Evening star., 1902-03-01


100 on the rolls. Instead of four or five
committees, as the average big affair de-
mands, there are thirty-fve or forty Of
them, and by the time the appointments are
all made half the available male popula-
tion of the city is enrolled on the list Of
active workers.
While it is called a national encamp-
ment Of the Grand Army 1t is understood
to mean more than that, for the organiZa-
tion proper would bring to the city only
about a thousand delegates. But wher-
ever the Grand Army of the Republic holds
it's annual national sessions, nearly all OF
the affiliated organizations are there also.
The Naval Veterans, the Ex-Prisoners of
War. the Soldiers Of the Battlefield and
half a dozen other societies meet in the
same city at the same time, because many
Of the veterans belong to two or three of
them. and 1t Is convenient and pleasant to
have "the comrades all together at least
once year.
Beside this there are various regimental
reunions; usually several hundred of them,
and all these have to be provided with a
place and a time for meeting, and they
must dovetail so that they will conflict with
each other as little as possible. The corps
reunions are another feature and the re-
unions Of the various armies yet another.
The details OF preparing for all these are
simply nerve racking before the plans are
all smoothed out and the machinery run
ming easily.
Inc w omen S ASSOCIATIONS.
Then there are the women's organizations
to be taken into account, including the Wo-
mans Relief Corps, with a membership of
900, and the Ladies' OF the G. A. R.,
with membership Of 10000. The smaller
organizations are the Army Nurses Asso-
citation, the Ladies' Aid to Naval Veterans,
the Daughters of Veterans and Ladies' Aid
to the Ex-Prisoners Of War. All Of these
bodies Of women have to be provided with
convention halls in which to hold their
conventions. Some of them. notably the
Womans Relief Corps. the great auxiliary
Of the Grand Army Of the Republic. will
have representation of nearly 600 A
very large proportion Of these women, and
they now outnumber the men who attend
national encampments are to be provided
with boarding places. for which an enor-
nous committee Is usually provided, as the
labors are arduOuS. Beside sleeping, these
women must also eat, and this, too, is
serious problem, for at such times sleep
ing quarters are much more easily obtained
than table board Everybody wants to be
CLOSE in to save time in going back and
forth. and because it is more convenient in
every way, and very few care to pay
downtown" prices.
The custom has grown up Of providing
entertainment for the delegates to these
national organizations both men and Wo-
men. The question Of the kind Of enter
tainment and it's cost is great problem
demanding serious consideration. Another
custom to which. by the way, the Woman's
Relief Corps has on two or three occasions
declared It's opposition, is that of furnish
ing a free lunch to the delegates Of all the
conventions Of women during the days
devoted to convention work, but each city
has seemed to feel that a matter Of pride
it should do as well by it's guests as other
cities have done, and the lunch is continued.
1t can readily be seen that the work which
this entails upon a committee will be pro-
digeous.
The Estimated Attendance.
1t is estimated that there will be 3OO.O0
people who will take advantage Of Grand
Army railroad rates. The committees will
be expected to house all these. At least
10000 of them Will be veterans, their fam
lilies and members of the women's organt-
cations To take care of and entertain the
women alone will demand from the chair
man Of the woman's auxiliary committee
executive ability Of the highest order. and
a business woman as well who understands
human nature and will remain undaunted
even IN the face Of impending defeat
Mr.. b. II. Warner, chairman of the local
executive committee for the national en-
campment, has appointed as chairman of
the womans auxiliary committee Mrs. Ell
len Spencer Mussey. whose recent work in
the Red Cross Society at the time Of the
Galveston disaster has stamped her as one
fitted to shoulder the responsibilities which
she has assumed.
Mrs Mussey Is an Ohio woman, the
daughter OF Prof. r. Platt Spencer Of Ge-
neva. Ohio, Of Spencerian penmanship
fame. She came to Washington. a young
lady just out Of her teens, as principal of
the ladies' department of the Spencerian
Business College, which she left to marry
General Delevan Mussey. General Mussey
was lawyer, and Mrs. Mussey studied and
practiced law with him for sixteen years
previous to his death In 1892. She then
succeeded to his practice, in which she has
been eminently successful, 1t Is said. She
Is member of the bar of the Supreme
Court Of the District. United States Court
Of Claims. Court Of Appeals and the United
States Supreme Court. She succeeded her
husband as counsel for the American Ma
uonal Red Cross Association, of which Miss
Clara Barton Is president, and has among
her clients several foreign legations.
Relief Work In Spanish-American War.
She was actively engaged In the relief
work OF the Spanish-American war. paying
particular attention to the matter OF diet
and the diet kitchens in the hospitals with
In radius Of go miles Of Washington, and
her labors at Galveston arc said to have
bssn invaluable. She was elected . delegate
by the American Red Cross Association to
thA International Red Cross conference to /