foyer, paneled in harmonious colors and paved in mosaic, you come into a first class, electric lighted, steam heated, modern theater, which in size, appointments and tasteful embellishment would compare favorably with more than one metropolitan theater. The house is carpeted, and the chairs are upholstered theater chairs. The theater has a seating capacity of over fifteen hundred. On either side of the stage are boxes, and there are the usual balcony and gallery of the modern theater. The stage is fully equipped with scenery, and its appointments in the way of dressing rooms and other conveniences are superior to those of most theaters. The building, one of the most conspicuous on the grounds, was erected in 1880. It faces the east, and in front of it the ground descends rapidly, while from its lofty tower there is a view for miles over the Miami valley, including the city of Dayton. The prices for admission are low, and parts of the house are reserved for members under certain conditions free of charge. Visitors are admitted to the theater. The best talent in the amusement world is engaged each season. Shakespeare's plays, the standard dramas, comic opera, and the best orchestras are engaged every year.

Near the theater stands the Protestant chapel. It is a beautiful Gothic structure of native freestone, faced with a light red stone, and its walls are nearly covered with a thick growth of American ivy. The Catholics have a separate place of worship of their own in a handsome brick chapel erected during the last year. Religious worship is of course purely voluntary. Services are frequently held by the Women's Christian association of Dayton, and in the summer grove meetings are held from time to time by the Salvation Army and the Christian Alliance.

One of the most interesting spots on the ground is the library, a spacious three story building, sheltered by trees, on Ohio avenue, directly in the rear of the theater. The lower floor is occupied by the reading room, and it was gratifying to find this room completely filled with veterans. Here 200 newspapers are received daily, and 39 different magazines are on file, including the standard English, German and French periodicals. All the better American magazines are here.

The library proper is on the second floor, where are stored, in two tiers of bookcases, the books of the George H. Thomas library and the Putnam library.

"The war," says Lowell, in one of his most charming essays, "was ended. I might walk townward without the aching dread of bulletins that had darkened the July sunshine and twice made the scarlet leaves of October seem steeped in blood." He refers to the death of his three nephews in the war. One of these ensanguined Octobers brought the death news of Lieutenant William Lowell Putnam, the poet's youngest nephew, a member of the twentieth Massachusetts regiment, who fell mortally wounded, October 21, 1861, at the battle of Ball's Bluff, while trying to save a wounded comrade. When taken to the hospital he said to the surgeon: "Go to some one else to whom you can do some good; you cannot save me." To such a spirit, chivalrous in no degree less than the gentle Sir Philip on the field of Zutphen, a worthy memorial was due; and perhaps no more fitting tribute to the memory of the young hero could have been conceived than the library which his mother, Mrs. Mary Lowell Putnam, has founded for the benefit of the veterans of the central branch of the soldiers' home. The Putnam library was established in 1868, and numbers over ten thousand volumes. Its founder continues her benefactions yearly. Mrs. Putnam has also presented to the library a number of pictures and works of art. I noticed particularly a large glass case filled with beautiful specimens of Muradabad enameled brass. An asylum for old soldiers is scarcely the place where one would look for East India metal work. Beside the entrance door is a life size portrait of Lieutenant Putnam, in the perfection of youthful beauty and manliness. "For now he haunts his native land as an immortal youth." Above the portrait was a magnificent wreath, and it was explained to me that on each anniversary of the death of Lieutenant Putnam there comes a wreath of flowers, exquisite in beauty and arrangement. This wreath is placed above the young hero's portrait, there to remain until, a year later, another comes to take its place.

In the same building with the Putnam library is the George H. Thomas library. This library contains between nine

and ten thousand volumes, and embraces all the books of the home not belonging to the Putnam library. The libraries are catalogued separately, the catalogue of each library forming a large octavo volume of several hundred pages. In these two libraries are over twenty thousand volumes of standard literature and over two hundred of the best newspapers and magazines in the world. Surely a harsher fate could be imagined for one whose deeds were behind him than to have his "hours, days and years slide soft away" in this place of peace and quiet, with no cares and scarcely even nominal duties, and with the treasure house of the world's wisdom open to his touch at any time.

The reading room is open daily from eight in the morning till eight in the evening. The books are issued for two weeks, and may be renewed, or may be changed as often as desired. That the library is not unappreciated is indicated by the number of books drawn, which in one year amounted to 46,592 volumes. The volumes are classified as fiction, history and biography, travels, science and art, poetry and drama, religion and philosophy, and general literature. I was interested to know what class of books was most read, imagining that with a constituency of men only, and one would suppose hard headed fellows too, history or biography or travels would lead; but I was told that, as in most public libraries, fiction is in the lead. About seventy per cent of all books drawn are works of fiction. This is partly amusing, but on the whole pathetic. What should these old broken down warriors, stranded hulks, battered and broken by the sea of life, -whose average age is sixty four years, what should they have to do with love and the sweet dreams of tender maidens? Do they thus seek to call back in faint outline the dim ghosts of the lost illusions of their youth, or do they use fiction as an anodyne for their futureless and unhopeful condition?

Interesting as the library is, not far from it is another building yet more interesting in some ways, from its singular character and the problems that it presents, than even the library. This is the true Valhalla of the veterans, haunted by the shade of many a departed warrior. The building is the beer hall, a large building pleasantly surrounded by trees. The hall

proper is somewhat over a hundred feet long and proportionally broad. No civilian can for love or money buy a glass of beer in the hall, nor may he even set his foot within it. Down the center of the hall extends a double counter. On each side of the building, next to the wall, is a row of tables, extending the length of the room. As one stands at the door and gazes down the long room, one is reminded of a huge fly trap filled with bluebottles. The bluecoats are so thick that there is scarcely room to walk, and the buzz of voices makes it difficult to converse. Every table is full, and between them and the bar there is a constant progression and retrogression of veterans with empty and freshly filled glasses. White aproned Ganymedes behind the bar dispense the nectar to the war gods. The ambrosia is in the form of black bread and cheese made into sandwiches, which are served free, as a lunch. There are eight bartenders, and they are kept constantly busy. Four guards preserve order. The hall is in charge of a special officer, who is responsible to the governor for its proper administration.

During one year the receipts from the sales in the beer hall amounted to over $91,000. Nearly two million glasses were sold. This seems a large amount of beer for one institution; but it must be remembered that these six thousand members of the home represent the voting population of a city of over twenty thousand inhabitants. The number of glasses sold in a year does not amount to one glass a day for each member. No institution in the soldiers' home has received such criticism as the beer hall, and probably there is none of which the wisdom is less to be questioned. Almost every objection to it has been shown by facts to be groundless. Drunkenness among the members has decreased; there are fewer men arrested by civil authorities; there is a smaller number in the hospital as a result of protracted debauches on bad liquor; more money has been sent by the inmates to their families; and the order and discipline in the home are much better. The beer sold is the best. No member buys his beer over the bar, but must purchase at the office a ticket, which he exchanges for his beer. In this way a check is kept upon the men. strictions are placed upon hundreds of the men, many of them

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being entirely debarred from the beer hall, and others being limited to one or two glasses a day, according to their physical, mental or moral condition. A large number are content with what they get at the hall and do not drink outside at all. The profits accruing from the sales of beer within the home go to the post fund, which is used for the expenses of the band, for amusements, for the purchase of books and for other matters not provided for by congressional legislation.

Among these six thousand soldiers from nearly every state in the union there is a great variety of character. Many of the men are enfeebled, not only physically, but mentally and morally. There is less self restraint among them than among younger men; consequently some of them need careful watching and firm handling. The government of the home is a pure autocracy. The word of the governor is law. Every morning at eight o'clock a police court is held, at which the governor presides and the offenders receive sentences ranging from a curtailment of their beer to dishonorable discharge from the home. There is no appeal from the sentence of the judge; but the soldier, even if sentenced to imprisonment, can always escape punishment, for he may at any time obtain his discharge from the home, either honorably or dishonorably. The dishonorably discharged member can be reinstated only by the unanimous concurrence of the board of managers.

The occupations of the members are classified under 105 different headings; the range is from lawyers and ministers to chiropodists and peddlers, including five actors, one editor, eight civil engineers, thirteen lawyers and seven ministers; over two thousand are classed as laborers, and 1,365 are farmers. About one fifth of the members have wives or minor children. Over two thousand are employed in the home in various capacities, with pay ranging from a few dollars a month to a respectable salary. Members may usually spend as much or as little time in the home as they please. When in residence, they must show passes to leave the grounds, but they may be out for an indefinite time on furlough.

In the laundry over two million and a half pieces are handled annually. There is a store where nearly every conceivable thing used by men is on sale, and the sales amount to $40,000