home, and so only a passing glance will be given the buildings. Of these perhaps the most interesting is the mess hall, where over 2,000 men sit down to dinner at the first table every day in the week. The dining halls and kitchen are all on the ground floor, the cooking department being central so as to facilitate the service. At meals is the only occasion when the men see each other so numerously assembled socially, and it is a novel spectacle to the visitor to see so many old soldiers seated at table together, enjoying the peace and comfort provided for them by a grateful country. To give my readers an idea of the quantity of food Uncle Sam's veterans consume in a day at this institution I quote the following consolidated bill of fare which is usually served on Thursday:

Breakfast: Beef fricassee, 2,000 lbs.; hominy grits, 220 lbs.; bread, 800 lbs. ; butterine, 175 lbs.; coffee, 148 lbs.

or

Dinner: Roast beef, 2000 lbs.; potatoes, 34 bushels; stewed beans, 450 fbs.; or green peas, 66 bushels; sliced tomatoes, 40 bushels; bread, 800 lbs.; butterine, 175 lbs.; coffee, 148 lbs.; pies, 1,250.

Supper: Rolled oats, 160 lbs.; syrup, 50 gallons; biscuit, 1,100 lbs.; bread, 400 lbs.; butterine, 175 lbs.; cheese, 350 lbs.; tea, 35 lbs.

Another domestic establishment of interest is the laundry, an extensive brick structure in which the year's washing reaches the astonishing number of 2,250,000 articles. The work is done by steam. The machinery is of

the latest improvement.

Giving only a passing glance to the long row of barracks where the soldiers are housed, some not too comfortably, for the reason of too many being obliged to occupy the same room or hall, and the ventilation not being of the best, the visitor passes to the Putnam library, a handsome

structure; then on to the club house, where billiards and games form a delightful pastime for the veterans; the engine rooms and power house, the property buildings, etc., and finally arrives at the hospital, an immense structure surrounded by many smaller ones, all occupied by sick men, who are administered to by white-capped and neatly-gowned nurses and a staff of physicians under the directorship of Dr. Hoffman. This hospital was the first permanent structure erected at the home, and in 1888 an annex was built, the enlargement being made necessary to meet the constantly increasing demand for accommodating strictly hospital cases. The bed capacity of the hospital is about eight hundred.

Conspicuous in the central group of buildings is the chapel, a handsome edifice, built of stone, in the gothic style of architecture. It has a clock tower and spire, and is almost entirely

covered by an abundant growth of American ivy, making it quite picturesque. Catholics and Protestants alike worship in this chapel, the Protestants occupying the auditorium. and the Catholics the basement. However, as the basement has become entirely too small and uncomfortable for the congregation of Catholic soldiers an additional chapel is now being completed for their use and will be ready for occupancy some time after Easter. This scheme will facilitate matters greatly and will be eminently satisfactory to Catholics and Protestants alike. At this home there are some 1,800 born Catholics, and although all of these do not attend. to their religious duties, a very large number do, and it is quite edifying to the visitor to see the devotion of these battle-scarred veterans. Enter the Catholic chapel when you will during the day, and you will find a number there saying their beads and making