Daily Texarkana Democrat., 1893-11-17
TROOPS UNDER FIRE.
Various and Peculiar Ways of Keep
ing Up a Soldiers Courage.

various ana Feculldf ways VI Ro0P
ing Up Soldiers Courage.
The following vivid pen) picture
of men preparing for battle and their
different ways of preserving an out
ward calm and inward fearlessmen,
drawn by the pen of a master hand,
reads thus:
Gray and Blue; A comrade near
me is busily engaged in reading his
Testament. This is popularity of
his. Just before we were going into
the fight before this one, we were
marching along, when the advance
found the enemy, and skirmishing be-
gan. We were drawn up by the side
of the road in readiness to go prompts
ly whenever and wherever we might
be wanted; and there we waited as the
fire grew hot and hotter, AS soon as
there was a possibility that we might
be called upon, | saw him reading his
Testament He reads it now, under
like circumstances, because he finds
some consolation in it, and it takes
his mind from what is going on
around him-from what is before
him. He is better soldier for this.
When the time comes for action he is
as brave as any ono. He knows the
danger, but has the courage to face it;
and this is his way of keeping up his
courage until the excitement of action
destroys all thought of danger. Other
men have other ways Of doing this.
Here is the captain. He is little
apatt fromthe others; is saying moth
ing; but is apparently thinking deep
ly, and is industrioQsly whiting
twigs, which he puts in his mouth as
if they were toothpicks, throwing one
away every momentto put in a new
one. Here is another comrade who
has no desire for conversation; whose
thoughts are evidently far away. He
is busy picking up twigs and breaking
them into bits. Like the captain, he
is keeping his fingers busy as u relief
to his thoughts--as balm for ner-
vousness. Here is man whose face
is "white as q sheet.n lie is afraid,
but not more so than those around
him. He knows that he may be killed
at any moment, but he is possessed of
that higher kind of courage which
enables him to go calmly wherever
duty calls, or to meet any danger no.
bly, which may lie in the path Of duty.
Here is one who shows no sign of
anxiety or of fear, but he is no more
brave than the others When we first
took this position he was very sick,
but is now ready for any duty. The
excitement or ihe dread was too much
for him at first, and "went to his
stomach" but that is over 1t was
only physical, to be sure, but the cause
was mental, and the removal Of the
physical disturbance has relieved the
mental cause. This internal disturb
ance is no uncommon thing under the
first excitement of going into battle,
and ofttimes in these circumstances
the soldier fears that he is going to
prove to be coward; but this feeling
overcome, he is as brave as he could
wish. Another cUmrade is reading a
letter--the last one received-and he
is well aware that 1t may be the last
one he will receive All, well we
know where his thoughts are; and we
sympathise with him, for -are our
thoughts not all on our homes and
the loved ones there? Every man
here understands to the fullest extent
the danger he is in, but he is brave
enough to remain here; to 20 further
if need be, for country and flag, and
yet just now his thoughts are with the
loved ones: and from many q heart
goes up silent prayer for Gods bless
ing upon them, no matter what may
happen to him. His thoughts are for
their happiness, not for his own well
fare. Thus in various ways do the
comrades show their peculiarities un-
der the terrible artillery Gre. Some are
trying to keep their thoughte busy by
conversation, some are joking, some
silently smoking, some are in deep
meditation.
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