Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1894-11-29


THE SOLDIER ARTIST RESUMED HIS SEAT.
department to the commanding officer
advised him that Mr.. Alfred Talbot
Vandever, a recent graduate from West
Point, had been commissioned second
lieutenant and assigned to B troop,
Sixth cavalry, then stationed at Fort
Craig. Lieut.. Vandever was coming
under orders to report to Col. Sanford
for duty.
At a border military post the officers
and their families live in a little world
of their own. The social circle at one
of these remote garrisons may best be
described as military family, the
members of which are drawn into
close relationship by isolation from the
great busy world to the eastward.
Within the limits of this circle the
strongest ties of friendship are formed,
and the frequent social parties which
serve as oases to break the monotony
in the desert of garrison life seem more
as family gatherings than fashionable
affairs. A brotherly and sisterly feel
ing exists among the officers and ladies
whose lot is cast SO far away from the
borders of civilization, and when by
that immovable decree, a military
order, an officer is transferred to dis
tdnt post the departure of himself and
family, if he be married, creates
break in the family circle which is as
sincerely mourned as would be the de-
parture for a far distant point of
member of home circle in private life.
The remaining members of military
family suffer sense of bereavement
which can scarcely be conceived by
those not familiar with garrison life,
and the departure of member is as
sincerely mourned as If bound to those
to whom he bids an indefinite farewell
by ties of blood.
A prospective addition to the militia
ry family is always matter of much
comment. When the accession is to
be that of an officer of more or less
service in the field, his coming is
looked forward to with great pleasure,
for in almost, if not quite, every in
stance he will be known to some of
the officers at the post. In some of the
labyrinthine movements of the great
army machine they have been thrown
together at different posts, then sepa-
rated by the official order and sent,
unmurmuring, to meet the exigencies
Of the service at widely separated
points When it is announced at
post that Capt. and Mrs. Sinclair
are to be stationed there, those who
have never met the expected arrivals
are enlightened as to their personal
appearance, traits of character and so
cial attainments by those who have
been with them at other posts, and the
officer and his lady are received with as
warm recognition by those who have
never before seen them as by their
friends of old.
But it is different when the an
nouncement is made that newly Gre
ated officer will soon knock for admis-
sion into the garrison family. He will
come as stranger to all. Those otfi-
GERS who themselves in turn stepped
from the door of the academy at West
Point into the field of active service as
the expected newcomer Is about to do,
are well aware of the mild form of
torture which awaits them. They
know that Mr. Graduate will burst
upon their vision clad in natty attire
which the purifying breezes have not
yet had time to purge of the odor of
the tailor shop. He will not have been
in the garrison a day ere his trunks
will have been emptied of their con-
tents, and the love trophies they con-
tain exhibited to the seemingly patient
group who sit meel1ly listening to the
pretty young man as he boasts of his
conquests in the rosy field of love.
They will smile serenely as his velvety
tongue purls on, and the tine-dimmed
canvas of their own memory bright
ems and presents for their edification
the day when they, too, came gliding
into the service arena in the same state
of innocent insanity. They will not
tell him so in words, but will mentally
say to him:
"a sad case, a very sad case, my dear
boy, but you will get over it. Just a
little campaigning, little of the hard
ship incident to border military life
will wear the academy glitter from
you, and you will develop in time into
man of more sturdy mold whose as
pirations will crave something more
substantial than the melody of soft
ly sung love ditty or the giggling smile
of n simpering schoolgirl. Those
withered bouquets bearing the distin-
gushing names of Rose and Blanche
and Agnes and Katie and other fair
uniform worshipers now SO precious to
you, will soon find lodgment in the
coal scuttle; those daintily perfumed
notes will go upward in the smoke of
the CRATE; the oft-kissed photos will lie
neglected in your trunk in the store
room. and the memory of the dear but
terfies who cared little for you, but
who loved to nuttsr around your gray
uniform and hurl glances of defiance at
pouting rivals, will be but as hazy
dream, which you will not in your ma
turer sense care for memory toproduce
in too strong coloring. You will not
be so fastidious in dressing for the sad
die and the field as you were in dress
ing for the ballroom, or to keep an ap-
pointment with the latest plump
quail who had fallen a victim to your
military air and brass buttons. Enjoy
your trophies while you may, my boy,
for stern duty will soon bid you shake
off the aspect of the beau and don the
more earnest air of the soldier"
Lieut. Vandever came, and was at
once located in bachelor quarters and
listed for duty. Capt. and Mrs. Colby, |
as the oldest in point of resideuge