Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-04-30

Up went the WINDOW Hcau.
All. ah, my fine fellow, III teach you
to laugh on the other side Of Your mouth"
the colonel ruarcd Mr. Murdaunt, let
the regiment be ready, in full marching
order in half an hour
Full marching order, at in the morn
Ing with the Thermometer At ten degrees
below zer" and snow foot deep ON the
ground, In two minutes that barrack
might, with reason. have been hkenrd To
pandrmunium, such CursinG, such
swearing, in truth, in the space of five
short minutes You might have heard rs
great variety of Oaihs aS would have
served TO fll this volume: such "A hasty
backing of boots. such a polishing Of hel-
NETS such gr0anIugs over sulled gloves
and faCngS, which there was no time to
clean, such n hurrylnE. such scamper-
ing Of ordrrIleS To- apprI>e the married Uth-
GERS living in the town, snCh ruU>ing Of
whole streets To find the married men
living ont Of barracks such a grooming
and stamping. and kicking Of sleepy,
frightened horses, such pIunglng and
slipping and uriGhIuE, until, at last, theT
were ready to start
All through the town, Such a flinCiug
up Of windows. such thrusting out of
sleepy heads to know if an enemy had sud
denly invaded the country. such wonder
as the loud strains of Aud Lang Syne"
and The girl left behind me rang out
upon the frosty air: such bitter tears OF
sweet. little modest maidrnS. who did not
like to appear en- demi toilette, and made
sure the brave Eighth were off for active
service at least. such hurried mental foot
NJ up of unpaid bills
Then out int the country! RnuSing the
inhabitants Of village after village. and
making them wonder if The queen WAS
dead that the soldiers made "a much fuss
One. two, three. four, five. siY, seven long,
slippery. dismal. miserable miles by IA
round which brought them back through
the town again, where the worst WAS To
come \ good mile from the town clouds
quickly drifIed across the moon, and the
snow began to fall again in heavy, blind
ing wreaths. several horses suddenly be
come utterly unmanageable and frantic,
laShing out every minute when they were
not stumbling. aud stumbling when they
were not kicking. one fell, breaking his
riders leg III two places IN the 1all
second came down a couple Of hundred
yards farther on smashing fOre-leg hOrrl-
bly,; third ran hIs head bang against
lamp post, tumhling over as dead As
door nail: at which another terrified ami
NAL made a clean bolt of il. and tried To
lump a house. with the result OF turning
somersault and landing in the gutter with
a broken back, jerking his rider off. with,
happily. no more serious injury than a
couple of broken ribs.
1t was CHASTITY nights work. and truly
morning light rose upon CHASTITY sight
Three gallant chargers lay stretched stitf
and stark upon the tramp!ed, blood
stained road. two hospital cots were tilled
that before had been empty, anger and
disgust WAS on every face, well nigh rebel
hon and mutiny i'll every heart
Among it all Col CrevecPur stalked,
grim. silent, vigilant. like an aVenging
spirit--a mighty big spirit for such very
trivial misdcmeanOr.
In due course the story was waited to
headquarters. with what effect never
transplred The dignity and the authority
OF a commadlnE officer must be kept up,
of course: yet many in the regiment sus-
pected that when not many weeks later
Mai ForIa was CaZetted To
the command of the regiment,
vice Thomas CreveCPur, resigned. the re
tirement had been politely compulsory.
So he passed ont of the regiment which
he had ruled SO long with a rod Of iron,
and with him-with one eeNcepti0n-passed
away the last Of the old race of martinets.
j 5. Winter.