Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1904-03-04
Ideal SOLDIERS HOME
An Argus Leader Visitor Greatly Pleased
With the Home, it's Management
and its Environment.

WltI tlte Home, Its Arrangement
and its Environment.
\ visit to the South Dakota Soldiers
Home at Hot Springs is among the
| most pleasant experiences of a sojourn
in the Black Hills. This Home bears
no resemblance to the barracks which
| the writer had in imagination con-
| strncted for a tenement of the veterans
in their old age, but is in reality home
as dignified, as modern and as COM
| Portable as any private domicle in the
land
1t is situated on the sunny side of
the southern hills, overlooking the
| beautiful scenic valley and hillsides
where is located the most beautiful lit
tie city i'll the state and which has
justly won the title of the "Carlsbad of
American The Home which is COM
modions structure of AS apartments
exclusive of the hospital, is back
grounded by hills ON the west and north
rising to important elevations and COW
cred with growth of pine, balsam and
| fir trees, while in the foreground the
red, pink and white sandstone crop
| ping from the sides OF the valley and
mingling in the architecture of the
proud little city with its parks, rustic
bridges, drives, picturesque homes and
ample business blocks, leaves nothing
to be desired that could please the eye
or gratity ones love for what is grand
and Inspiring in nature. Over topping
| the city and in plain view of the Home
is the site of the national institution
which is to be known as the Battle
Mountain Sanitarium and which when
complete will have cost the government
approximately S3,00O,O00 These two
institutions, the Home and the Sani-
tarium, represent the effort of the state
and the nation to reward in some small
measure the men who wrote the grand
est page il. our national history i'm the
| spirit OF sacrifice. The one is both
| home and sanitarium for the veterans
OF our own state, the other is to be a
| place of rest aud recuperation for the
veterans all over the length and breadth
of the United States, and both attest
the confidence of the people iii the
| healthtulness of the locality and the
| healing properties of the wonderful
| springs.
Iii the South Dakota Soldiers Home
| there are living today temporarily or
| permanently according to their indi
| vidual desires one hundred and ninety
( eight veterans who are admitted men,
| bers of the Home, and he who reckons
| these men RS wrecks cast up by time
and war has another guess coming of
an absolutely opposite character. Old
men there are there to be sure whose
| heads are wreathed as are the northern
hills in winter time, in whitest SNOW
/ But they are heads which still carry
the thought currents which have
| moulded the affairs of state and nation
and for the most Iart still have grasp
upon the vital issues of the day. Those
who doubt this should note the eager
ness with which they read and discuss
the present war in the east, going early
to the postottice mile away and wait
ing eNpectantiy for the delivery of the
daily papers which will give them the
latest news of the war situation. 1t is
true that most of these men have pri-
vate griefs or physical intrmities but
it is a JOY to see them bury their
troubles with laughter and jolly banter
and at the same time keep the moral
atmosphere of the Home free from all
that is coarse and unseemly. To say
that they are almost without exception
men of a high quality of citizenship
would be but to repeat what is we'll
known in the communities from which
they come and which was also written
forty years ago in history
Commandant Goddard voiced this
same sentiment when in a private con-
versation with the writer he said: "The
exceptionally high character of intelli-
gence. morality and integrity among
these men make my duties constant
pleasure. We have no men of vicious
inclination in the Home and but very
few who are in any degree victims of
strong drink and it is seldom that any
one show any inclination to disrespect
the rule which banishes drunkenness
from the precincts of the Home"
Commandant Goddard's regard for
the members of the Home is generous
ly reciprocated both toward himself.
his wife, who in the capacity of matron,
has endeared herself to the members,
and those occupying the subordinate
official positions have contributed
measnrably to the spirit of good fellow
ship which has banished all discord
from this large family.
Every nook and corner of the home
is spotlessly clean and the furnishings
attest the generous spirit of the people