The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1902-09-19

tnis Sr"eronS DALLAS firm, though
some of these spiiir> were not able
tn attend Tie exercises and h,d to be
Car d for like little children.
My youngest brother was working
In the hospital at the Home at the
time Of the reunion. He, as we'll as
DR.. Hill, told me there were several
who had been laid up for months in
the hospital wanted to attend the re-
union though they were not able to
sit up. There were 292 in the Home
when left Austin on Nav 10th,
that is of the old soldiers, and about
rs nurses and walters; there were a
great many new applications being
received and new members being ad-
mitted, but they could only admit
others as those at the Home die off,
the Home is full all the time, and it
is very rare that one ever leaves
there until he is borne by the gentle
hands of his comrades to his home in
the silent tomb. There were FIVE
deaths at.the Home during my stay of
six weeks atlAustin, and there were
just as many admitted during that
time. / believe there are soldiers at
this Homo from every Southern
State of the Union. Any old SOL
der who has been in the State of
Texas for one year is citizen of
the State and will be admitted as
soon as there is room for him, but
that room is usually made by some
poor soldier passing beyond the
shadow of our earthly vision. 1t is
said there is one inmate who was
a Yankee and got into the Home by
his political pull with the State admin
istration at Austin, though don't
know whether it be fact or not.
The scenes around the home are
OF the most rustic imaginable, the
whole face Of the hills are covered
with scr4bby post oaks of a mongrel
species somewhat resembling the live
oak but very inferior in every way
to any trees we have in the South
west. They are very short with
rough bark and look as though they
had been pelted by small boys for at
least half 9 century with rocks and
clubs. They have few leaves on
them sufficient to demonstrate that
they are not entirely dead. They
have small lunches of moss GROWING
among the many crooked branches
which helps to make a shade almost
as we'll as the leaves. Those trees
are rarely more than twenty-five or
thirty feet high. Then there are
a lot Of small cedars even much less
than the oaks growing all among the
oaks and forming considerable shade
as underbush. The ground as I have
said before is nearly all rocks, though
there is coarse yellow sand epouR
in most places to hide the rocks ex-
cept where the hills are very steep,
but these peculiar rocks seem to form
the whole foundation for the land
around Austin. They are very near
he.top of the ground all over the
Home premises and are visible all
along the front next to West Sixth
street. They look like the rocks of
Florida but are usually more fat but
are found in all shapes and nearly
all sizes. They are not as heavy as
the rocks of South Carolina and are
of an ashy chalk appearance with
little cells and fissures all through
them with often sea shells firmly i'm
bedded in them. Many of them
have holes clear through them as
though they had been drilled.
The hospital stands at the top of
the hill: There is more dirt or sand
there than where most of the build
ings ale and it is in much the pref
tiest place of any at the Home. They
only have room for about seventy
patients in the hospital and when
more than that number get sick they
have to wait on them in their re.
spective rooms until others get able
to leave the hospital and thus make
room for their accommodation. There
were 19 blind soldiers in the hospital
when / was there but it is very re.
markable how they can take care Of
themselves. Their plates were filed
with all the food for the meal and
then the whsle called them to their
meal and every one of them could
come very near to his seat at the
table without any assistance. They