Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1861-11-15
A Good Day for ,adulea.

A good story is told Of two Of our soldie,rrs
at Paducah, which will pay H It's space, in
repeating. When our troops Srst receiyed
their teams they were troubled to pr1Sue
forage; so the mules were turned loose or
tethered in the outskirts of the town. Occa-
sionally few would be missing, until Uncle
Sam found himself minus some twenty i've
or shirty.h Those which strayed sway'wese
eatigskiup by the rebel spectators and thlCjh
to Blandvlle, back of Columbus, where tii66y
had accumulated some fifty stolen and pur.
chased animals, which were under some fiyo
or six keepers. The two priyates men Toned
(members Of the Fortieth Illinois VolunteerO
hearing Of the whereabouts Uf Che Btbck.
asked General Smiths permission to attem nt
their recapture, which, with some misaivineS
was granted, The boys dressed in the, ,gSfb
of Kentucky farmers, went and surveyed The
field and fold, and set to work They had
whisky with them-whisky such as Kan.
tucky rebels like to get drunk os,r.-Rood ohl
Bourbon, and the first object was tosnx
them as comfortably tight as possible, which
was not long in being accomplished. Then
the boys went to the mule yard, let down the
bars, mounted two Of tho best, without sad-
die or bride, and started ior hducah, tho
whole lot following at break neck pace, and
braying in. the most diabolical chorus. Tho
keepers were not long in discovering ,,tkb
trick, and gave chase as far as they deemed
prudent towards our lines, but to no pufpdsS:
and in good season Saturday afternoon thb
boys made their appearance at Gen. SmitA8
headquarters to report. their faces beamink
with glow of satisfaction hard to describe
Their report was a condensation OF LAcOu-
ism; so will give the dialogue! "'rsAi
Gen. Smith" Well, boys, what l0cki',,
Soldier" We got 'em, and more too."t
Gen. =" How many did you ect ~
Soldier" Forty, Ireckon, haint counted
'em." -,....., 'rgs
Gen. smith.--..'' But that Il more than wo
have lost. You didn't steal any hope. WI
Soldier" Steal Kristophcr, steaii No,
stree, but you sec we didn't have time 10 but
the bars up after we had got Uncle Saxts
ler.'' .'".a a4! ~, - Ehte75'i 17'T'3li
Then the General drew on m elonRsted
countenance, and as sterhy as though no
had been Judge and wds sentencing s cul-
prit to life time of imprisonment, lecturcd
the soldier roundly for using profane IAN
guage in the quarters Of the general officer.
The soldier took The, lecture uneasily, tkirl-
ing his hat nervously the while, aiild when
the General had subsided' apologized d
follows: 'i"N' ilsi IL fF'aitT 'is,:s
"You see, General, we have had to cuss
the damned things al: day to git 'etn into
camp, and it's mighty hard to quit of Ill Of
a suddenly" Fl. .'f 14"ll HiHsG9
Then the General rigidity relaxed smile
or rather laugh, came up from his heart,
and tried to escape BY The. corners of his
mouth but discipline is discipline with lin
old army officer, and It would not do to n
low such breach Of decorum to pass uni,o-
ticed bnt in consideration Of the recaptufed
25 mules, "and more two" he did not
snfiict any severe castigation or put them
under arrest, but, thanking them for tho
services rendered, dismissed them with .
caution to leave their profanity behind when
they came again to headquarters, and tie
boys left, declaring, as they closed tho door,
that +" such pious old cuss hadn't any bus
iness to be around among sojers." 20 lmsa
4 ar ss~.