Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1874-04-15

At midday the fort adjutant repaired
to the regimental mess for tlffin, and
here he met the barrack master, to
whom he loosely remarked, 3" Halloa,
old fellow what the deuce do you want
with two brass cocks %
"Who the devil says wanted two ?"
Indignantly asked the barrack master,
smarting under the delay to which he
had been victim. rs... .....
The fort adjutant's suspicious with
regard to his having mislaid the origi-
nal requisition received confirmation
so he threw up little battery OF official
reese rye, and retired behind it. ra
"Who says want two @ repeated
the barrack master, gallantly storming
| the battery.
"Why, didn't you yourself % asked
the Fort adjutant, with an almost un
conditional surrender.
"No, I didn't" was the reply. CT
sent in requisition for one, and not
hearing anything, I thought you
couldn't have received it; SO [ sent in
second with the same result as the
first then at last I sent in third"
"Well, we've got the first and the
third" said the fort adiutant g and
they're gone on to the general. [ sup
pose the second must have miscarried
altogether"
Now the result of the above CONVEX
sation was that the fort adjutant went
back to the garrison Office, and, finding
that the requisition had not yet been
forwarded, destroyed the first one, the
barrack master returned to his office,
and to prevent mistakes, as he thought,
wrote letter begging to withdraw the
last dated requsition, which letter the
commandment received, next morning,
during the temporary absence OF the
fort adjutant, and sent it on to the dep
uty assistant quartermaster general,
who on receipt thereof, mathematical
the brass cock and cold Barracky for
not knowing his own mind and tore
up the last surviving requisition all
this presenting a very striking instance
of how too many cooks invariably spoil
the broth.
Days, weeks, roll on, and the barrack
master hears nothing of the brass cock.
At last he pens an epistle to the COM
mandant, bitterly complaining of the
commandment, bitterly complaining of
the way in which all his attempts to
procure one of these useful articles
have been frustrated.
"Damme p exclaimed the command
ant; there's this COMPOUNDED brass
cock again"
The fort adjutant giggled. and at last
even the commandment joined III the
laugh.
Gone can't help laughing, you know;
but it's really devilish annoying, that
fellow the barrack master won't do his
work properly. First of all he says he
wants two brass cocks, and then he says
he doesn't want any, and now he says
he always wanted one. Write him a
pretty stiff letter, and ask him what the
| devil he does mean"
On this the fort adjutant sharpened
his pen, and then commenced paper
warfare, which, before the mystery was
cleared up, entailed fearful amount
of ink shed, immortalized the brass
cock throughout the garrison, and oc-
cupied much of the fort adjutant's val
liable time, which might otherwise
have been devoted to the consumption
of full-favored cigars and the develop
ment of a natural talent for the game
of billiards. At last the tangled skein
was unraveled, and the barrack master
was informed that if he now sent his
requisition in due form it would be at
tended to. -.. ....
In it came. The clerks Uttered the
| fort adjutant grinned as he handed it
to the D. A. @. NJ. G., who smiled as
he submitted it to the general, who
frowned, and remarked that great
deal of the public time was being
wasted in the matter, as he handed it
back. to the d. A. @. NJ G., who re-
turned it with "approved written on
it to the commandment, and so on,
through the different channels, until
the barrack master at last found him
self authorized to demand from the
military store department g one brass
cock complete.
Now, this last official, still smarting
under all these delays, was determined
that everything should be done &C
cording to Cocker" so, in form
headed &C Urgent services required to
be performed by the Royal Engineer
Department, he requested the fort
adjutant to request the D. A. Q. M. G..
to move the General to direct the
Commanding Royal Engineer to fix the
brass cock in a water butt. In re-
tired and secluded spot near the sea-
shore, at the back of the military hos
pital, our friend now led quiet and
uneventful life It's duties were light
in the extreme. Often, for days to-
gether, it was not even " turned on "
once, for the water-butt into whose
portly side it was inserted was far from
the busy haunts of man, and out of the
beaten track of hospital orderlies and
coolies.
La this state Of affairs it was not long
before it presented melancholy ap
pearance of dirt and neglect; and it
soon took to itself goodly coat of
verdigris. Yet, even under these dis
advantages, it still retained some pow
ers of fascination, against which the
sordid mind of John Chinaman was not
proof. Neglected and unnoticed by
others, it had not been SO by him. He