Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1897-02-20
THE MISSISSIPPI SAY so.
BY j. F. HALEY.
The Trundle Bed Brigade.

The Trundle Bed Brigade.
Excellence in any line of tHan's &C
quirements is the accommodations of the
ages. Much that is most desirable and
most useful to those fho approach to
artistic finish, has never been written,
and never can be. Who can write the
quality, the attack, the finish Of a cor
rect tone as required by an expert voice
~culturist? 1t never has been written.
II has been handed down from genera.
ton to generation, with a little develop
ment here, and a little accretion there.
The useful is to be acquired as well.
Much of it is written.
With the majority of mankind there
must be a stimulus to seek the advan-
tage of even that which is put ready at
hand, except in 50 far as it will meet
the demands Of public opinion. Most
men are want to relax their energies
when they have risen to the level Of pub
lie sentiment. Keep up with your
neighbors, is the rule. There is a dis.
position to 'outshine'' others, i. e., to
make pretense of being somebody but
the tendency of human nature is to rise
no higher than those around us. Let
our neighbors rise and we will begin to
get i'll at ease,
Apply this principle to the children,
They are afflicted the same as their sen,
iors. Let there be a low standard of
piety, morals or taste for learning and
culture i'll the home, and, in most cases
the recruits to our brigade, coming
from that home, will be but an indiffer
ent soldiery. Possibly the raw recruits
may be drilled by the inmates of bar
racks next door. How oftendo we hear
of mothers urging their young hopefuls
Of a captaincy to observe and initiate
the major of a brigade on the left wing
of the division. This is well, provided
the major mas his majority in the right
sort Of camp. Too often his only claim
to his position is the braid on his uni
form and his ability to make a smoke.
stack Of his mouth, Then you may look
for IA re enactment of the happening III
a town not a thousand miles off. Three
young applicants for promotion were
standing on an unfrequented corner in
an out of the way place, engaged in
performing Oh their oracular apertures
a preservatiye operation my father used
to apply to his meat; only they had sub
stituted the stub of 4 half consumed CT
gar for the hickory and oak my father
employed. A preacher approached as
our young heroes were ~zealously taking
a Whit around The unsophisticated
denizen of the pulpit, not knowing that
he was interfering with a preliminary
drill of raw, but ripening recruits of the
Trundle Bed Brigade, ventured a pro-
test to the improved tactics, when the
drill master of the squad promptly put
a 4uietus on his uncallel for Interrupt
ton by huently exclaiming: Huh! l
does worser'n this; | cusses!'
AT the opening of the wal of 81, as l
have heard declared, a company from
Gov. Bob Taylor's district reported at
headquarter for service. On inspec.
ton drill they appeared with straw tied
on one foot and hay on the other. Every
one thought it a grotesque sight, until
it was suggested that they had heard of
the broom plant (planta gena) worn as
IL badge by the Plantagenets. But i'm.
agine every ones establishment when
the first sergeant stepped off stitly, call.
ing out with s%tentorian voice, Hay
foot, straw foot! Hay foot! Straw.
foot!. while every fellow put down the
appropriate foot with becoming empha.
sis, according to Instruction. What
the explanation? you ask. They didn't
know the right foot from the left, and
so, had to have hay on one! and straw
on the other. They had only risen tc
the level of the community they came
from. The captains second order was
Turn aroun' here in a line; an, -
you shootl''
How about the level of the standard ir
your camp? Do you hold out -before the
young aspirants the stimulus Of a beliel
that they IA go to the 'front.' If 50, b.
careful not to allow them to underesti
mate the foe. Drill into them day by
day the truth that the limit to theil
power is the standard, regardless O
what others think; for the enemy stee
will prove worthy of their best tempered
blades. Above all, do not forget that
body Of soldiery 500 shows its disci.
pline, or betrays its lack Of it. Remem
Der, too, that the fighting quality of al
army depends upon the leader, Napo
leon said. II would rather have al
army of sheep with a lion for a leader
than an army of lions with a sheep for
leader