The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1894-02-13
A Big Kick From a Member Of
Company E.
NO PoACHED EGGS FOR THE MASSES.
Building CSru1nbies About the Hard
ships of soldiers Life - He
Would Rather he AN Omcer.

hO AObeCA OSOh ~
ceived frunI private soldier of
Company <. 1t is reproduced, with
all its complaints, in toto:
Mr.. EDITOR: In order to correc
the belief of some of your readers that
the position held by the enlisted men
of the National Guard of Hawaii, is
snap, | give you the following
| synopsis of how enc man puts in his
time:
Reveille at a. IN, roll-call at 5'15,
guard mount at $50. Here his days
work begins-Breakfast from to $50,
| and then he is held for duty in the
guard room. 1 may as we'll state how
that while on guard he is not allowed
to leave the gsard room, that is,
the hall in the basement of the execu-
tive building except under the COM
mand of 8 non-commissioned officer
of the guard. From the guard room
he goes on post as a sentry from to 10.
Ten to IL in the guard-room, when
he is marched over to dinner. At IL
he is stationed on the rear veranda,
where he STAYS until 4 o'clock. Here
fall in at seconds warning.
For the accommodation of is men
there are here four chairs without
backs, and one wooden bench long
enough to seat four men by crowding
- the balance sit OH the floor or hang
their feet over the balustrade.
Alta he is returned to the guard room
sticks his gun in the rack, and hangs
his belt on it. Now he can't lie down
on bench or the floor until $50,
when he is marched over to the kit
chen once more. Back to the guard
room). At so he passes the time as
well as he can until o clock, when he
again does two hours sentry duty. At
10 back to the guard room, reached
generally by 1870. Now he can go to
sleep for three hours. There are 20
4 single mattresses for all. The others
and spread their one poor blanket, and
air is always foul, and were it not for
the strong draught through, the long
hall would be unbearable.
The new doctor threatened to
remedy this state of affairs, but
someone evidently put a ''iea in
his ear" He dropped it. At 1:30
A. II. he is called by the Ser
geant of the guard to get ready to go
on post. From until he again does
duty as sentry, and at 4:20 is again in
the guard room. More sleep is out of
the question, for the drum beats
Reveille at o'clock. Roll-call at
5:15 and at $50 the old guard is retired
by the new and the man is free to
sleep until 11:30. After drill in the
afternoon his time is his own until 9
P. NJ, when he must be in bed to get
the necessary rest for another twenty
four hours of duty. Let those who
think such a life, governed by tyran-
nical officers, snap disabuse their
minds of any such notion.
To make things still mole trying,
the food furnished is not, three
quarters of the time, fit for white
men to eat. You quote Capt. John
Good as saying, on the night the late
poison scare took place, that the men
had poached eggs for supper. Now, Mr..
Editor, if Capt. Good id what he is
quoted as sa ing, he said it for the
purpose of n's'eadi lg the public as
to the real facts; and it really did
sound well. Poached eggs, macaroni
and cheese, roass beef and mashed
potatoes, and stew. No wonder peo-
pie think we live well. Now, Mr..
Editor, an egg has never been seen on
the mess table of Company f, unless
brought in by the man himself and
the waiter cOaXed into getting il
cooked.
For the month of January we had a
white man as head cook. During his
service the men received fair treat
nent, for while there was not always
eI oJgh fof all, what there was was
good. But he did not suit the officers
mess because, forsooth, he would not
spend all his time connecting dainties
for their tender palates.
Can you reasonably expect one small
range 10 cook for 100 men one style of
food and, at the same time, serve first
class hotel fare at short order notice,
for from ten to fifteen officers? One
party must take their meals cold and.
naturally, the privates must do so.
The white man "left' and the Chinese
was re-instated.
Filth again reigns supreme in the
kitchen. 1t was owing to nothing
else that the supposed attempted pois-
oning was due.
One would naturally think that in
the land of the coffee berry good coffee
would be accessible to all, but / defy
the most learned analyst to find more
than trace of coffee in the article
served to us as such, "and that reminds
me- as Abe Lincoln would have said.
The other day the man on my right
at dinner said he would take coffee.
His vis-a-vis said tea and held out bis
cup and was served from the same pot.
The coffee man tasted his drink and
Immediately raised "kick," deelar-
ing that he had been given tea. By
this ii ne the tea man had tasted aud
he growled because he had been given
coffee, so suggested an exchange. This
was done and both men were satisfied.
leave you to draw your own conclu-
sions.
Yours regpectfuIly.