Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-06-23
MAGAZINES FOR THE SOLDIERS

There are few situations more dull n
uninteresting than that in which a SOL
der find himself when he is stationed at
a little cantonment in the country, where
he is supposed to watch the enemy, IL
there be one. but where in reality he sits
and watches a dull landscape from day
to day and d~enounces the luck that
brought him there. Out in the Philip
pines there are numbers Of these little
stations; the troops in fact being widely
scattered in detachments and occupied
in a species of police work. Along the
Dagupan railway, for instance. the bar
racks for small attachments that guard
stations are bare-walled shacks. and the
outlook is over jungle or rice fields. Life
such a place very soon grows dreary and
monotonous. Here in the cities of New
England a magazine or illustrated paper
does not form a great essential factor in
life. It is a pleasure to be passed swift
ly and thrown aside. But the story IS
told of a copy of Harper's Weekly which
drifted into a Panay cantonment that
the men first read it. then read it back
wards. they bet on the numbe OF words
in it. had spelling contests from 1t, and
finally pasted the pictures on the walls.
It was a veritable blessing to them. Once
a soldier was seen sitting on a log and
crying. He was suffering witt nostalgia,
or Inconsistencies. which kills many young
soldiers. He was holding in his hand a
fpicture. A mar who looked over his
shoulder. expecting to see a "lovely, girl
ish face" was surprised to see the rather
grotesuue proportions Of an old mule
standing beside a barn. That's my
ia ther's old Jerry mule" said the boy:
1.-The blamed criter is in that barn now
and I'm-here. I wish I was him."
Magazines and books are easily sent
to the soldiers. Pack them carefully in
stout boxes and send them to the Omitted
States Depot Quartermaster, 40 Summer
street, Boston, This official, Major J.
E. Sawyer, win forward them to the
front without delay and free of any fur
Their cost to the sender. If n has a IA
vorite regiment he can mari the box for
that command. and the books or maya
lines will reach them safely. Colonel
Rice recently wrote. asking for literature
for his men. Material for that regiment
should be sent to "Regimental Library,
Twenty-sixth U. s. ", Manila, P. T.
Copies of the illustrated magazines are
! the most popular among the men These
they can first read. and afterward cut
out the pictures and paste them on the
walls of their quarters. Mutilated mag
azines are not desired. The men feel in
suited If they find a mutilated magazine
in a box. It is one of a soldiers sensi-
tive points. He feels hurt. and will make
terse observations regarding the sender
Newspapers are not desirable literature
either. The news Is six weeks old wher
it gets to the men. but that however Il
not the worst part. They are very easily
torn, and are not apt to reach the men IL
good condition. There are some SO, 00(
American soldiers and citizens in thu
Philippine Ian who are scattered IL
d~etachments and who want magazines t.
read. They are all kinds of men, and thu
magazines they like best are not tn,
studied and scholarly reviews. They
want lots of pictures and light reading
There have been a number of boxes O.
books, etc., received and sent forward b,
Major Sawyer, who has come recent.
from Manila himself. Express or freigh
charges to the quartermaster's of1c,
must be prepaid, but after that tn,
United States does the rest.