Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1895-07-20
AN ARMY PORTIA.
By CHARLES KING, 0. s. A.,
Authorof "Tnc Col0ncrs Daughter" "T7.s
LAeSerter," From the Ranks" Dun.
TaUen Rdnch," "TrO Soldiers"

copyright 1890 by ]. B. Lippiucott Company
Philadelphia, and published by special arranss
ment with them
Dozens of my relatives and old school
mates lived there. and | looked forward
with pleasure to the rest and Joy should
have at the old fresides. | didn't sup
pose that people really believed all the
outrageous filings The Times and The
News and The Sun and The Herald let
alone The Trades Union Gazette and
The Arbeiter Zeitung, had INDUCED in
at the expense of the army. But / had
to wear my uniform for three or four
days about the old home, and not only
street boys but grown men, respectfully
dressed. jeered and hoOted at the dress
that for years in the Confederate south
and all over the frontier had never been
treated with insult. Old schoolmates
patronizingly asked me over their card
tables at the clubs what on earth | could
find to do with myself in the army, and
why didn't quit it and come in here
and try to lie something. You know
perfectly well, Lane, that when YOU
We're recruiting in Cincinnati you had
just such questions put to you, and you
had been through one campaign after
another for years.
The general manager of the Midland
Pacific, every mile of whose road through
the Sioux country l and my men had
helped to build by standing off the In
dams day after day, and having many Il
sharp fight doing it-this general man
ager, say, met me at the Union League
and asked me how [ had managed to
kill time on the frontier and remarked
that it must be a very demoralizing life
He was out next day III II circular cutting
down the wages Of some twenty thousand
employees 10 per cent, but thought the
rank and file of the army were treated
rather like dogs by their superiors a
man. he said, must be at the lowest ebb
of self respect to enlist in the army; as
though every one of his army of twenty
thousand hard working, hard shaving men
was not infinitely more at the mercy OF
Il single Official than could ever happen
in the army of the United States. My
own people, by Jove. were so impressed
by what they had been reading for years
in the papers of army life and army
officers that they were perpetually urg-
ing me to quit the service and come III
and begin life over again at torty-tive-
clerking or something.
"Why, only ten years before their
homes had been rescued from the MOB.
after police and militia had been whipped
to the winds, only by the prompt rush
of the regulars from the frontier. Oh.
they lionized the shoulder strapped
autocracy' then, and for just about one
week it wasn't fashionable for decent
paper to lampoon them, but the moment
the danger was over their gratitude tied
with their anxiety. | tell you, the pa
pers that are sold for two and three
cents in our big cities have to pander to
the prejudices of the masses to keep
alive. and there is no surer way of tick
ling the palates of the populace than by
ridiculing OF abusing the army officers.
and in lending themselves to this the
editors of course influence the Judgment
of people of much better class-the
great middle class, SO to speak, Of the
whole nation"
sit isn't at all SO where | come from,
interposed Hearn, promptly. "At home
all my kinsfolk are proud of my being
in the army"
"Ah! you're southerner, Mr.. Hearn,
and your people are all Americans. All
through the north, however, we have an
immense foreign population that has
fled from the Old World to escape mill
tary duty. They hate the very sight OF
A soldier. Three-fOurths of the people
l. e /, .,iti nf fD1 nm
birth or parentage. The papers seek
their patronage, and i'll trucking to
them they prejudice northern Ameri-
cans against their own friends and rela
tives who have been idiots enough TO
become their defenders. 1t was bad
enough before the war, God knows, but
it's worse now. People wonder how it
was that it took the north, with $1,000,
900 soldiers, SO long to subdue the south
with less than a. fourth that number.
Now see nothing to wonder at what
ever The south has always respected
the profession Of arms; the north has al
ways derided it. Lee, with 10000
Americans at his back, and only 50, 900.
knocked 10000 out of Grants over
whelming force between the Rapidan
aud the James.
Lees 10000 had the love of every
southern heart to sustain them. How
many of the north. think you, had no
personal interest in that struggle? How
many thousands of the north today
care nothing whatever for that flag
and the major pointed to the standard
floating over the garrison-''and only
ask to be let alone to make money their
,,,,,, ,,,n,.p Cod knows I'm as LOYAL a