St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-08-08
Girls Hire Soldiers for Es-
corts--Col. Maitland Now
in Disgrace.

ing soon after dawn in st. James Park.
every American woman will take SYM
pathetic interest. There is hardly any
thing comparable to it in contem pOra-
neouS history. When our brave lads
answered the call for troops and
marched away to the war, leaving sor-
rowing wives, sisters and sweetheartS
behind, it was in answer to the call Of
duty. There was something worth MAX
ing a sacrifice for. SO here, six years
ago. when the British troops started for
the Soudan. The soldier boys answered
the call of their country with brave
| hearts, buoyed by the hope of promo
ton and possible glory.
How different the situation in this
case! The second battalion of the
Grenadier guards-men picked from the
flower of the British army--have been
fairly drummed out of town at three
days notice, their homes broken up,
their wives and children left penniless,
simply because a grOuty and equity
commander-in-chief, who knows little
or nothing of the SOrrOWS and SufferlngS
of the poor, chose to make it a point of
discipline to send them away. The
duke of Cambridge, after his whitening
rebuke to the battalion Monday, has
certainly made as big an example as he
possibly could OF somebody.
How Gordon Did 1t.
There is story told of Chinese Cor
don, one of the most striking which
centers in his romantic personality.
While he was in China there was some
mutiny in the army over bad rationS or
stopped pay. 1t was Gordon'S duty to
crush that mutiny, and this, as he used
to tell the story himself, is how he did
it. He had the men drawn up and went
and stood few PAGES i'll front of them.
At his elbow were half a dozen truSty
fellows with loaded rifles. ''Now,"
he said, ''you must have some
leaders; let them stand out
and Pll speak to them" There
was a moments pause. Come. fall
outr' said Gordon again. in a cool,
everyday voice, as if he were ordering
dinner. The men looked at one an
other and stirred in their places as his
keen eye ran along the ranks. Then
two men stepped forward. Gordon
quietly gave signal to his half-dozen
men with loaded rifles. and the next
moment the two ringleaders were shot
dead. SO ended the mutiny. But
always think" Gordon used to say.
meditatively, after telling the story, Il
always think l murdered those men,"
The greatest mystery just now is the
case of Col. Maitland. He has been or
dered on half pay, and will undoubtedly
before long be gazetted from the serv-
ice. His disgrace is complete. He re-
fuses to re sign, but demands court
martial.
A Dollar for a Beau.
When American visitors to London
are told that servant girls pay British
soldiers SO much a Sunday-ranging
from rs cents to 81, according to rank
to walk out with them for the day,
drinks included, they are inclined to
seoff. Nevertheless this is per-
fectly true. There are hun
in the London boarding houses, inns
and hotels who are perfectly willing to
work their fingers to the bone week
after week If they can only manage to
save enough to pay their pet soldier for
his Sunday out and march him across
the common in Hyde Park, the admira-
ton and envy of numberless other little
''slaveys" who have not been so fOrtu-
nate. The girls go down in shoals in
front of Wellington Barracks Sunday,
when the soldiers came out for parade,
select their men, and arrange
with them for days escort
on a purely commercial basis. AS
rule this means nothing i'm
moral. The servant girl simply hires
the smart-looking soldier with his
cane to parade her about the park from
2 in the afternoon till at night, and see
her safely to her mistress door. 1t is,
OH much lower scale of course, the
blind idolatry of something in uniform
which we see at West Point when girls
congregate there every June to see the
cadets graduate. Before you laugh at
the idea of an abIe-bodied man degrad-
ing himself in this way to earn shil-
ling or two, reflect that the private in
the British army has to live land some
times support wife and children on 26
cents day. If he is lucky enough to
be corporal he gets 50 cents day.
day to get what he calls luxurIes, but
witch most of us consider necessities
sugar. soap, butter, etc.
But in many cases the soldiers get
into intimate relations with the girls,
marry them with or without leave, or
have children by them on promise of
marriage when Leave can be obtai ned.
AS has been said, men who marry
without leave cannot take their
wives and children abroad with
them, so that in event of
foreign SeTVlce Tic WIVES are leIL III Il
really worse condition than single girls
who can get employment elsewhere and
find balm for their wounded hearts as
best they may. Imagine. then, the
heart-breaking CONSERVATION among
several hundred of these soldiers wives
and maids when the order came for the
guards to embark for foreign lands on a
few hours notice. There was no time
for officers or men to make any arrange
ments. Everything was done in a
hurry.
The Scene at Parting.
Probably fearing some disturbance in
the streets, it was directed that the men
should leave the barracks at 5 O'Clock in
the morning. Before half London real
lied what had happened they were OIL
the ship at Chatham. But at O'clock
Yesterday morning the scene around the
military barracks in st. James park
was indeScribable. Scores of women
with babies at their breasts and small
children clingIng to their skirts-all of
them mothers, but very few OF
them wives-rushed about with the
crowd in wild despair, looking for the
husband or lover soon to be ban
ished from them. A large proportion of |
the tremendous crowd in the park even !
at that early hour was made up of !
women and children in this unfortunate |
situation. '.Slaveys" in tears were
there by the hundred. Mingling with |
them. in strange incongruity, were |
young men in evening dress, half tipsy |
from an overnight's earousal at the |
club. aud who had come down to bid |
farewell to friends and relatives among |
the officers. 1t was scene which those
who saw it are not likely to forget. 1t |