, 1864-02-27
WRITTEN FOR THE STATESMAN. I

Sergeant BILLINGS says:
| hear great many men talking about
soldiers and soldering, and not many eve
nings since overheard pair of unique indi-
viduals, if it be lawful to call them such.
At all events they were representatives of
that species of which the old Grecian Phios-
ophers classed under the head of "Bipeds
without feathers" They were canvassing
Uncle Abe's affairs in general. And having
no disposition to play the part of caves
dropper, yet could not refrain from breach
of the rules eff etiquette upon this one occa-
sion, as my curiosity overcame my better
Judgment. And true to the old adage,
Gan eavesdropper seldom hears any good of
himself" The conversation soon turned
upon soldiers; No. l, remarking that the sol
diers upon this coast fare but poorly, and
dine rather sparingly upon Greenbacks, at
the insignificant sum of thirteen dollars per
month, and even that deprecated almost
one-half in value when exchanged for coin,
and for one, he advocated the paying of. sol
ders in coin, and Government contractors
in Greenbacks. Believe me, sir could
scarcely refrain from going right up and
embracing the aforesaid individual and ex-
claiming from the very depth of my soul,
Thou art worthy of soldiers regard, and
would to God thou vert Paymaster
No l, may Heaven help thee and light
up thy path and ever preserve thee from a
soldiers fate-Greenbacks- the prayer of
Billings.
But, No. 2, you would do we'll to keep in
the dark "for that awful day Of reckoning
will surely Gomez" for, mind you, Billings
has you spotted and is nursing his wrath
against you, and will serve you a Ia Heenan;
yea, even worse than King served Heenan--
will give you a good sound drubbing, will
punch your snout, mash your mug and spoil
your phiz.
He, No 2, says that Greenbacks are good
enough for soldiers, as the most of them to
his certain knowledge, never had cent in
their lives until they come into the army
and now are only bumming their living off
Uncle Sam at the peoples expense, and the
best thing the poor fellows could do would
be to reenlst and take the bounty.
Now I say, in defense of myself and ex-
honerative Of my bumming my living off
Uncle Sam, that at the time of enliisting
[ was engaged in carrying on business at a
certain well known town not one thousand
miles from Walla Walla, as a contractor. I
had taken a contract from the city fathers
for the delivery of some four hundred loads
of gravel for the purpose of filing an obstruc-
ton in one of the back streets of said town
Perhaps you would like to know what [
was to get, load; that, however, is my
business and not yours. So you see from
this that l was man of business Well,
the Billings family always were proverbial
for their energy, and it was remarked by ev-
cry one who knew the family, "What smart
fellows those Billings boys are" But one
of them got caught at last. That was me.
AS l was at no expense in pulling my con-
tract my prospects were most fattering in
deed. My means of transportation con-
sisted of myself, one wheelbarrow and bro
ken spade, and on the third morning after l
had commenced my winters job q say win
ters job, because as before said, being of re-
markably smart family, [ desired to make
the job spin out over winter, thus securing
to myself my winters grub as 1 went mer-
rily on at my work, soliloquizing, thus =
"What nice surprise [ would make the
Billings family when [ got my cash for the
contract-not Greenbacks, but coin. How
| would make the weather beaten heart of