Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1925-05-17
CAPITAL REMEMBERS VETERANS.
SAY SUFFERING MEN At REED
Cynical Investigator Finds Little Com planning Among
Patients Displaying More Fortitude Than Bat
tie Den,a,ded-TaIk PinOchIe and Next War.

turesque. The second is heroic be
cause there is the whole essence of
heroiSm in it. 1t is the second kind
of heroism that is being displayed at
Walter Reed-the only kind. surely
that will count for much in the white
light of centuries. To fight Germans
was like playing with toy soldiers
compared to fighting the WEAKNESS of
time.
1t is this same WEAKNESS of time
that the patients and officials of Wal
ter Reed are trying successfully to
combat.
The Red Cross hut is one of the
hard-fought sectors of the battle.
Here. at any hour of the day, score
or more of veterans can be found
loupging, playing cards, reading or
talking over the years of war that
were swifter than days are now.
swifter even than hours on a hospital
bed.
Haunted by Ghosts of Conflict.
They apparently are contented.
talk. But the piano gives the lie to
it all. The men take turns at play
ing 1t. There is no particular skill
shown-not SO much, probably, as my
neighbours girl, who has been taking
LESSONS for two years. displays every
evening. Yet, in some transcendental
way or another into the clumsy rem
ditions these men give of the dance
hall tunes of the hour comes the
minor of infinite pain-pain unlinked
with the poets passion. 1t is the
atmosphere of the place. The ghosts
of the war haunt the piano.
YES" says the Red Cross secretary,
the people of Washington are be-
ginning to forget-juSt little. But
the men don't complainant least none
of them who understand. Washington
people are very, very kind. We never
have asked for anything we haven't
got 1t has been a long time since
the war. 1t is natural that memories
should have grown a bit indistinct.
But when we need a hundred auto
mobiles, there are a hundred Wash.
ingtonians ready at a moments notice
to loan them to us, chauffeurs and all.
Try the Smooth Path.
There is plenty for the boys to
go to about the city without a cent of
charge. Shows are brought to the
camp. The probability of time hang
ing heavy on a mans hands has been
reduced as far as possible. Doubtless
it does, however. We have all sorts
of men here. Not few of them can't
read and write.
Il detest sob stories. l mean what
/ say when l tell you that there is
| noticeable among these men a real in
| Clination to make the most of the op-
| portunitieS before them. Some of the
men do not take advantage of their
| opportunities readily. But after they
are here while they begin to think
a little and understand that, no mat
| ter how badly hurt they may be, Wal
| ter Reed is Offering them Il real op-
| portunity to make something out of
their future lives. Men come here
! ignorant of letters. They leave for
| their homes, mostly in the Southern
| mountains, not only able to write their
| own names but able to teach their
| families to write their names also.
! 1t may seem a simple thing for
man to learn to write his name
nothing more. But it is long, hard
| process for some of these fellows. Of
| course there are well educated men
| here also, many of them. These men
| can find solace in reading, denied to
| the others"
Pinochle and Next Struggle.
! The Star reporter took four of the
men, selected by the Red Cross, on a
j three-hour auto ride through the
parks of the city. They still thought
| at first, apparently, that he was an
! other sick soldier just convalescing.
Their conversation was illuminat-
| ing. 1t concerned-pinochle and the
| next war.
The pinochle craze is raging at Wal
! ter Reed just now. It has reached
| the point where an error in some of
the fine points of this complicated
card game is almost a fighting offense.
Men stay on the outs for days over a
wrong bid. Schools of pinochle
| thought and philosophy have grown
up in the wards. To the superficial
observer it seems to have superseded
crap shooting and blackjack as the
Army game at this post of the flag
in the hostile, dreary desert of time.
Strangely enough, the veterans
don't seem to talk much about the
| last war-certainly the last one for
| most of them. Rather they speculate
on how men will fight 10, 20, so years
| from now. They wonder about the
sensational stories they read in the
papers about death rays and bolshevik
plots. Nobody raises question as
Ito whether there will be a next war.
you don't have time to think about
your troubles at Walter Reed" said
! a Regular Army sergeant recovering
f~em a serio1s operation. There u