Saturday Evening Mail, Volume 29, Number 13, Terre Haute, Vigo County, 24 September 1898 — Page 6

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CAMP WIKOFF LIFE.

PATHOS AND HUMOR COMMINGLED AT MONTAUK POINT.

How Fond Mother Found Her Missing Son—Loneiog of the Men to Go Home. Wot All Grumblers In Camp—Statistics of the War.

[Special Correspondence.]

Camp Wikoff, Montauk Poest, Sept. 19.—The soldiers that had been •weltering on the rain scsked, malarious ridges surrounding Santiago naturally expected that upon their arrival at Camp Wikoff the conditions would be materially improved. It is needless to state that their anticipations were in the main realized, but the heat was all too suggestive of the tropics to be agreeable to men who had been roasted for weeks under a Cuban sun. When September arrived, the soldiers, well and ill, fully expected that the genial au lumn month would be true to the tradi

HOSPITAL TENT AT CAMP WIKOFF. tions of its past, but in this they were woefully disappointed. The heat instead of decreasing became more intense, and the fever stricken patients, buoyed up by hope before, lost heart and hope, and many found an almost welcome relief in death.

Some of those who seemed to be tolerably sound when they arrived at the camp, but who had carried the seeds of disease with them, sickened, and some of them died, and Camp Wikoff and the authorities got the blame. Mistakes have been made undoubtedly in connection with the camp, but these were almost inevitable. We hear muoh of them, but very little is heard in commendation of the camp or the praiseworthy efforts of those in command to do all they ponaibly could to make the troops comfortable.

It would be difficult to conceive of a more appropriate site for a large military camp than this. All portions of it are in the immediate neighborhood of the sea, and even when the days were warmest there were always cool breezes at night. Many of the regimental camps are situated on hilltops, insuring perfect drainage, fresh, pure air and a view oommanding a delightful expanse of sea and land.

Complaints have been made of the water supplied to the soldiers, but Surgeon General Sternberg, who certainly should be a competent authority, has stated that it is purer than that fur nished to the inhabitants of Brooklyn, Washington, Philadelphia, London or Hamburg. But it should not be forgot ten that it iB absolutely impossible to keop the water, when supplied by snr face wolls, free from impurities in such a camp as this. Any military oamp whero there is no sewerage will become unclean in a short time, and no efforts of tho authorities can prevent the sur face drainage from percolating through tho soil and contaminating the wells, it is said.

There is much in the camp life here that is suggestive of a tragi-comedy, Tho lights and shadows chase each other like tho ever ohanging views of kaleidoscope. There are ecenes so pathetic, so sad, that they would melt the hardest heart, and there are incidents BO comical that they would provoke the most lachrymose to laughter.

Tho other day I saw a middle aged woman sitting on a corner of the restaurant steps. Her face reflected the despair in her heart. She had been searching for her sou for three days among the hospitals nud throughout the camp, but her search had been in vaiu. Sho knew he had loft Cuba with his regiment, and his uamo was not among the number of tho dead, but still sho could not find him. As she sat, weary and hopeloss, watching a company marching to the train that was to convey them homo there was a commotion in the rear ranks, and a young volunteer rushed up to the despondent woman aud folded her in his arms. Her son was found, and she, tho happiest woman in the world, wont ou tho same train that catried him to his home. Unfortunately such cases do not always end so happily. There have been instances where sons died in the hospitals while their mothers were seeking for them, and they had but the mournful satisfaction of claiming their dead bodies.

In seores of tents scattered throughout Camp Wikoff men may be seen in various stages of illness reclining on straw pallets. When questioned, they almost invariably deny that they are suffering. "Just a little indisposed," they say. They seem to dread tha thought of being sent to the hospital, and all express but one wish—that they may be sent home. Doubtless this ardent desire had much to do with the sad in* cidents attending the departure of the First Illinois and the Eighth Ohio from the oamp. Mou were so eager to go to their homes that they feigned convalescence and displayed a fictitious strength which deserted them at the critical moment.

There is something pathetic in the eagerness of even the regulars to go to their homes, as they designate the various army porta which they left to go to the war. "This is ft rich government," said one of them who lay flushed with malarial fever on a heap of straw. "It wouldn't oast «o much to send us borne to our posts, aud yet it means everything on earth to us. We'd get well there and feel like fighting again if we had to. I don't know what we boys would hare

done but for the ladies. We regulars haven't any friends. We aren't like the volunteers.

Even regulars that are not ailing sometimes indulge in the same com plaining strain. But it would be a mistake to imagine that the grumblers in camp are in the majority. They are only more in evidence on certain occasions. To become aware of the real spirit and feelings of the regulars and volunteers one should see them at the beach, at the canteen, the postoffice and at the railway station, where they congregate to await an incoming train. Jollity and good humor are then in the ascendant, and a person would realize the fact that, dearly as a soldier loves and cherishes a grievance, he loves a joke and fun still better.

Recruits arriving here are frequently made aware of the fun loving proclivities of those who have become regularly installed at the camp. When they deign to say anything to them, it does not tend to their encouragement "Better write to your folks, Johnny. You may not get another chance, is the remark that one of the Camp Wikoff soldiers tosses at them over his shoul der. "Hope you brought plenty of grub," says another. "You'll only get one meal a day here." "You chaps have got a nice place for a camp, "says a third, "right in the middle of swamp. Well, there is one satisfaction— the burying ground is handy." So they run the gamut of gibes in their jollity. The new recruits look blue, but after they have strolled about the camp and enjoyed the sea bathing they become entirely reassured and exclaim, "This isn't soldiering it's a picnic."'

For some time there was a great scarcity of writing paper in camp, and the soldiers found it difficult to write to their homes. One more ingenious than the rest devised a plan by which he could make the stamped envelope answer all the requirements of the case. He split the envelope open and wrote his letter on the inside. This device was generally adopted until a large quantity of unused paper had been received from the New York postoffice,

The other day a member of an engineer company was discharged from the hospital after an attack of pneumonia, and only four hours after he had a hemorrhage. He walked to the trans portation department and on reaching there was so weak that he would have fainted had he not sat down. A brutal subordinate of the department, seeing the poor fellow, addressed him insultingly and ordered him to remove his hat and stand in line. This is but a solitary instance of many that could be re lated of the rudeness of understrappers who never smelled powder to their country's defenders.

The delirium of the sick men here has almost invariably assumed the same form, and in their ravings they speak of Cuba and the soenes and incidents of battle. In their hallucinations some fancy themselves rushing up the hillside in a charge, and the surgeons and orderlies have hard work to subdue the most violent. An officer got up the other night and, wrapping his blanket about him, tottered down the ward shouting: "Come on, men! Come on! Sweep those devils off the earth!" An orderly seized him, and he was soon subdued in his weak condition. He then burst into tears and cried in the extremity of his grief: "Let me go! My men will think I am afraid. I shall be called a coward. For. God's sake, let me go!"

At other times a change comes over the spirit of their dreams, and new scenes are pictured by an exoited fancy upon vacuity. They imagine themselves at home, and the delusion makes them happy for a time. The emaciated, distorted features assume an aspect of repose, and they smile in their gladness as they imagine they greet the dear folks at home.

Within a wee*k past the weather has become cool and bracing, and a marked improvement has taken place in the health and spirits of the camp. Blankets at night are at a premium, and others besides the soldiers are beginning to think, here and elsewhere, that life is worth living. A reflection almost unavoidable in this camp is that this war

WtD CROSS MILK STATION.

of ours has resulted in the death of many brave men and has caused much suffering to thousands more. It has been an expensive piece of business also, the subjoined tabulated statement will show: Expenditures for the army 178,600,000 Expenditures (or the navy...., 80,000,000 Total— tii4.an.ooo

1.IVTO LOST tit TBI ABUT.

Officers killed in battle.. 83 lien killed to buttle 881 Officers and men wounded, a boat 1,450 Officer* and men killed by disease* estimated..., —'.. 1,100

LIVES VOtft lit TOR WATT AXD MARIS CORPS.

Officers killed in battle... 1 Men killed in battle..... 23 Men drowned............ 1 Men wounded-... 83

As a comm«itary on the foregoing I may remark that every forward step in human progress has involved self sacrifice and much loss and suffering. No good cause was ever won without such sad attendant circumstances. 4 4

Nat MacdOKAIJD,

Exception.

Maud—Do you believe'that all the world lores a lover? Jack—No not since I met

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your ffc-

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EGYPTIAN COMMERCk

.pp JINGLE OF GOLD IN T&E ANCIENT LAND OF THE PHARAOHS.

Kitchener** 'Victorious Expedition Up the Mile Will Open New Field For Modern Enterprise—Improvements Which

Add Millions to the World's Wealth.

'[Special Correspondence.] Cairo, Sept. 5.—As Sir Herbert Kitchener and the British forces con tinue to make their way up the Nile new interest is being awakened in the ancient but almost unknown land that fringes that great river. Thirteen years ago the population of Egypt was 6,000, 000. Since 1882, under the rule of Tewfik and his son, Abbas Q, that popu lation has increased to 10,000,000 Egypt, owing to its natural resources and to its situation with reference to the Suez canal, the great highway of commerce between Europe and Asia, is well worthy of greater attention from the United States.

With an area of 394,240 square miles it is almost equal in extent to the en tire north Atlantic and south Atlantio states. The cultivated and settled parts of this vast country aggregate at least 12,976 square miles, about equivalent in area to the state of Maryland. The language of the people is Arabic, and the dominant religion is Mohammedan One-tenth of the population, however, profess Christianity, and the language of commerce is becoming more and more English. In the city of Cairo French and Italian are muoh spoken,

While the khedive, who is the nominal sovereign of Egypt, holds his posi tion under a partial suzerainty of Tur key, his kingdom is and for some time has been almost entirely under British influence. The insinuation of this alien power was brought about by the extravagance of Ismail Pasha, who during his role at the time of the construction of the Suez canal borrowed large sums of money at rather exorbitant rates. Like many a less royal borrower, he oould not meet his notes. The different European powers stepped in and on behalf of their subjects who were bondholders deposed the impecunious Ismail Pasha. England became praotically the managing director of that little European board and since that time has seen to it that she did not lose her original upper hand. It was she who in 1882

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DERVISH CHIEF.

oruehed Arabi Pasha, and it is she who 18 years after the death of "Chinese" Gordon is sending a British force to Khartum to avenge that murder.

But this power has done something more than pour out the best blood of England on the thirsty sands of the Nubian desert. It was England that restored the Barrage, the great Nile dam, and subsequently regulated and completed the canal system of that huge river. Without the Nile there would be no Egypt. The fertility of that country is entirely dependent on the yearly inundations of this river, which com-* mences to rise in June and reaches its maximum in September. The importance of the new irrigation works is well enough shown by the enormous increase of $4,000,000 per annum in the value of the crop gathered along the Nile valley. The land from which this crop is gathered is some 5,000,000 acres in extent, but this.will be considerably increased by the new dam that is about to be constructed at Assouan.

Yet beyond its interest to tourists and seekers of the picturesque Egypt has attracted very little attention from Americans. As a rule their curiosity has not yet extended beyond that country's quaint antiquities and its wonderful ruins. Mehemet Ali and Abbas H, the present enlightened khedive, are almost unknown names in the American ear.

When once the task of the cautious Kitchener is accomplished, the world may look for an enormous expanse in Egyptian trade. Egypt already has some 1,600 miles of railway, the most important lines being those connecting Alexandria, the commercial capital, and Cairo Sues, Ismail and Cairo, and the Nile Valley railroad, on the left bank of the Nile. Numerous other lines and extensions of lines are at present under way. Agricultural roads are also building, and the use of wheeled transportation becoming more general. The cartage contractor is edging out the picturesque but antiquated camel transport. The increase in the transportation business has brought an increased demand for locomotives. But the native firemen, or "osta," have a lordly contempt for the safety value. They have a habit of piling up the furnaces and let ting things hum, with absolutely no respect for ordinary engineering principles and precautions,' The result is that boiler explosions in Egypt occur with alarming frequency, and a few hundred "osta" are blown up each year. The Egyptian cultivator also clings tenaciously to the primitive agricultural systems employed by his forefathers, and it will probably take several years of firm but gentle English tutoring to show him the advantage of modern machinery. AbdulJokes.

He had loaded a .paper cigar with gunpowder and placed it among his oigarros. During his visit with me repeatedly asked me to smoke, but fortunately missed the cigar he had pre pared, until finally, from the lateness of the hour, he withdrew.

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The Donah Head Discovered. That truth is stranger than fiction is illustrated by the following true story, relates the Lapeer Press: About 40 years ago a boy was kicked by a horse. The physician attending the case found his skull was broken, and a good share of his brains had leaked out. Thinking to do the best he could and knowing it would not do to leave the place vacant, the doctor took buckwheat flour, and, making a thick batter, trephined the skull and filled the cavity. That boy lived and grew to be a man, weighs 250 pounds and is smart as most men Living not far from Oakwood, he does business in Lapeer quite often and is all right, only onoe in awhile that buck wheat batter will rise, and then he is ^aft for a time. Dr. William Rossman, who died in this city, did the surgical Job. -v

"Don't misunderstand me," said Meandering Mike. "I ain't down on work." "You don't seem to have much affection fur it," replied Plodding Pete. "Yes, I have. Work is a good t'ing. it wasn't fur work, how would all dese people git money to give us?"— Washington Star.

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Paper made from seaweed is a growing industry in France. It is so transparent that it has been usei in place of

If we knew the day of our death, it would overstimulate the wise and paralyze the fool.—Boston Transcript.

Mrs. Ursula Donbam, of Sistenwillc, Trier Co., W. Va., writes: My baby is now nearly a year old. Alter she was born bad local weakness. I coald not stand np. I took three bottles of Dr. Pierce's Favorite Prescription and it has cored me. Scan now do all my work."

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Caught InHis Own Trap.-

It is always pleasant to read of in stances in which would be practical jokers have had a chance to sample their own wares. In "Life In California, Alfred Robinson tells of a Sen or Lugo, who often amused the travelers by his stories and eccentricities, and one even ing attempted a practical joke, with the following result:

he

In the course of the night he awoke, and feeling a desire to smoke selected from his bundle, quite forgetful of the evening's amusement, the very cigar he had prepared for me. Having lighted it, he return^*! to bed.

The cigar was about half oonsumed and he more than half asleep when a sudden explosion carried away the bet ter part of his mustache, and so thoroughly frightened his poor wife that venture to say the event will never be forgotten.

Italian Marriage Brokers.

In Genoa there are regular marriage brokers who have lists of marriageable girls of the different classes with notes of their personal attractions, fortunes and circumstances. These brokers go about endeavoring to arrange connec tions in the same off hand way that they would a merchandise transaction. Marriages there are more often a sim pie matter of business calculation, generally settled by the relatives, who often draw up the contract before the parties have seen each other. It is only when everything has been arranged and few days previous to the marriage ceremony that the future husband is in troduoed to his intended wife. Should he find fauit with her manners and ap pearance he may annul the oontract on oondition of defraying the brokerage and any other expenses incurred.

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Educating Her Girls.

Standards of conduct differed from those now in general acceptance. For instance, walking one day to Ipswich we met a laborer's wife and her two daughters, girls of 12 and 14.

So, Mrs. P.," said my eldest sister, 'you have been shopping." "No, miss," replied the good woman, with an unmistakable air of self approval, "but I am anxious to do my girls all the good I oan, so I have just taken them to see a man hanged."—

Reminisoences of Bentham Edwards."

Appreciative.

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PIS

In the old days of this Christian martyrs it was not unusual for the savage Pagans to cast innocent women into a den of lions, to suffer horrible agony and fear be

Afore death finally came to their relief. In this Christian age and this land of civilization tens thousands of women daily suffer the slow torments of approaching death.

They do this because of a false delicacy frequently inculcated by their mothers. There is a marvelous medicine for women that cures all weakness and disease of the distinctly feminine organism. It acts directly on the delicate and important organs concerned in maternity ana makes them strong and healthy. It is Dr. Pierce's Favorite Prescription. It allays inflammation, heals ulceration and soothes pain. Itgives rest and tone to the tortured nerves. Under its magic influence the headaches and pains in the back and sides, the dragging and burning sensations, the nervousness, weakness, lassitude and despondency that result from so-called female weakness are banished. It fits for wifehood and motherhood. Taken daring the period of solicitude, it banishes the usual discomforts and makes baby's entry to Che world easy and almost painless. It insures the newcomer's health and an ample supply of nourishment. Thousands of women nave testified to its marvelous merits. All good druggists sell it.

It fa better to do

Dr. Pierce's

than wait until the whole structure is ready to fall Constipation is the one, all-embrac-ing disorder that is responsible for many other dis- rvt eases. Doctor Pierce's P|pi)Cfl(1t Pleasant Pellets cure IvtlutllH Drugsell them. They never gripe. One "Pellet" is a gentle laxative, and two a mild cathartic. They are tiny, sugar-coated granules.

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B. G. HUDNCT, President. WILLARD KIDDER. Vice-President. G. A. OONZMAN. Oashior. »j 'it

Vigo 'Count National Bank

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