Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1898-11-12
A MANS MAKING.

The Judge" paused long enough to
change the position of the stick he was
whiting, shift the chew of tobacco
from one side of his mouth to the other
and then glance around at the two
young men sitting OH the plank side
walk on either side of him.
The judge was 60; not fat and
40, but fatter and 60. His six feet of
height was burdened with the painful
necessity of carrying 300 pounds when
he walked and of supporting the same
weight when he did not move. The
judge supported it usually, and that
was the reason his clothes wore out so
much more quickly at one certain place
than at any other. He went up and out
from his feet to his waist and then up
and in from his waist to the top of his
head-an hourglass cut in two and put
together again with the large ends in
the middle. A fringe of long, dirty
looking hair showed from under the
band of his slouch hat. Through the
hole in the top of the hat one caught
all occasional glimpse of a bald and
shining spot, the peak of his head try
ing to get through into the fresh air.
But the strength had gone from his hair
to his beard, for his whiskers were long
and bushy and his mustaches equally
so. Judge spoke not with drawl,
but with that slow movement peculiar
to fat and lazy people. Yet the little
gray eyes sparkled all the time, as
though they had absorbed all the energy
in the man.
"Well, boys" he continued, after
completing his survey, "where'd you
be now if you'd enlisted?'
The younger of his auditors answered !:
eff we'd gone with the state regi-
ment, we'd be at Manila probably. But
if we'd gone with Grigsby's cowboys
we'd be at Chickamauga, judge"
eyes, that's it, boys. And it's id
hot there in the summer time. spent
a couple of summers in that country in
1864 with the army. Had good
place, too, boys, where l didn't have
much hard work to do, but it was hot
all the same. -
w uuO ulu yUu uu, 1iGucT. dSh6u
Charlie, who was the judges youngest
son.
II was judge advocate of the regi-
ment. But soldering is hard work, no
matter what you've got to do. It's a
dogs life. -
eyes, we know that, judge" the 9TH
er boy, Henry, said, "but we decided
or
to do what we were told to do without
kicking, and we thought if we did all
that and did it we'll we might have q
chance for promotion.
"W ell, boys, don't believe I'd go
as a private in any company. You can t
tell what kind of an ass you re going to
have bossing you. Some of the bosses
may be all right, but there's bound to
be one you can't get along WITH
eyes, father, we know it would be
hard, but we thought we could stand it,
even If we didn't like it,
"That's all right, boys, but you dom t
know anything about it. You've got to
enlist and see for yourself. It's bad
enough when you are an officer, but
when you're just private it's id
bad"
"Did you enlist as private, judge?"
Henry asked.
"NO, Hal; organized company and
was elected captain and held that rank
until got to be judge. You see, I came
out to Iowa from Ohio when was quite
a kid and had been living there for some
I,o I,o
body knew me, and as l was always a
good natured cuss they all. seemed to
like me"
The judges stick and tobacco needed
attention, and he was silent while he
looked after them. Then he went on:
"We had colonel that was the big
gest ass l ever saw. He got the office
know B from bulls foot. Our lieuten-
ant colonel was pretty decent sort of
a man, and the two majors were fair.
But that colonel! He was so mean that
never saw him, but didn't want to
snatch gun from one of my men and
shoot him. l had enough sense not to
say anything, although the colonel did
know 1 didn't like him extra well.
Finally l got the chance l had been
longing for to tell him what thought
of him. But see here, boys, if you ever
get into the army don't you think of do
ing anything like it. l was young then
and little foolish.
1.-THE colonel-l shan't call any
names-got us into such bad fix on
the battlefield that he had to resign to
keep from being kicked out. And there
was a big feast i'll honor of his depar-
ture. OF course it was supposed to have
been got up as token of his under
officers regard for him. After we had
finished eating-it was in the lieuten-
ant colonel's tent-and the whisky and
wine and cigars were on the speech
making began. The colonel made lit
tie talk, saying how sorry he was to
leave US. and all that sort of thing.