In Their Own Home

Welch Post, G. A. R., now have their new hall over J. T. Jacobs & Co.'s store fitted up, and Friday afternoon and evening were adrertised for a public reception to whioh their friends were invited for a good time and to see what commodious and beautiful life quarters the Post were at last in. A few availed themselves of the privilege in the afternoon, but the number of citizens who attended in the evening was very smalL The room is worth seeing. The carpet and all the fumiture and fixtures are the result of a subscription from the citizens, and as Mr. Jacobs, one of the comrades ot the Post, presented them with a five years' lease, free of rent, their lines as a Post certainly have fallen in pleasant places. The Post will add to the beauty of the room by papering the ceiling. Prof. Groene, V. K. Child?, and Supervisor Gardner were the committee on arrangement of the room. In the corner opposite the entracce, three army muskets with bayonets brightly burnished, are stacked. In the center of the room is a novel altar. On a small platform rests some imitation cannon balls ; on the balls is an army drum ; on the drum a knapsack ; over the knapsack is a flag ; two swords are crossed on the flag; and above all is a large copy of the Bible. On each side and end is a platform. The most pretentious is where the Post commander sits, and as stands email slabs of marble rest on imitation cannons. The Bible is the gift of the American Bible society and John Moore. The walls are decorated in red, white, and blue, with the American flag, and with pictures of battles and generáis. Gibson preeented them with a fine picture, and Randall gave a picture of General Wilcox. The benches which line the wall were given by the M. E. cburch. When Commander Jackson assumed the commander's chair, last Friday evening, Comrade J. T. Jacobs formally presented a lease of the hall, saying : Commander Welch Post, No. 137, G. A. R. Comrades and Sons of Veterans: Allow me to present you with this lease, the contenta of which are already known to you, - a lease of this hall made beautiful, comfortable, and convenient by the generosity of our citizen friends. I am happy to know, by these substantial offerings, that those to whom we are indebted for a peaceful and prosperous country, are still held in euch grateful remembrance by their fellow citizens. May we always command by our actions the respect that is due an old soldier. The commander accepted the lease in the following words : Comrade : In the name of Welch Post, No. 137, Department of Michigan, Grand Army of Republic, I accept your generous offer. My words cannot express the full feelings of gratitude the comrades of this Post have toward you. They feel that as you were a true comrade in those times when it tried men's souls to be a comrade, so in the present you are the same, true to the old comrades, standing by them iu the battles of life, which often times try men's souls as greatly as did the bloody battle-field with death staring them in the face every moment, where comrade after comrade was mustered out and passed to the other side of the river. So today many ol the comrades are catching glimpses of the other side and expecting a greeting from the angel of mercy with orders to join the great army of comrades that have gone before. Feeling that your motive and desire in doing this has been to save the Post the expense of rent that the comrades may be able to do more to smooth the paths of our disabled comrades until the final muster out, I thank you in behalf of the comrades of this Post; and may God bless you in the future as he has in the past, keeping you true to the Comrades and the Flag, and they will be trne to you. Now informal speaking began. Nearlv every comrade was made to say some"thing, and the speeches were made in true military style, - in a running fire from Col. Dean, Major Soule, and other choice wits of tbe Post. H. S. Dean said that as Jacobs had been so liberal with them, they would allow him to use the lower part of the building free. We are going to enjoy this home. It is a home of our own to which we can come at any time. The sons of veterans can use this room also. We will be good to them. Every comrade who has sons should come. The G. A. R. is a different organization from any other I know of. I hope there will never be need for another like it. We are at our zenitb. We are passing away and oon there will be none to take our places unless the sons of the veterans come here to carry oh the organization aud to catch here the spirit of patriotism. Capt. Manly said that as years roll on, we will flnd vacant chairs here, and there will be none to meet us here unless it be the sons of veterans. There were no auxiliarles. We have but one rank, - those entitled to wear the badge. In 20 years the organization will cease. It will leave a record of one of the most noble of organizations. People do not know the bonds that bind us together. They do not know the good tbat is done here, the money voted to help veterans. We have never applied in vain to the citzens for as sistance. We accept the hall with pleasure, especially as the donor is a member of the Post. Major Soule said that he supposed we had a lease of the room for five years, but he hadn't heard it read. He didn't want to be soule-d about it. The citizens had been generous; Comrade Jacobs had been generous; who was going to furnish the fuel 1 Perhaps the commander. 01 we are having a warming now. I feel like an orphan here: I have no sons of veterans like some of the rest. I feel honored in belonging to this organization - which has been honored with a lease. I don't know why it wasn't made for ten years. We shall get so used to this room that after the 6ve-year lease expires, we will not be able to give it up. Then Oomrade Jacobs can charge us big rent. I don't know that I can add any more to the pleasure of the evening I think I have covered all the ground. If you think of any thing that has been left unsaid, please cali me up. Major Soule's remarks, as here reported, are not remarkably closeIy connected. Perhaps they were not intended to be; and perhaps it is because a patent eteam short hand reportorial machine could noi have put in the applause and connectine links made by the shoutine: wits of the Post. W. K. Childs, after a few remarks, read the following for the entertainment of the Pot-t, and he rendered it nicely : TOLD AT THE CAMPFIRE. "Come Corpoial Joe ! Tell us a tale of oíd Shiioh !" Corporal Joe, long-lpgged and thin, Wrinkled of brow and grizzled of chin, Up to the blazing camptire stole And lighted his pipe with a glowing coal. "Strange,"' said he, " What a comfort a pipe can be ! 'In the spring of '62, you see, Our army camped on the Tennessee. Oíd Grant and Buell, by day and night, Were getting their forces in trim to fight Oíd Jonnson's rebel host, which lay At Corinth, some twenty miles away. ' With mud and sleet, 'twas bad enough, And rationa was short. But what carne tough Was this ; our fellers was all dead brote, And no tobacker to chaw or smoke : A state of things that wasn't no joke. "Before the battle, on Saturday night, When the boys were asleep, I spied by the light Of the waning campiire a blue coat rlse To his elbow and peer with cautious eyes On all around. Then, drawing a plug From his pocket, he stowed in his stingy mug Sich a generous chaw That I quite forgot oíd Sinai's law And the sweet home rules of the Sunday schools, And, waiting until the miser slept Like a pitiful thief to his side I crept, And stole his tobaeker, then went to rest With the treasure hugged to my guilty breast. "You remember, boys, how the morning broke Through the lurid folds of battle smoke, And there ain't no cali for me to tell How the tide of victory rose and feil For three long days. You fellows know AU I can teil you about Shlloh. "What I mean to tell Is Bometliing you don't know quite as well. Twas near the close of the last dreaa day- Just how it happencd I never could say- Whilst storming ihe ridge through shot and shell, Somethin' hit and down I feil, While the boys swept on with a terrible yell. "It seemed for a minute my time had come, As I lay there all so faint and numb : But I hadn't the slihtest trace of pain ; I hadn't even a bruise or strain ; And what I took for the fiowing blood Was dampness pressed from the soft Spring mud, So , takin' courage, I looked around : And say, boys, what do you think I found, As I gathered myself from the mud and dirt ? Why, there in the pocket of my shirt, Just over my heart, in the plug I stole Lay a rifle ball in a snug little hole. I teil you, boys, I held my breath- Just a chaw of tobacker .twixt me and death ! I thought, as I riz from the muddy ground, Them's born to be hanged won't never be drowned. And I sometimes think, as I look at that 'chaw ' That it ain't always safest to stick to the law." J. Q. A. Sessions was agreeably surprised and feit great satisfacción when he stepped over the threshold of the door. He was proud of the hall. He would be glad if it might be lighted up every evening as a smoking and reading room. The occupancy of this room will assist the growth of the Post. It may help to gather in all the old soldiers of Ann Arbor who have not joined us. Comrades Conrad Noli and J. H. Stark, who solicited the funds, were made to talk. Mr. Stark said that about this begging business, he thought at first he oouldn't do it. Conrad Noli said he must. Our chief beggar, Col. Dean, was sick. He hated to tackle the first man, but he did it and got $7. A visiting comrade from Ohio, Mr. Edwards, told some reminiscenses. The Post discu8sed its sick and needy, on whom it keeps a watchful eye. In the University hospital, it was reported, is a G. A. R. man, B. T. Fowler, from Gilsonburg, O., who was totally blind. Commander Jackson started Auld Lang Syne, which was sung heartily tod then he closed the evening's session by telling a good army story.