Evening journal., 1898-07-23
THE GRAY WITH THE BLUE.
A Surprising sight at New Orleans
Thnt Was Typical OF the Pres
ent Public Feeling.

Tint Was Typical of the Pres
ent Public Feeling.
"Say, now" said a man from Iowa
the other day, Il tell you this war is
bringing about a good many queer sit
uatons right here a; home. l don't
profess to say-though don't know
what 1t will do to the Spanlards. BUTT
is doing some funny things 20 us
Americans, anyway.
when | was on my way down here
l met a man on the train; met him in
the smoking-room, where he WIS sit
ting, reading New Orleans paper Of
course we began to talk war. ard
asked him what New Orleans people had
to say.
"'Oh, they're ready for a fight he
said; 'just as ready 10 fight under the
stars and stripes to-day as they were TO
fight against II 35 years ago. I've seen
some pretty strange things since this
war broke out; but when was down in
New Orleans a week ago l saw some
thing that beat all the rest for being
queer.
"'There was a regiment of southern
volunteers expected to pass through the
city, and It seemed as If the whole pop
ulation, men, women and children. had
turned out to see 'em 60 through. In n
way, it was a pretty sad experience TO
the old-timers who remembered the
war; sad because it brought back the
memory of privations and terror and
heartaches of those days. When the
first company appeared in their United
States army uniforms IL might have
been the signal for wave Of bitterness.
But it wasn't. The crowd cheered the
officers, cheered the flag and cheered
the ranks.
THAT wasn't the strange part Of It,
though. Most of the men, as say. wore
the regular army uniform. A few OF
them were not fully equipped having
been ordered out in a hurry, but the
general effect was all right. Suddenly
however, a company came along, and
upon my soul 1 rubbed my eyes and
looked twice TO see if I wasn't dream.
ing Every man of them wore an old
confederate uniforml The crowd was
MS IL every man of them had beer
struck dumb. Then, in a second, II
broke into a yell that made the build
ings rock
"The man, stopped a minute and
pufFed at his cigar before Re went on:
ut seems that the company hadn'
been able to get regular army uniform
before they Started, so they had begEe,
and borrowed lot of old confederati
ones, and had come right along. The.
didn't mean TO be going back TO oil
prejudices in doing that. don't'knoy
that can explain II, butinstead of,go
ing back they. were bringing the pas
Forward. They meant to make IL plai
that the old rebel uniform had beeoin
as loyal as the blue. And think Is wa
E fine thing to sec them there, boys q
blue and boys in gray, not simply fra
ternizing in reunions and making Ion
speeches to say that the past is pas
but tramping side by side nghtin
shoulder to shoulder under tbs sam
flag and for the same country
"Well, when he got through" said III
man from Iowa, 'T said: You sa'
E something Of the war, did you?'
'''I served four years IN n MississiI
i. pl regiment ne said"
This little incident started the othe
members of the group, one by one.
81 don't think I ever realized thnt IN
c war was over as I did the day the Sc,
n eniy-firstleft Camp Black" said news
q paper man. "Istood on the ridge wait
ing for the troops to come by, and whe
. the band passed, what do you suppos
I : It was playing? Dixie, as sure as YOUR
born. Well, sir, it made a thrill ru
d through me. To have a northern reg
ment starting off to n real war o IN
tune which used to be the war cry {
their enemies-well. say! you cuuldn
II talk much about prejudice in the fac
r Of thing like that!"
L II was down south not long ago" sal
J. another man, "and saw local iroor
= leave for camp. They had a r1ttlin
y good band. and when II came 10 Inarcl
c ing they played a whole lot of thing
one after another without q break.
was kind Of funny to hear Dixie on TO
of The Star Spangled Banner an
ie The Bonnie Blue Flag on top of tha
9 And the crowd cheered 'em all. eve
l. Yankee Doodle
~ "You can hear that almost any nigl
u here in New York at tho theaters." sal
e the newspaper man. "The northernel
are not behind the southerners in the
impartiality. In fact. the other nigh
at a Broadway theater. I think Dixi
ID got the liveliest applause given 10 an
r. Of the patriotic airs. But" he eddie
q "the whole audience stood while II
m orchestra played Hail, Columbia an
II 'StarSpangled Banner and again du
'e ing the playing of My Country, IT'S
Thee IN. Y. Sun.
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