Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1895-01-18

longer on duty than eight hours out Of 81.
The work is chiefly IL matter of routine,
and though I will admit that to do it year
after year must become monotonous and
perhaps arduous yet it is easy. At IL
O'Clock sharp dinner was taken.
In the Messroom,
Before visiting the messroom I spoke to
some OF the men and was agrceably sur
prlsed to hear little or no grumbling. 1
need hardly say that, according to Euro
pean ideas, the American soldier is lodged
like a gentleman and fed like a lord. The
dinner consisted of vegetable soup, which
one could not havo obtained better in a
hrst class restaurant, of roast beef, stewed
tomatoes, potatoes and bread and butter
and coffee. The kitchen, which I also Wis
Tied, was presided over by a French-Swiss
cook, who, In q very ELUSIVE manner greet
ed me as his countryman, and then, speak
Ing to me in French, dwelled extensively
upon the difference between the meals of
American and French soldiers. But"
added he, with the twinkle of his left eye,
"ce qui nous manque lei c'est le VIM
Does it need any more proofs than, after
this, that even a French Swiss is not happy
without claret? At the frontier or other
posts tho life of the American soldier is
harder than in the garrisons. 1t is there
where he becomes acquainted with the
romantic sido of his profession, and where
at the II time he forms a character De-
chliar to himself. Reckless, brave, desper-
ately improvident, he bears a striking re.
semblance to the soldiers of tho French
foreign legion in Africa, and, like the lat
ter, he will grumble whenever he has time
to do SO. He will damn his W soul just
as quick as his colonel's and in the mean
time adapt himself to n condition what
soever with astonishing quickness and i'll
telligence. Unpleasant places have been
the tradition in every army, but no one
learns the little methods of producing
comfort quicker than the American sol.
der in camp. Unfortunately I havo no
space to enumerate all the different ways
in which hard tack can be made accepta-
BILE, or I would do SO, but he who doubts my
word may go and pass a short time camp.
Ing with a United States cavalry troop.
The Cavalry.
1t is perhaps not without interest to
mention here that there seems to exist one
characteristic trait among cavalrymen
which is universal. I mean the stealing Of
grain and hay and the shutting of horses.
I no longer doubt that the soul of every
cavalrist is thoroughly imbibed with the
firm belief that his horse can eat as much
food as he can lay hand on. The stealing
of forage in the eyes of a cavalry soldier
seems to mean just as little wrong as does
the finding" of a watermelon in the gar.
den of his neighbor does to a colored gen
tleman. The relation between the men is
peculiar. Apparently there seems to be no
domestic bliss: and yet beyond the con-
slant reminders that the one addressed is
held in abject contempt by the speaker
they seem to get along nicely. A lieuten-
ant may ask a man politely to do certain
thing, but when the sergeant of a United
States cavalry regiment makes the same
request even the choice language Of an old
and angry Jack Tar is not delicate enough
to bear comparison with the sweet express
sions that can flow from the bearded lips
OF that regimcntal Cerborus
TIEIITEN ANT H NE ~ or OTu