The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-08-25
THE SOLDIERS HOME.
49, INTERESTING DESCRIPTION or
1T BY A VETERAN.

,Ioue Just the Place for Them.
so,e Comments ON the Manag-
.nt-A Few Who Believe These
Veterans Who Remain MT Home
and Get a Pension Are Better
satisfied
eodiers' Home, Near Atlanta, Ca,
Aue 2S.-Having been an inmate for
1,.or two months of the Confederate
eoldiers' Home of Georgia, situated
obout two and one-half miles in a
s--11+beast direction from the city of
ATapta. can, from personal observa-
80, give the readers of your estima-
HE paper a truthful and perhaps in
+oresting sketch of it for the poor and
unfortunate men who followed the
terry cross through the trying times
of 81 to So.
The building is one of grandeur and
noau+v. towering up to eighty feet OF
more. with all the artistic uniformity
+bat a master architect could design,
with fifty or sixty rooms to accommo-
date two veterans to each room, nicely
and comfortably furnished with chairs,
hadsteads, bureau and mirror, wash
stand and attachments, wardrobe. good
fire place, with CRATE and damper for
burning coal; rooms tightly plastered
and nicely made, and fitting window
glasses, with slfde-up blinds, wide
Railways, with ample space for walk
ing all through the building between
VOWS of rooms all numbered; wide
stairways with steps to climb at slow
- ~ Eaf rfrarr r%d
nleasant piazzas away up on the
building where the vets may sit
on a hot summer day and enjoy the
delightful breeze and feast the vision
with landscape scenery of the most
beautiful kind, mess hall spacious
enough for the largest hotel and ar
ranged with tables for six men each,
everything in first class order, and at
tentive walters who keep the tables
supplied with good, sufficient, whole
some food a library stocked with
books of all kinds to satisfy the ap-
petite of the mind, and replenish the
soul, decorated with pictures and por-
traits of the days of secession. Also on
the same floor is the chapel with am
ple room and comfortable chairs to ac-
commodate all the inmates of the
home, and in which divine service is
held every Sunday afternoon and
prayer meeting every Wednesday night
by the inmates. Letters and papers go
to and from the postoffice in the city
every day. The Atlanta Journal has
been furnished to the soldiers free by
its generous and obliging nl>sngers.
Every day mostly all get a paper and
read the passing events with a relish
indescrbable. The electric car comes
out from the city and returns every
half hour through the day, bringing
visitors and veterans of the home who
wish to visit the city and return.
A visitor here from abroad not know
ing this to be the Soldiers Home,
would be impressed with the idea that
1t was one of the attachments to At
lanta's resorts for pleasure seekers.
Sometimes the building is crowded with
visitors, and many times, as they pass
by open rooms and see the old vets
sitting within, talking, can hear them
say, Poor old fellows" The old vets are
apprised of that fact without hearing
It, while some come to administer con-
ISOLATION spiritually, and worldly to
those whose condition seems best to
appreciate it. They are certainly well
come, though, and like roses in the
desert Of life, charm away the ennui
and monotony of confinement. Between
seventy and eighty inmates are here in
this building now. There are between
fifty and sixty rooms, so the building
can accommodate one hundred or more
men. Most of the inmates are from
this and adjoining counties, and are
near their old friends and acquaint-
ances, and appear to have been n\good
circumstances when they came here.
Some are right out of the city of At
lanta and are enjoying these home
comforts exceedingly well, while
others
poverty stricken and cannot buy
a postage stamp to write home and
have to be the main workers and Ia
borers to police the grounds every day,
besides. All the inmates, according
to the rules, are required to
do some work every day, unless
excused by the doctor of the home.
Pick axes, spades and hoes can be
heard ringing on the rocks around the,
building, making roads, ornamenting
the flower gardens, planting vegetables,
etc, etc. The penalty for refusing to
obey orders can be carried as far as
a discharge. Some work and many do
not, regardless of rules, according to
the temperament of the individual
Those whose natures are flexible and
willing to work, although weakly, are
eyed by the bosses, and naturally go at
1t or get into trouble, while the bosses
"AV oAdHuluS over 10 anu du-
wise. The other duties incumbent on
some also of the inmates are to sit up
Two hours during the night with the
SICK, and wait on them. So you can
imagine that the home in some regards
resembles a hospital. Two have died
mere in the building, and one went
nome and died since it's opening, June
q Quite a number of men have quit
ana gone away, becoming dissatisfied in
some way or other. Want of means
Keeps others from leaving, being unable
to stand the pressure" Some objec-
IONS are that among so many men in
close proximity in one building there
VIII be some whose health and spirits
40 not vie with the ma
Jority, and consequently much
OPEN loud talk is carried
on by them in a make-sport kind of
manner that is disgusting, intimidating
ana oulldozing, enjoyed and acquiesced
III by the officials in charge of the home.
according to the bylaws, there were
one lieutenant, four corporals and two
eeIseants necessary to keep up the
!uIes OF government. These men were
10 be elected by the inmates to make
1t satisfactory The day was appoint
eu ny the Board OF Trustees" for the
electlon. and the men got their tickets
IIeduy to vote. but the day never came.
instead, the trustees met and appoint
ca the same man who had been acting
neIore, and a full set of under officers,
mus our rights were taken from us, a
sample Of what can be done hereafter.