Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1894-11-17

GRIMM up there like jew monkey,
you frowzy-headcd Fenian."
"Whcn I'm better nv my various COM
plants III have u little private talkin'
vivid you. In the ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS"
Terence flung an empty mcdicine.bot-
tlc at Orthcris' head and dropped into
q long chair, and Orthcris came to tell
me his opinion of Mulvaney three
times ovcr--cach time entirely varying
all the words.
"Thcrc'll be n smash-up one o. these
days." he concluded. "Wcll, It's no
fault o mine, but it's ard on j COM
pany."
II was very hard on Is company, for
twenty seasoned men cannot push twice
that number of fools into their places
and keep their own places at the same
time. The recruits should have been
more evenly distributed through the
regiment, but II seemed good to the
colonel to mass them IN q company
where there was large proportion of
old soldiers. lie found his reward carly
one morning when the battalion was
advancing by companies In cchelon
from the right. The order was given
to form company squares, which are
compact little bricks of men very I'M
pleasant for n line of charging cavalry
to deal with. u company was on the
left flank. and had ample time to know
what was going on. For that reason,
presumably. it gathered itself into n
thing like n dccayed aloc-clump, the
bayonets pointing anywhere in general
and nowhere in particular; and in that
clump. ROUNDED or mob II stayed till the
dust had gone down and the colonel
could see and speak. He did both, and
the speaking was admitted by the regi.
mcnt to be .he best thing the 'old
man" had ever risen to since one de-
lightful day mt n sham-fght, when q
cavalry division had occasion to walk
over his line of sliirmishcrs. He said.
almost weeping, that he had given no
order for rallying groups, and that he
preferred to see little dressing among
the men occasionally. lie then apollo
gizcd for having mistaken u company
for men. lie said that they were but
little weak children. and since he could
not offer them each n perambulator and
u nurscmaid (this may sound comic to
read, but u company heard 1t by word
Of mouth and winccdl perhaps the
best thing for them to do would be to go
back to squad drill. To that end he
proposed sending them, out Of their
turn, to garrison duty in Fort Amara.
five miles away. Ut may be observed
that u company were next for this de-
tcstable duty and nearly chccrcd the
coloncl.l There he dcvoutly hoped that
their own subalterns would drill them
to death, as they were of no use in their
present life.
II WAS an exceedingly painful scene
and made haste to he near Bcompany
barracks when parade was dismissed
and the men were free to talk. There
was no talking ut first. because each
old soldier took new draft and kicked
him very severely. The non-commis-
stoned officers had neither eyes nor
ears for these accidents. They left the
barracks to themselves. and Ortheris
improved the occasion by n speech. /
did not hear that speech, but fragments
of It were quoted for weeks aftcrward.
II covered the birth, parcntagc and
education of every man in the compa-
ny by name. II gave n complete ac-
count OF Fort Amara from sanitary
and social point of view. and 1t wound
up with an abstract of the whole duty
of q soldier, each recruit. his use in
life. and the speakers views on the
use and fate of the recruits OF u COM
pany.
"iou can't drill, you can't walk. you
can't shoot-you-you awful rockies!
Wot's the good Of you? You eats and
You slecps and You cats. and You goes
to the doctor for medicine when your
innards is out Of order. for all the world
rs II you was bloomin' generals. All,
now. you've topped it all, You bats
eyed bcggars, with getting us druv out
II that stinLin' Fort Ammorcr. Wen
fort you when we get out there.
"Ycs. an we'll 'ammer you, too.
Don't yo,i think you've come into the
harmy to drinl; heno. an eliot you COM
p'ny. an lie on your cots, I'M scratch
your f., hands You can do that ut
home sc,lin' matches. which is all you're
tit for, you l:cb-huntin'. penny-toy.
bootlace baggagc-tout. 'orse-'oldin,'
sandwich sewers, You. torthcris
meant soors, which means pigs). I've
spoke you Us fair as know 'ow, and
you give good 'ccd. cause II Mulvancy
stops sliirmishing-gcts out o hospital
when we're in the fort, lay your lives
will be trouble to YOU"
That was 0rtheris' pcroration, and it
caused II company to be christcncd the
boot black brigade" With this dis
grace on their slack shoulders they
went to garrison duty ut Fort Amara
under three officers vino were instructed
to twist their little tails. The army,
unlike every other profession, cannot
be taught through shilling books. First
n man must suffer, then he must learn
his work, and the self-rcspcct that that
knowledge brings. The learning is
hard In land where our army Is not n
rcd thing that walks down the street
10 be looked ut, but u living. tramping
reality liable to be needed at the short
est notice, when there is no time to say:
Hadn't you better? And won't you,
plcasc?"
The company officers divided them
selves into three. When Drander, the
captain, was wcnricd, he gave over to
Maydcw, and when Maydew was hoarsc
he ordered the junior subaltern, 0uless,
to bucket the ten through squad and
lrill till Brander could 60 on again.
Dut Of parade hours the old soldiers
spoke to the recruits rs old soldiers will,
and between the four forces at work
on them the new draft began to stand
on their feet and feel that they be-
lon0ed In N rood md honorable serv-