St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-01-14
ABE HALE'S BONE PARTY.
TBy Lieut.. W. A. Curtis. ]

All was still in the Gascoigne Military
academy. The evening cali to quarters
had sounded, and the cadets were in
their rooms, presumably studying; at
all events, they were quiet, and for this
the officer in charge was profoundly
grateful.
1t had been day of turbulence. AL
though it was the weekly holiday, so
many cadets had been confined to the
school limits for bad conduct and bad
lessons that the officer in charge and
his cadet assistants, consisting of the
officer of the day, colloquialIy called
80. d." the sergeant and the corporal
of the guard, found their hands more
than full in preserving order.
Every walk was occupied by culprlt.
"walking beat" for punishment, and
the four cells of the guard house were
occupied by four prisoners i'll solitary
confinement.
Every hour of the day the little cor
poral of the guard, who was OH his hrst
tour OF duty. had been frantically rush
ing about the grounds in response to
calls, Corporal of the guard, No, s, NO.
T." and many other numbers, only TO be
assured by mo. S." mo. A. and the
other numerals that they had not called
him, and had heard no one call him.
Every hour of the day the officer of
the day had complained that his author
ity had failed to command respect.
He had discovered the inmates OF the
guardiouse with contraband tobacco in
their possession; this had been conveyed
to them in some mysterious way through
the bars of the small window seven feet
from the floor.
Al length he had to report that one
prisoner, instead of sitting in darkness
and crashing his teeth. had managed
to climb up to the windows and was
cheerfully surveying the scenery With
out.
Major, major" said the officer of the
day deSpairingly to the commandant.
what are you going to do with that boy
Dobbs? He has climbed up TO the Will
dow and is lookin' out, aswearln' and
a-cussin' and havin' great time"
In silent majesty and wrath the COM
mandant visited the guard house with
gun stick.
When military punishments failed at
the Gascoigne academy the rod was re-
sorted to.
| will not harrow your feelings with
an account Of how the great time" of
the gaysome William Henry DobDs was
abruptly turned into an occasion OF
agony and sorrow.
1t was at the close Of such day as
this that young Instructor Campbell sat
alone in his room.
Each member of the faculty served in
torn as officer in charge, having super
vision of all school routine during his
tour of duty. A cadet officer OF the day.
| two nOn-commissioned officers of the
guard and number of useless sentinels
were supposed to assist the officer III
charge in the preservation of order.
The officers and non-comniSSlOned
officers could sometimes be relied upon;
but the sentinels discharged their duties
! with more satisfaction to the cadets
| than to the faculty.
Excepting Campbell. ali the members
of the faculty had gone to the perform
ance of theatrical troupe playing a
| weeks engagement in the village.
You must be ready torush out of the
| building at any moment, Campbell, for
| those boys are liable to tip it over to-
night" had been the parting injunction
| of the teachers.
Campbell needed no warning to make
him anticipate disturbance.
The end of tie school year was ap-
preaching, and the school grew more
| ulSOlueIlN 6NcIS udS. ~ ll5iNt anu ihi
partial disciplnarian, he was disllked
by the unruly element, particularly by
| those cadets who, by currylng favor
| with officers and teachers, often eS-
| capped reports aud punishments.
lie knew that tonight would be an
| excellent opportunity for the cadets to
serve him out"
| He was the only teacher in the build
| ing. At every moment he expected to
| hear the crash of volley OF rocks, or
| the opening note of grand symphony
| of yels, screams, roars and groans; yet
| time slipped by and all was still.
The tough third floor Of the acad-
| envy building was Inhabited by num-
Der of youths whose interest in rolling
! up dement's was in inverse ratio to their
| industry in studies.
They were of that class found in every
military school-boys who, not being
able to get along at home. are sent to
| military school to be reformed.
All the evening through forms had
been fitting silently about the passage
| way from room to room on that floor,
until at length nearly all of the boys
| had gathered in Abe Hale's room, the
big room under the tower.
"Jonesy," the little corporal sitting in
| the passage on guard, ventured feeble
remonstrance to this violation of para
graph 40. But upon being assured by
several stalwart privates that they
would beat his head in'' il he reported
them. he ceased to interfere.
Il tell you what it is, boys" said Abe
! Hale to the asSembage in his room,
"that man Campbell must be made to
| understand that the fellerS don't want
| him here. | wrote him a letter signed
Shocks two days ago tellin' him the
boys wished he would clear out.
"NoW / propose that tonight we give
him rock party'-a good one--none of
your fzz!es like we had last term.
1--WE can stand out on the fire escape
of the left wing and throw rocks through
his window slick. We want to have
somebody turn off the electric light
head at the power house, and then We'll
give Campbell hint of how we feel"
81 don't like to throw rocks. It's dam
gerous," SAID a tall creole, Frenchy LIE
Maitre. Lets throw wood"
"Where you goin' to get any wood?
There isn't wood pile about yere,"
said Abe HaleA
II can tell you what to throw" piped
I'D little Blackburn, the smallest boy in
the crowd. Throw bones. They will
make noise and won't hurt anything"
"Bones? Where are you goin' to get
bones? Skinny ByefS is the only bones
about we're. Coin to throw hinI?" asked
Bob Dawson.
mo, sir. Me and Jim Bushrod were
out walkin' over yonder. on the flats,
where the river rose this spring, and
we came on place where the water
had washed out spot where old Judge
Gascolgne used to bury tie horses that
died on his stock farm. Leastways, I
reckon that's what it was, for there
were lots of bones there. It's just down
below the old mill. We can get bushels
Of 'em yere in no time at all"
| The bone proposition took the fancy
of the gathering. There certainly was
less danger of injuring any one in
| throwing bones. and they would make
lust as much noise and break Just as
Gu Guided de by by Blackburn. the band stole
out of the building and took its way to
the long-deserted stock farm ON the
river flats. The night was not dark, and