The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1907-10-31

hut it Is said that he often came. to
visit the wounded soldiers; and one
day as he stond IN the doorway of this
hospital talking to q brother officer. y
cannon ball fired by the Northern gun
ners, embedded itself in the coOrstfI.
Just two feet above his head, but failed
to explode. It's still there today, and
the citizens of Ceptervillt. will tell you
that God is good, that lie in fIfs In
Unite mercy will spare those, Ills chill,
dren, even in time of war. The writer
had the pleasure OF stopping one whole
week in this beautiful little village.
having dropped out of the main line of
march and fallen back among the
stragglers. soldiers of Uncle Sam, roam
ing at will, and while there with several
OF my comrades we were received with
open arms. The farmers came from
miles around to invite us to their homes
and several of MS accepted their invita-
tl0cs and partOok Of their hospitality.
hut everything must come to an
end, SO one day we again took up our
weary march, 0vertaking the main
camp at Manassas. | did not have
much time to see this historic little
city, because we started again the next
morning before sunrise, but from what
did see Of it should say that it was
very pretty place. Broad avenues
thickly lined with shade trees was the
rule, while most of the houses seemed
to be pretty, one-story cottages.
Leaving Manassas we turned off of
the Centerville Pike, striking straight
thru the fields intending to 90 thru
West Virginia by way of Cumberland
Gap taIso called Thoroughfare Gap)
but never got that far. Orders came
from Washington. d. c., to make the
rest of the trip by rail. While we did
not get to Cumberland Gap, we could
nevertheless get q good view Of it from
where we were camped. The Blue
Ridge mountains rise hundreds OF feet
above the level land. but in the very
center IL ali almost perfect letter
forming the gap" 1t would seem as
tho nature, not desiring to see man
spend days Of tedious toll in ascending
this mountain, had left this gap open
to make his progress easy. From where
we were camped it was about twelve
miles to the nearest railroad, but i,,-
stead OF marching o-the railroad, the
railroad marched to us. That is, q
sidetracK was laid and trains backed
in to pick up the soldiers. The rest of
the trip was made in quick time, and
while there are great many things
that ] would like to mention about our
trip over the rails, time forbids, as
wish to say few words about Camp
Meade, Pa.
Camp Meade is located on the Penn
sylvania railroad, about eighteen or
twenty miles from Harrisburg, and
within three miles of Harper's Ferry.
A veritabie Garden of Eden it is, too.
Miles and miles of beautiful green
sward, with not q single tree to mar its
beauty; as level and smooth as the
Boor of a house. while around the very
edge runs the old Erie canal. Surely
no soldier could wish for anything
more beautiful. Standing in tie very
center of this beautiful strip Of land is
q grand old manor house, the home of
General Meade. the owner of the land.
who not only gave the government the
right to nse the land gratis, but also
insisted that the commanding general
make the mansion his headquarters.
Before closing this article wish to
say few words about an article that
recently appeared in one Of our weekly
papers. According to this newspaper
story, we are told that the officers in
the army select some particular soldier
to perform the duties of valet. a
striker" they call him; we are also
told that it is q very degrading posi-
tion; that the other soldiers ostrtcixe
him and say he is no soldier, etc. Nov
l want to take this opportunity to re-
fute that last statement. Being. "a /
was the smallest soldier in our regi-
ment, | had quite an easy time of It:
for was first striker for my captain
and later-all the time was in Camp
Meade-striker for Colonel Gross.
True, striker has no drill duties 10
perform, and it 10 also true that he il
acting in the capacity of valet; but IL
there was anything wanted that was
not to be had IN camp. 1t was the striker
who was always sent after it.
CLIFTON.