The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-05-25
EPlsTLEs TO ST. PAUL.

LIS veterans OF the civil war are RettlnS
aged, and they show that forgetfulness that
marks advancing years, and they repeat their
oft-told tales oblivibns of former variations.
So one of them. whose memories of the days
of 81 were stirred by the flood Of appoint
ments being nader Of Observation-Disclosures
and sons OF those having pull with the ad-
mlnistration, told story that he may have
told before; but. If So. 1t is worth telling
again for its appositeness.
"Then, as now" said he, "these sons sought
staff duty. where danger was at the minimum
and the opportunity for display was at the
maximum. They spared neither gold lace nor
cord In embellishing their uniforms, nor
missed an opportunity to let the men in the
line have taste of their authority. Now
and then there was one among them who had
good stuff in him. but for the most part, they
were purely ornamental appendages to the
generals headquarters. For them the Of
ficers of the line had nothing but contempt,
and took no pains to conceal it.
When Pope removed his headquarters
from the saddle the Potomac to st. Paul,
he brought with him staff largely made up
OF these belaced and resplendent youngsters.
among the troops rendezvoused at Smelling
was Minnesota regiment commanded by
| Col. Sam McPhaill. Mac saw service In the
| Mexican war and was one of the pioneers OF
| the state, and hated sham and fuss and
feathers. Pope met him one day over on
| Thlrd street and asked him his mission in
| town. Mac said he was getting supplies for
his mess preparatory to the campaign against
the Indians. The general said that he too,
| had to lay in a stock of mess stores, and
that he was bothered to know just what to
get for his staff. I don't wonder said Mac,
! twould bother me, too. Fact Is, general,
your stair is just little too old for milk
oh for
Rev. q. G. Savage was seen yesterday re-
placing the little glass box which receives
pennies for the benefit of the Childrens Home
| society, in Smiths. Sixth street.
Some one actually stole the other one we
had here, containing over SO. So, you see,
we have fastened this one securely" ex-
planned Mr.. Savage.
These little boxes pick up quite a bit of
money during the year.
! Several other societies have them placed
about in stores, and the one in the Ryan
drug store gathers in more than any other in
! the CITY,
! This is due, the proprietor says, to the
| large amount of theatrical trade
| One day during the recent encampment of
troops at Camp Ramsey, Gov. Clough was
waited upon by delegation of officers from
! the camp who suggested that they thought
1t would make the, outfit look good deal
more formidable if they could have some
| ordnance out there
The governor beat hasty exit and inquired
OF his private secretary what possible relief
the sufrer1ng camp could need in the way
OF ordinances. and what the governor had
to do with ordinances anyway.
The private secretary was almost as puz-
zled as the governor, but finally tumbled to
the fact that it was ordnance and not ordi-
nances that they wanted. He explained this
and the chief executive turned on his heel
inauiring:
| why in - don't they say cannon, them?
| conference showed that some small bore
pieces would present a strictly military front
or at least sufficiently brave one to satisfy
the officers. and the governor promised tc
see about it.
1t would. of course, be impracticable tc
take away the time honored light artillery
| from the capitol lawn, for that was as es
sential to the military trappings of the gov
ernor and adjutant general as the bunting
that they borrowed from down town Sec
| ond-hand store. So the governor and his
staff spent the next few minutes in q stud,
| Of Executive Clerk Angeles ever-ready
| Globe almanac. over whose figures ant
Fictitious statistics he spends hours each year
1t was learned by this study that the near
est arsenal was at Rock Island.
Gov Clough at once wrote asking thai
the required guns be7sent. but little O.
the imperious air which he employed wher
handing messages to belated telegraph mes
sengers during his military greatness seem.
| to have been impaired to his missive.
| AT any rate, the commandant of the ar
| senal wrote back that while 1t had Away.
been his wish. and as far as possible hi.
| practice, to extend any courtesy to the gov
| ernor Of any state consistent with his duty
to his country, he had, through years of con
slant discipline. become accustomed to re
ceiving orders only from his superiors in d
| rect line Of rank. The reply was couched il
courteous language, but it made it clearly
apparent that compliance with the COVER
nors request would be subject to the de-
cison of the war department at Washington
And the guns never reached Camp Ram
| sey.
| THE PHILISTINE.