generals had elected to fight in such surroundings through an
inexcusable striving after theatrical effect--as though they wished
to furnish the war correspondents with a chance for descriptive
writing. With the horrors of war as horrible as they are without any
aid from these contrasts, their presence always seemed not only
sinful but bad art; as unnecessary as turning a red light on the
dying gladiator.

There are so many places which are scenes set apart for battles--
places that look as though Nature had condemned them for just such
sacrifices. Colenso, with its bare kopjes and great stretch of
veldt, is one of these, and so, also, is Spion Kop, and, in
Manchuria, Nan Shan Hill. The photographs have made all of us
familiar with the vast, desolate approaches to Port Arthur. These
are among the waste places of the earth--barren, deserted, fit
meeting grounds only for men whose object in life for the moment is
to kill men. Were you shown over one of these places, and told, "A
battle was fought here," you would answer, "Why, of course!"

But down in Cuba, outside of Santiago, where the United States army
fought its solitary and modest battle with Spain, you might many
times pass by San Juan Hill and think of it, if you thought of it at
all, as only a pretty site for a bungalow, as a place obviously
intended for orchards and gardens.

On July 1st, twelve years ago, when the American army came upon it
out of the jungle the place wore a partial disguise. It still was an
irregular ridge of smiling, sunny hills with fat, comfortable curves,
and in some places a steep, straight front. But above the steepest,
highest front frowned an aggressive block-house, and on all the