Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1890-08-15
a MEXICAN MARCH.
In Our Sister Republic Soldiers Have TO
Toll Hard to Earn Their Pay.

In Our sister hepuDhc ~
Toll Hard to Earn Their Pay.
In the Mexican service, as in our own,
the garrisons throughout the country
are changed in due order from post to
post so that the soldiers life is pretty
evenly divided between the hard places
and the easy ones Even the hard
places, however, in some respects are
not so hard as those to which our own
troops are accustomed; for Mexican
garrisons are maintained not in desolate
frontier forts, but for the most part In
fairly good barracks in cities and towns.
When Indian campaigning is in order,
the field force is detached from the
nearest available point; and when the
campaign is ended, the troops come
back to civilization again. On the
other hand, the Mexican soldier
is fed mainly upon beans and
Indian corn; his bed in barracks usual
" is his allotted place on the floor,
where he sleeps rolled up in his blank
ct; and on the march-since the army
practically is destitute of baggage
train-he has to carry the whole Of his
kit in addition to his arms.
The lack of baggage train is felt
with especial severity when regiment
is transferred to new post, for the SOL
der then has to choose between sacrl-
ficing what few belongings he has
gathered about him, and carrying them
with him on his own back. Fortunate
ly for his comfort in this situation-his
pay being small and his fondness for
gambling large-he is not often heavily
laden with personal property; but his
lading of arms, accoutrements and mess
properties usually gives him about as
much of load as he can very well dis
pose Of.
Sometimes the regimental band plays
LA Golondrina"-which is the nearest
equivalent in Mexican popular music to
"Home Sweet Home!" as the men tile
out from their quarters, form in column,
and set off to the new station to which
they have been assigned. But this
touch of the musical proprieties is less
often added than omitted. AS rule,
the regiment just walks away; the men
the streets of the city which they were
leaving; and then, being fairly out on
the highway, going along with ragged
files and pretty much as they please.
Their service uniforms-an admirably
sensible dress, consisting of blouse and
trousers of brown linen, linen-covered
caps, and sandals-are not especially
soldier-like, according to our notions;
but to this light rig they unquestionably
owe in part their extraordinary capac-
ity to withstand fatigue.
Marching on the Mexican plateau is
a severe strain upon both muscles and
nerves. Unless some especial purpose
is to be served, garrisons are shifted in
the dry season, when the roads are
ankle-deep with dust, and when the sun
beats down, hot and strong, from re-
lentless clear sky, and casts upon every
thing binding glare. 1t is the way
of roads in Mexico, especially in the
Northern States, to seem interminable
One low ridge of rocky hills is assembled,
and from its crest another like ridge is
seen half dozen miles away across an
arid valley, over which the waves Of
heat simmer and undulate, and
in which the only vegetation
Gf so cheerful word may
be used to describe such brown
and yellow bleakness) is thorny cactus
tufts OF Spanish-bayonet, and few dis.
torted and scraggly pita palms-a des
II tho+
natural and unreal
All day long, saving only the hot halt
at noon, the march continues through
this utter dreariness, oppressed by
blighting sunlight, the head OF the col
umn where the officer in command
rides with plucky erectness) raising a
cloud of dust that grows thicker and
HEAVIER with each successive file, until
the rear guard literally is lost in its
dark density. The smaller streams
and many of the larger ones are
dried up. and draught of fresh
water by-the-way is Joy impossi-
BILE; the water in the canteens grows
hot in the fiery rays of the sun, and
never anywhere is there so much as a
hands Of shade. And yet such
is the power Of endurance that these
wiry Mexican soldiers posses, the men
rarely become exhausted by the way;
and at night, when a halt is made at
some little town or at some hacienda
where water can be obtained, and when
the cool delicious wind sweeps down re-
freshingly from the hills, they are as
lively, and go at their rations Of JryOIeS
and tortilEdS with as much zest as though
their eight or ten hours of toiling
through heat and dust had been no
more than a pdseo-an agreeable stroll
-Harper's Weekly.