
That's nostalgia.
In tho winter OF lSs2.iSs3 when the
Northwest country was buried In snow
and on the frontier trains did not operate
b'g-shouidered. big Drained man from
Wisconsin by the name Of Hemingway
who was moved In at little unnamed
settlement on the Manitoba road In the
Hope country. Up TO the time that the
biixsards commenced he received once
week = letter from his wife or sweetheart,
and these letters evidently were Of much
account to him. for on Sundays when
most OF the pioneers were horse racing on
the plainIand he would be In his shack
looking his letters over and writing home
After the snow came the mails ceased and
the letters. For six or eight weeks no one
noticed any change IN Hemingway, who
was out there for the purpose OF taking
claim and incidentally to look after the
interests Of a Chicago machine company.
But at the end OF that time, with the
snow six feet deep on the level the tenn
perature Is degrees and 80 degrees below,
and communication with the outside
world absolutely impossible. Hemingway
began 10 turn blue
His ailing first manifested Itself In .
great desire TO talk about the old home.
something he had never done before He
talked to everybody about his past, the
people he knew. what his home had been.
how the old farm looked. and 10 on until
there was nc longer any reason for taking
any interest in II. He felt this himself
and grew morose. Later he kept to his
shack. became morose and sulky. Ono
morning In March. when the ice and snow
fields had been masters OF the region for
FIVE months. Hemingway Vas missing
from his place. A little search revealed
his body in the rear OF his shack. a bullet
through his heart. In the night he had
gene out there In the cold and found his
end.
II you have ever listened to the ,natru.
mental piece called "Hesmweh" you NAV
know how Hemingway felt when he pulled
the trigger OF his pistol. He was a victim
OF nostalgia. big and strong n he was
The cure for the disease II great exer.
ton OF will power liberal use OF water
internally and externally and diversion Of
the mind from the painful thoughts. The
@ z~tx
tlced. There Il another remedy than this.
though. which physicians readily favor
when practicable - see home-Chicag go
Tfmes-Heraid.