The evening times., 1898-07-02
LIFE IN THE CAMPS.
Volunteer Becoming Tired of Its
MOuOtOny,

volunteers becoming 1lFc0 Oh Atu
MOnOtOny. =
Since actual fighting on land has begun
public interest in the troops quartered in
| the great camps has very much lessened
| The boys in Cuba are attracting all the
attention. This is only natural, but the
fact remains that those in camp do not
| take altogether kindly to being thus left
| in the shade This phrase. by the way,
, should be understood, so far as this lati-
tude is concerned, as metaphorical. When
you get into the inner heart of the officer
| and private at Camp Alger. which is prob
ably n good type of all the camps. you
| will find a very disgusted man..
| Life at the camp is disagreeable and
monotonous in the extreme, although the
food and other things are much better
now than several weeks ago. But camp
life in itself is drudgery, and the soldier
is constantly looking forward for a
chance to so to the front. When that
time will come Is the uppermost topic
in everybody's mind.
All strangers and visitors from WASH
! ington are accosted with the query. what
are the signs of a movement of the
troops? One young man in the Massachu-
setts Sixth said thai while he had no re-
grets to express for having given up
medical school course to enter the army.
he could say without hesitation that he
believed sentence in Sing Sing would
he much more agreeable than an equal
length of time at Falls Church. When
one considers what going forward means
the risk of disease and pestilence, of
bullets and machetes-it reflects very IA
vorably on American patriotism to know
thai the desire TO participate actively in
the campaign is so universal and intense
Private John Allen the humorist of
the House of Representatives. tells a sto-
ry to illustrate the eagerness of the SOL
dier to get to the front. which he in part
attributes TO the fear that the war will be
over before they get a chance to show the
mettle of which they are made.
Il was standing under an old shed down
in Mississippi said Mr.. Allen, during
the heaviest rain-storm l ever saw in my
life. The water was coming down in tor
rents. A man presently appeared. rum
ming for shelter at rate which sur
prised me, in view of the fact that he
was already wet through. l called his
attention to this condition, and he re-
piled that he was running as he was for
fear that if he did not hurry up he would
not get under cover before the rain
stopped! This reminds me of our troops.
They are afraid they won't get into action
before the show is over"
This does not fairly represent the ami
mating motive of our volunteer army.
Most of its members are men who have
something to do at home, and whether in
the service of their country or not, cam
not bear to see time pass without ac-
complishing results.
This is what drilling in camp has come
to seem like. They see regiments picked
out and sent forward on the basis of ''po-
Gtical pulls and hence there appears lit
tie reason for perfect.ng themselves in
discipline. since that is not the determn-
ing factor. In short. the hot weather.
the incessant clouds of dust. the drudgery
soldiers in a rather unamiable state of
mind. This explains the cases of disci-
pline and the instances of lawlessness
which are becoming somewhat plentiful.
1t is dog-day behavior. The practice
marches. which have sometimes culmi-
mated in sham battles. have occasionally
witnessed exhibitions of petty brutality
and cross. The firing of blank cartridge
in the face of Private Reed. after he
had thrown up his hands in sham bat
tie. with an appeal TO stop. with the re-
suit that the young man will lose an ear.
and probably an eye, Is an instance in
point. The same young men would hard
ly have behaved as badly in a football
game at home. which is probably as near
a sham battle as it is possible TO get