The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1916-08-14
THE BRATTEBORO MONDAY AUGUST A. 1916

terest OF that work He writes a
Brattleboro friend as follows:
This morning | have a desire to ex
press myself in writing as | sit in this
fairly comfortable train going from Ca
sa Grande to Yuma. This Arizona Mesa
has its own not unpleasing characteris
ties and the air Of early daytime is not
hot and not dusty. Purple mountains
notified with white are strung along
the northern and southern boundaries
Alkaline dust forms the plain. Sage
brush springs up here and there. Every
little while there is a patch of green
where an artesian well has made ''the
desert to bloom like the rose. - IT has
been this way for three days-the same
scene. OF course | don t travel rapidly.
going from camp to camp as | do. and
the local trains spin out the distance
At Casa Grande, though eighty miles
from the border, is a company from
one of the Arizona regiments. cts
| fortunate, | said to one soldier. "that
our eastern boys are not here but
rather those accustomed to the climate.
the white dust and the torrid heat
''Oh, but IN not, - said he. sI come
| from the north of Arizona, from the
mountains where there s snow and it s
| always cool. -
| Yesterday | was with a little crowd
of enlisted Indlans-Yumas. We sat in
the cool of early night on the unroman-
tic trucks outside a small railway sta
ton and | talked with them-it' S their
nature to make the other fellow do all
i the talking, and | talked along steadi-
| ly-ny mind always fixed on the an
/ cient gl0rieS of the race beside me-
| They amused me immensely. After a
while | said to one of them: ''What
would happen If we should 90 into
that ice-cream parlor in the shanty OPP
posite and say quietly; Coca Cola? -
/ They dim t seem to know. When |
urged that we find out they unfolded
their legs on the truck and ''silently
stole away with me. Everything thew
i did was done silently. They FOLLOWED
me to a table, they sat down, they
! drank what was offered them, they rose
| up, they went out and back to the truck
again. Not one single word was spoken
except my composite what II You 'av. >
and that brought no response. I paid
the bill and as Eugene Field said was
privileged ''to nominate the person.
! The Indian trooper here seems to be
described by the words ''silent, stall
Wart and plain. They are never bois-
ferrous and they never quarrel. | was in
| vited, though not by them, to noonday
mess Mt camp. | went to the morning
meal instead, though not to eat. There
was savory pot-pourri of potatoes,
onions and meat, bread with syrup, hot
| biscuits and coffee. All was very APP
Ipetizing as | have invariably found it
i'll every camp mess to which | We been
Eating here in the West has its dis
tinct characteristic but is firmly linked
to the flesh pots Of the East by none
other than the Boston baked bean.
Beans have both anticipated and fol
lowed me. They form an integral part
of every meal served here to an east
| crner. Though Boston be leagues and
| leagues away, its beans know no time
no occasions and no space. In Louisi
| ana II Is hot rice cakes, fried chic ken
and beans; in Texas rashers of ham
with eggs, also beans. Boston would not
own them and would not know them
Their color is lost, their succulcnce is
gone, their shape long thing of the
past. But baked beans they are in the
last analysis, and they surely are every
where. | don t eat them, but / admire
to look at them. They spell "home.
am carried away with the fine spirit
of the western troops, | ought to say
of all the troops They arc taking this
thing splendidly and are keeping them
| selves well in hand. They are a good.
Ihealthy crowd. | find of course the thing
am interested in in the little Red
Cross tent for relief 1t is not often
called into use, but its always ready
and well supplied. Our government is
so well looking after such things that
| am sure / shall in the name of my
POmn1lttnn hara m M lrn oo1l la
services and generosity of the ladies of
Brattleboro as I have had to do in the
European struggle. The percentage of
illness is less than among a correspond
ing number of people at home The Sth
Massachusetts eneamped at FL Paso. six
or eight miles from Fort Bliss, had
barely one per cent under treatment
| There Is much discomfort but little i'll
ness from heat, though during the day
time | find the thermometers register
ll2 to 115 degrees. It's the Overtime
watermelon that lays low its thousands
but even these are only temporarily out
of commission.
! don t know how or where our Yer
, mont boys are. l haven t come across
any trace of them. Civilians III Texas
want Intervention. No one believes
, there will be any war Everyone claims
without explaining why, that politics
arc mixed up in our troops being here
At any rate they are here and to be
5 looked after, though they need nothing
r from the standpoint of the Surgica
Dressings committee.
! am going today to Yuma and be
| yond. 1t 5 exploration. | don t know
what I shall find. 1t is all very un