Newspapers / Lenoir News-Topic (Lenoir, N.C.) / March 3, 1908, edition 1 / Page 1
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i The Lenoir News, j ffcrf The News Printery 18 NOW PKEFARKD TO DO YOUR JOB PRINTING. ALL THE LATEST TYPE FACES USED. GIVE US A CALL. A TRIAL IS ALL WE ASK. i A TWICK-A-WEEK FAMILY KEW8PAPER. THE VERT -BEST ADVERTISING MEDI UM. READBY EVERYBODY. ONLY fLOO TIIKYKAR. H. C. MAJRTHS3", EDITOR AND PROP. PUBLISHED TUESDAYS AID FRIDAYS. PRICE 81.00 THE YEAR. ,VOLUME X. LENOIR, 1ST. CMARCH 8, 1908. 1STO. 33. J I j y OLD SOLDIERS EXPERIENCES. Incidents Recorded From 1861 to 1865. The Soldiers' Home. Raleigh, Jan. 9. There is hard ly a more pathetic place to visit in all North Carolina than the hospit al at the Soldiers' Home here. It stands some sixty feet from the main building and is near the of fine of Superintendent Brooks, and is but a few feet from Newbern av enue, one of the most important city thoroughf ares, along which life flows, vivid aud intense, day and uight. Within the one-story building, which is fivepointed, like a star, there is quite another scene The two white-capped and gowned nurses flit about. In the centre of the star are the medicines and each nurse has two wards to look after There are besides a sunparlor and a lounging-room, through the lat ter the building being entered. Outside, in the walks and in the porticoes of the other buildings, the veterans are walking and chat ting. Within the lounging-room of the hospital there is always a group of feeble men, hovering a bout the good fire of logs which blazes there from the time when the first chill of autumn fastens up on the air until spring gives its kiss of warmth and makes the por ches a delight. These old men who sit around the fire are in a transitation state so to speak, be ing either on their way from the other buildings Co one of the wards, unless they rally and pick up strength again' or else have been in a ward and are on their way to join their comrades in the other buildings, after a little period of rest. It is sad to see them, as with cheery politeness they rise from their chairs, but it is far sadder to go into the wards, and see the men lying on the cots to hear the smoothcred cough, to see a nurse moving some one too feeble to be of any help to self; to see the wasted frames upon the beds, hulks of once grand men and to see others able to sit m the chairs, or to lot ter along the aisles between the beds. Over the doors are tablets which tell that such and such a chapter of Daughters of the Con tederacy has furnished, certain things to the hospital. Such tab lets are found on the doors of other buildings, too, and tell the story of woman's devotion and loving care. Sunday the writer, who so fre quently visits the Home, went there in company with a party of ladies, and after first visiting the main building, went into the din ing hall and thence to the hospital. In the main building the vtrerans were asked to gather and then a bouquet of big chrysanthemums was presentcdby the writcrt to , Comrade Drake who had done the miite unusual thing of writing a poem, which had been punted that day in the morning paper, lie was urged to repeat the experi ment, and other veterans, some of them alert and showing that they knew how to write, were asked to see if they could not contribute something now and then in the way of a war story. Some said they would try; that they could talk a lot alKut the war, but had never written anything about it. There are some very smart men in the nomc and some of their talk is very entertaining. In the dining hall the comrades took their seats very quietly and methodically and with bowed heads heard a blessing , . asked UDon them and their food, '.. this being done by a veteran who stood In the centre oi ,tno room. Usually the. sopyintendcut per , forms this duty, b on ' this tc casion he was absent. ' As we stood at the entrance, looking down the line at the tables at which some 125 men were seated, one of the veterans who stood by remarked that; the oldest man was nearest us, and that he was f oing into his 97th year. He has been in two wars, and was also a soldier who parti cipated in the very uupleasaut duty of moving the 15,000 Cherokee In dians who were literally driven from their North Carlolina and Tennessee mountains to the far away Indian Territory, just a little after the first quarter of the last century had ended; a trip of over a thousand miles, attended with not a few horrors, and yet remem bered now as almost a legend by the Cherokees in North Carolina who form the "Eastern Band" and who yet cling to their beloved mountain land, those 4 'Over-Hills of Ottolay," which were theirs be fore the white man was dreamed of in this part of the world. The old fellow talks very brightly and is sprightly still. Hesays he likes Home and his comrades seem to ike him. There is but little talk at table and as the men finish they file out, at will, some walking a bout the grounds, for tea is taken very early, a little after 5 o'clock at this time of the year. . Others return to the dormitories aud sit about the big log fires, chat or read the numerous books and papers which are so liberally provided for them. But it is to the hospital that we gave our very special attention on this visit. The nurses, bright eyed, neat, quick and thoughtful of their patients, and greatly loved by the letter, took us into the neat new dinningroom which the State has this year provided for the hospital, and then we shook hands with the men in the lounging room and passed into the wards. In a chair sat an old fellow whose light of life was flickering very low in deed. His voice was faint and he could barely move, but even his eye brightened when there was talk about Christmas, so near at hand. With a smile which was sadness Ifaelf, he said: "I love to hear you talk about j Christmas, and our nurses aregbing to give us a Christ mas tree, but I don't know wheth er I'll be here to see it or not. I'm so weak. I feel like I'm goiug fast and I don't know when the time will come." The ladies like ministering angels, hovered over him and with the softness of their furs and their bright faces seemed to set him about as if within a frame. He was very responsive to their gentle words and ministra tions and talked alwut himself and about the little circle of life with in the Home, which to him meant now just a room, a ward, that is: a good fire, of the wood he loves to see llaming, a sort of remembrance of his days on the old farm; a bed, covered with snowy drayery, and the faithful nurse, who came and went, bringing him what he ought to have. That wai his world: cir cumscribed it is true, but yet a world to him. In a way he clung to life and in another he , repelled it. He said he was quite ready to go: had never feared anything and had no ear or distrust nlxnit the sramons of the angel in black who he well knew was beckoning him to come on. For years he had l'ol lowed many a leader and never turned back and in the quieter life in civil effort ho had not been a flincher either. He was not going to break his good, record. His motto was, one can be very sure, "Nulla Vestigium RetrorsXim," which the old Roman so proudly used and which in our harsher tongue means "No sign of turning back." So this old follower of "Marse Bob',' sat therein his chair, waiting, waiting. The nurse spoke about Christmas, and bow the tree was going to look and what the old boys would like best some bright little things handkerchiefs or what not, and to be sure some candy, which they prefer soft and fresh. They were going back to childhood, these old men. Some had drifted all the way back to thatdearlold stage, who knows what they were seeing with those bleared old eyes of theirs! Who can tell the thoughts that were run ning races in those minds; what echoes of the long-gone past came to them! On one bed lay an old fellow almost bind. He told us this with a short of quiver of the voice: "I can hear you but I can't see you. Give me your hand.' Next to him, sitting on the side of his bed, very erect, with a fine face crowned with snowy white hair, sat a fine figure of a man, utterly deaf. This he said was his chief complaint. A little further aloug was a man suffering from a tumor. In very truth he was suffering, but he was as brave as a lion through it all held out his hand and said with a wan smile, but yet a real one: "It mieht be a lot worse. Others are worse off than I am." he addedand then his voice rose as he said the words, "God bless you!" When we told him how brave he was he said it always paid to be bravej I told him a storv alout his adventure with a North Carolina ex-Confed erate, near Fayetteville, a couple of years after the war, when Foraker was eettinp the names of persons whose stock and other pro perty had been taken by the Fed eral troops. A lot of people For aker met told him they were "Un ion men," thinking this would get his sympathy, but this particular man said he was not a Union man and not a secessionist, but a "re ble." Foraker shook hands with him and said he respected him. The old soldier lauehed as he lay in his cot at? this story and said it it reminded him of what happened the year of the surrender, that is in 18f5, when in Moore Square here in Raleigh the United States lent great numbers of army horses and to people for use in cultivating their farms, etc., with the simple provison thatt he animals should be returned in the fall, after the crops had been made, and properly cared for mean while, but if they hap pened to die that fact must be duly- sworn to before some officer of the arm v. The old soldier said as he u-nlL-iwt nn nr the horse corral. A " - - 1 very handsome United States of ficer was talking to a mean looking fellow, known deserter, who was apply ing tor a horse. The officer was questioning the fellow closely and when he asked him if he had been in the army the fellow replied. "Little while, not much. 1 didn't 7 stay in long; I deserted." The of ficer, standing very erect, looked the fellow square in the eye and Raid with a cold sneer, "iou look like a deserter. You are real ly not entitled to the use of any thing. You have no sympathy from me and I know you have none from the men in vor.r armv." He then turned on his heel ami told a soldier to give the fellow an old wnrnnut horse which was stand ing near, and told the man to lie sure and bring that horse back in the fall. The fellow took the horse nnd walked awav. man and animal twins a cooil match for ---- c " each other as they slouched along The real soldier, who had ben in the war from start to finish, at this point walked up and saluted in his handsomest stlylc. The United States officer returned Ms salute, looked at him attentively and then becan to ouestion hhn. The soldi er told him he had gone in the war at. tha vorv hpfrinninir nnd had I - - J o o I fought all the way through. The army officer was evidently very much impressed by his manner and words aud calling to a soldier, told him to bring up a fine mule. the best he could pick. Up came the man with a splendid mule, worth 200 if a cent, and it was turned over to the ex-Confederate who hadn't deserted but who had foueht all the wav through. The officer crave him a kind word and he departed. When the ex-Con federate returned in the fall with the mule he met the very officer who had thus lent it to him. The mule was even in finer condition. The officer questioned him again and then fixed things so that he could buy the mule for 175, which he eladlv paid, and then the two shook hands, and parted forever, foes once but friends then. The old soldier in talking about this said that he had forgotten to men tion one little incident, which hap pened an hour or two after the is sue of the old plug horse to the de serter and of the line mule to him self, this lein2 that as he was on his way home he overtook the de serter, who was astride his old saw- l)ones of a uatr. The deserter was swearing mad and said he wished he had twentv sous, in order that he might put every one of them in the army and "kill all the D n Yankees." The real soldier, as the fellow said these words, cursed him heartily and told him that he would never go into the army and take a chance of being shot at, even if he did have twentv sons and sent them all to the front. On another bed lay the big bulk j of a once powerful man, who was literally- trasDinz his life out and s i c will probably be the next to go. Death has claimed 32 of these hos pital inmates this year: a tremend ous toll to take out of 147. When one thinks that the average age of these men is 72 years it is not sur prising that their ranks are thin ning so fast. One man who tot tered as hi? srjoke talked about death as very near him and said, "I don't know how long it will be before they carry me over there," by this meaning to the Soldiers' Home section of the Confederate cometery, which is within sight of the hospital itself. Infinitely pa thetic are tbe burials there, with a stratrclinc comnanv of veterans -" on o as an escort and with eight of them beside the casket in which are the remains of their dead comrade. No salute is fired: no bugle blows "taps." but the veteran is laid in his last bed, to sleep the sleep that has no waking until the final day. Sad it is. to know that so few Ral eigh people attend these funerals-. They go out to the Home Sunday afternoons and make music there in the little Memorial Chapel, but they ought to pay more attention to the dead. It is a duty the Mem orial Association of omen owes, it would seem. This i what Hon. Jake .Moore, State Wf nleu of (teoricia, say of Ko dot For Dyspepsia: "E. C. DeWltt & Co., Chicago. 111. Dear Sirs I have Buffered more than twenty years from indigestion. About eighteen months ago I had growuso much worse that I could not digest a crust of corn bread and could not retain ttlivt. hlnir on mv stomach. I lost l' lbs.; infact I made up my mind that I could not live but a short time, when a friend of mine recommended Kodol. I consented to try it to please him and I was better in one day. I now weigh more than I ever did in my life and am in better health than for many years. Kodol did it. I keep a bottle constantly, and write this hoping that humanity will be benefitted. Your very truly, Jake C. Moore, Atlanta, Aug. 10. 1904." Sold byJ. E. Shell,, Dr. Kent and Granite Falls Drug Co, ' ' " ; " " 1 Subscribe for Th Lenoir News. A cheerful and comfortable dining-room has a direct influence on your health. Psychologists tell us that meals eaten in peace and amid cheerful surroundings are better than doctors. Our dining-room furniture is just what you need to have a cheerful one. Our liberal terms will make it easy for you. BERNHARDT - SE A G L E Hardware & Furniture Co. ft BORROWING Don't worry your neigh bor by continuously bor row his paper. Subscribe to the News and get one of your own. Court week will be a good time to at tend to it, while you are in town. Only the small sum of $1.00 per year, two papers a week. THE LENOIR NEWS. ? v ' W(D)(D)(fl9S HIGH GRADE SEEDS. Best for The South. For Sale by Leeoir Brain Co. Anderson's Pressing Club, ii 1 $1.00 Per Month , Limited to 3 Suits. small narge ior au .Extra suns, ' CALL OR 'PHONE ANDERSQN'S BARBER SHOP, NO. 54. f ' - - - 1 . '
Lenoir News-Topic (Lenoir, N.C.)
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March 3, 1908, edition 1
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