The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-10-24

fruits of victory and of their review
by a Caesar; they were half dressed.
Sandaled and mantled, dirty, coarse
and brutal. After your return, read
no Roman history. 1t was probably
the memory of an old love of mine
that made me pity you, stomach deep,
as you gathered in your first camp at
Topeka Your clothes did not fit;
your pants bagged at the knees; one
shoulder was higher than the other;
your ears did not seem to set straight
and thier lobes were not eQuidiStant
from the collar bone; sOphiStication
you had not learned.
''You were, all of you, freshly
loosened from your mothers apron
strings and each of you, the first day
in camp, before you had been assigned
been distributed, wrote to some girl
or sweetheart describing with much
melancholy, a soldiers vicissitudes, of
being lonesome, homesick, stranger
and without guns or uniform. Let
me go back to the time you left us:
The bugles raved, the drums ratified
and the flies shrieked.
1.-The whole community slobbered
you out of town. Every man and Of
officer of you did a little grandstand-
ing in the way he bulged out his
abdomen, threw back his shoulders
and put on a look of bravery. I was
so glamored by the toss and tangle OF
the flag and the rainy and tempest
uous look of the skies seen in the
women's eyes, that I thought you
looked splendid. When the train that
bore you away started, while the flag
fluttered and handkerchiefs waved,
we watched it dwindle, and small,
and shrink out of sight, and behind
you as your last message of farewell,
the trailing smoke of the engine hung
in the tree tops
you came home to enjoy your tri-
umphs and I hope to God, to hold a
fair share of the offices as well. There
&c Si
would rather be living hero as you
are, nested in the hearts of all valor-
Gus humans, than some multlm1ll1on-
aire who is compelled to die leaving
the avaiIs of his avarice behind him
and leaving no memory of patriotic
act or of having done humanizlng
thing.
II must close with a welcome. I
have twice before this been the
mouthpiece of this community to bid
you welcome to this beautiful capital,
and once by the command of Colonel
Green, an elder soldier, then mayor,
and always a grand old man, gave the
keys of the city in perpetuity so that
no churI in power could ever deny
you welcome"
Captain Boltwood.
CAPTAIN Boltwood is an interesting
character Here is what Captain Clad
Hamilton says of him:
His ancestors reached the eastern
coast line in 1913. They fought drouths.
grasshoppers, harsh climate and IN
dams for a century or two. Two or
three of them were killed at the Deer
field massacre in 1704.
when the Civil war came along
Captain Boltwood was just at the right
age to start out hunting for trouble
He enlisted. He was shot up time
or two. He became corporal, then
sergeant and finally a cavalry lieu
tenant No soldier ever swells up so
h.
ant of cavalry. The young officer had
a lively time. He served nearly five
years. He was in command of a le-
tachment down on the Mexican border
with Sheridan after the Civil war when
this nation was indicating to the
French troops in Mexico that it was
about time for them to pack up their
buds and go home.
THE captain came to Kansas along
about 1875. He has been deputy She
iff and city marshal at Ottawa from
time to time, and he has always done
his duty like a brave man and a patri
otto citizen. He is a fine type of bo.h
the old soldier and the young soldier.
He was captain of Company K in
the Twentieth Kansas, and did not
miss a meal nor a fight during the
whole service of the regiment. If war
should break out between this country
and Mexico at this time, it would be
necessary to tie him to a post in order
to keep him at home, though he is
seventy years old. The lives of suc.7
men as Captain Boltwood are among
the principal things which make us al
proud of the United States of Amer
ica''
The members of the Twentieth in
spected the new G. A. r. Memorial
building this morning. A speaker will
be held tonight at the Armory. Gov
ernor George H. Hodges, Major A. II
n 1So
have been asked to speak.