Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-12-07
Etrpattttg Olrat

purB TO camp Meade and back are
somewhat strenuous going for oneI
day, but many Harrisburg people
nave made the trip and, although
tired upon their arrival home, say
the Journey is well worth while.
Most of those who motor down go to
Baltimore by way of Shepherdstown,|
Dillsburg, Hanover, Manchester,
Westminster, Reiterstown and Bal
timore, making the trip from this
city to Baltimore in an average of a
trifie less than four hours. Lunch
Is usually taken in Baltimore and
the trip to the camp site, by way of
the Washington Boulevard to one
the well-marked turn-off points to
Camp Meade. requires an hour more
fhe roads are good save in one place,
just south of the Maryland line,
where repairs are being made to a
snort stretch, requiring motorists to
use the side of the highway, which
is rough. This work will be com
pleted in a few days. The roads
to Camp Meade below the Washing
ton Boulevard are of dirt mainly
but in pretty good condition. Soft
sandy spots have been filled with
gravel to accommodate the very
heavy traffic, consisting OF every
kind OF wheeled vehicle, from huge
motor lorries to one-horse shays.
The visitor is prepared to see
big camp, but he is usually sur
| prised by the extent of the city that
has sprung up in so short a period on
| what was formerly a barren waste o
sand and ninn frnnc Tho
| ers eighteen square miles and, de
/ spite the uncouth character of the
| unpainted buildings, is picturesque
place, half of the little bunkhouses
| and other buildings being hidden o
nearly so by the rolling characte
of the country and the pine tree:
that have been allowed to stand a
ornaments and for shade in sum
mer.
The buildings for the various pur
poses of the camp were all bull
from one set of blueprints. In 9th
er words, every regiment has pre-
clsely the same number of building
as every other and of the same siz
and character. Each bunkhouse j
OF the same design and houses tn
same number of men. In one end
the Kitchen and the mess hall
called by the "rookies" during tn E
! itSN 'tiS III NeIlllp lllt ullllllS TOOlll.
That's what it would be at home
too, but down there it is mess ha
and anybody who calls it otherwis
labels himself n new recruit and a
the men here like to think of them
selves as grizzled veterans. Th
houses are of two stories, heated b
two huge furnaces on the first flooI
which transmit heat to the room
above by hot air pipes.
The main streets of the camp ar
paved with cement. Each street ha
its own electric lights, as have tn
dormitories and offices, and it's fir
plugs, electric and telephone line
and sewer openings. Everythin
that one might expect to find in
modern municipality, from garbag
collection on a scientific scale to fl
tered water. Even a well-organizet
{ efficient, firm, but very polite, polio
force has been provided in the forl
, of a detail of military police, beal
ing badges of their calling and car
rying sticks. These guard the for
bidden places, for there are such i
camp, and patrol all the roads lead
ing to camp to keep out Germa
suspects, undesirable men and won
en- and to break up efforts of III
scrupulous persons to bring liqud
ltlIO lOI Tic nv
even the commanding officer ma
have a flask in his tent. 1t is II
8 mored that the hospital corps has
{ little of the strong stuff stowe
= away against emergency, but if
has any it has not yet prescribe
any for the comparatively few me
who have had occasion to use tn
hospital.
1 And such hospital! 1t is almo
as long as from the river to I'll
railroad if built along Market stre(
and every hundred feet or more e1
tensions have been built, stickir
s out from the front at right anglo
r with the main structure and equiI
o ped with offices, surgeons office
: places for nurses and sun parlor
S They are steam heated and cor
structed along modern hospits
lines. They are almost ready fd
= use and a few cases are quartere
: there, but not many, for there
= little or no sickness in the camp.
e Looking out over the camp froI
the. entrance, it does not requiI
long for you to understand VIII
Y the hospital is we'll nigh empt
d Take the camp Sunday afternoo&
= for example. The men, after serN
v ices, may be seen with their friend
G visitors from home, mostly; stru
ting about, proud as peacocks
their trig new uniforms and ever
= one of them looking as handson
n and as dignified as a major genera
o And the folks from home-my, no
= they do snapshot the boys in
: manner of poses. The coming gel
a Grafton is going to have pret
good idea of how Brother Jon
looked when he was preparing to
l. "over there" il all the Camp Meaq
II photographs turn out well.
u cameras, however are permittd
IS within the camp and all the PM
tographing must be done on II
: outside.
And. Brother John is quite
u proud of himself and his fine ne
y clothes as are his mother and thoi
q from home. The best way to &
. an idea of the pride he takes in n
II uniform may be gathered when
! bunch of new recruits arrive. III
lads who have been through the m
. for month or more stand abo
| looking them over superciliously ar
| with an eve. as critical as that OF
veteran of many wars Tor the greer
est of rockies. And, lndeeo'
men are green when they arriv
garbed in their oldest clothes al
forlorn and dirty after long jou
news, A Harrisburg party saw OF
lot arrive and fall into the god
hands of a Y. M. c. a. secretary, WI