Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-07-12
TALKING ABOUT CAMP.
National Guardsmen Getting Ready
to Tent Out.
THE GROUND ALL ADY.


Notes From The Armeries.
n ATIONAL GUARDSMEN in Gen. Ord
INN ways brigade use up most of their
HIWk spare time just now in talking about
A the annual encampment so near at
W. hand. With the comrades who camped
with them las: year they lay plans for an
improved condition Of affairs this time, and the
new recruit they regale with stories--probable
and improbabIe-of alleged experiences at
Fort Washington last July. OF one thing every
man can be sure: whether il rains in torrents or
Is hotter than Chicago, nothing has been left
undone that can be regarded as essential to
military happiness; the camp cannot pos
slbiy fail of success. Gen. Ordway is giving o
great deal of time and attention to the pre-
hminaries and % are number of the more
active officers. Parties go down three or four
times week and all the improvements are
made under careful supervision. There is
nardiy place where some Improvement has
not been made and to enumerate one-half of
the ways IL which things have been bettered
would be good deal of a job. The first thing
10 strike the average visitor-and If il happens
TO be raining it will strike the av. quite favor
aoiy-is the sidewalk. When il rains that walk
VIII be the dryest place in camp unless the imi-
oeen busily engaged at the headquarters build
ing. He has succeeded in making the old farm
mouse quite habitable, and in a few days the
adJutant general will take possession of the
downstairs room on the right-hand side of the
doorway, while the opposite apartment will be
sacred to the uses of the post auartermaster
headquarters tents will be pitched much
nearer the building than they were last year.
All the old outbuildings have been removed
ana the tendency seems to be toward central
Zing the camp. So far as the cavalry and
artillery are concerned the Capitalization will
not amount to much. 1t had been proposed to
move those two commands down to the ground
which was occupied last year by the seventh
and eighth battalions, but ii has been finally
oecidea to leave things just as they were so far
as the relative situations are concerned. Ready
for the prancing steeds that are now eating the
oats OF ldleness in private and livery stables
are the newly constructed sheds. Beneath the
shelter OF these substantial structures the troop
horse or the drivers favorite profanity-pro-
xoker VIII defy the sunshine and the storm.
The managers and feed boxes are all ready. and
SO are the flies. The latter have been waiting
around ever since the stables were located.
THE CoMMIssARY.
Down in the fort, where Commissary Ser
geant Neumeyer has been the monarch regnant
for the past few weeks, matters are in very
good shape The new buildings are up and
have been adorned with a suficiency Of white
wash. The biggest of these frame structures
is 100 feet long, to be used as a sort of auxiliary
kitchen. Here the six 90 gallon cauldrons will
assist materially in the brewing of coffee and
the cooking of soup. The cauIdrons will only
occupy one-hah of the available space. and it
has been decided to use the remaining fifty
feet as place in which to wash and store the
dishes. South of the old mess sheds a new
shelter has been erected for the guardsmen
who by reason Of duties will find it Impossible
to be on hand at the regular meals. All the
ranges have been reset and the chances Of such
a confagration as WAS threatened last year are
much smaller and less numerous than they
were. In this connection it may not be amiss
to state that q portable fire extinguisher may
make its appearance at the fort before opera
tons commence. There is q good deal of in
hammable material inside the fort and the gen.
eral does not propose to take more chances
than he has to. This is a good opportunity for
some fre-extinguisher company TO come to the
front and receive a big advertisement for dis
playing its goods and having them in readiness
for q possible contingency. On Monday the
big water tanks, the capacity of which is 200
gallons, will be placed in position. The re-
frigerator-one Of the old bomb-proofs-is
twice as large as IL was last year. 1t will call
for two tons of ice each day, and it will get it.
Breakfast and dinner will be served in the
mess sheds, but, as was announced in The
STAR some time ago, the luncheon supper will
be distributed around camp. Each company
q
master will also furnish each with a sandwich
box. These utensils will not be interchange
able, but will be decorated with the company's
designation. When supper time is near at
hand two large two-horse wagons will make the
rounds. One wagon will be occupied by coffee
in liquid and more or less torrid condition:
the other vehicle will be loaded with sand
witches. non-cOmmssioned officer of each
company will receive his company bucket. con-
tanning one pint Of coffee for each officer and
I'D II
box, and in this, II there has been fair count
and no intimidation, will be found two able
bodied sandwiches for each blue coat in the
company. This informal sort of a meal will
enable the soldiers to pay some attention to
relatives and friends that may have gone down
rade. A supper served in the fort would keep
the dear girls and their beaus apart for an un-
reasonably long period.
Incidentally it may be mentioned that any
body whose appetite rises above his rations
will be able to nil his stomach without having
to go to River View; the general and the geu.
orally hungry. public may also get some of it
for consideration. The long building in
which there was variety store last year will be
looked after this year by Mr.. I. A. Sullivan,
who for SO many years was with Godfrey. MIR.
which may exist tor sandwiches, coffee, milk.
pie, clam chowder, fried chicken, chicken
broth, roast beef, vegetables, soda water ice
cream and other articles of food or drink and
Mr.. Sullivan will endeavor to carry out his con-
tract without doing his utmost to accumulate q
fortune In six or seven days.
THE STEWARD.
Reassuringly interesting to good many of
the guardsmen it may be to announce that the
services Of Mr.. ]. Smith Wormley have been
secured as steward Mr.. WormIey will have
control, under the commissary department. of
the battalion of cooks and walters whose bust
ness and delight it will be to prepare and
serve food for the brigade whose emblem is
inseparabIy connected with the personal his
tory Of the gentleman whose bones are locked
up in q diminutive and inexpensive brick shed
just across the Potomac from Fort Washington
and to visit which costs as much money as
would buy four bottles Of apolinaris water.
TIE RIFLE RANGE.
Work on the rife range is pretty we'll ad-
vanced in spite Of the numerous and hardly-to-
be-appreciated difficulties that were in the path
of improvement The difficulties under which
men iabor down in that ravine orc hardt,, a.