The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-08-03

himself at Santiago when the Span
iards fired their deadly vollcys from
the brush, and he ,rurrcd his stccd
forward and shouted Charge EN-
boys Chargr the damn Yankees run
en- out Of the brush u the damn
Spaniards mean And now they tell
it on General lee that when his hand
some blue uniform came and his wife
with solemn countcnancc and said !:
Put it back. wife; let it stay there Il
while till can get rcconcilcd. IN
afraid might shoot at it all Of sud
den
The boys in camp get up many Il
Joke, and they go on the grand rounds.
and that reminds me Of Fat Doolan, u
fresh Irishman, who was put on picket
and ordered to let no man pass with
out the password. When the officer
came round to change the guard Pat
challenged him with, Halt, be Jesus,
and give the password "Oliiccr on
the grand rounds" said the licutcn-
ant. Grand rounds and be damned
to yet said Pat, "an if yc don't
come forward and Bull Run I'll be
after shootin into yc, Mr.. Grand
Rounds.
The boys say that down at Camp
Griffin, when new recruit comes in.
the devilish fellows take him off to
drill him. "Young man, you must
remember the Maine, and also remcm-
Der that you are private. When
you meet an officer you must salute
him and say, I am your dog, sir, and
the officer will wave his hand and
smile and say, l know it. and pass
on They haze the green ones as
bad as college boys haze verdant
freshman. There is many wag
81 md the camp fires and they spice
the weary hours with wit and wisdom.
The average soldier bears no malice,
not even toward the foe he has been
sent to fight. Cervera and Hobson
are the best of friends and if it is pos
sible for US to like Cervera, it is pos
sible that the people who placed him
in high command have some redeem
ing virtues In our civil war the pri-
Yates of both armies exchanged civil
ties on the picket lines. Stoncwall
Jackson rcbukcd them and once when
picket brought him New York pa
per he refused it and said Take
nothing from them, sir, and give them
nothing but lead. They are our enc
mics" But the common soldier has
not considered the casus bclli, the
aggravation from national stand
point nor can he, like Cromwell or
Stonewall Jackson, worship God by
killing his country's foes.
\ soldiers life is good training
school, and he soon loses some of his
conccit and sel6shness. When boy
Who has been humorcd and pe.ted ut
home becomes schoolboy and has to
rub against other boys, he soon learns
to give and take and tote fair with his
schoolmates. Just so these young
soldier boys, when far away from
father and mother, soon find them
selves enduring common hardship
and in peril common danger, and it
softcns their nature and takes away
their vanity. They learn from one
another, and like these commercial
travellers, absorb knowledge by con-
tact. The best informed people l
meet with are the veterans of the
civil war. However dull and nnedu-
Gated were the boys when they entered
service in 1861, they were bright and
genial when they came out I'll ven
ture that there was more good sense
and more forbearancc. more real re-
Elective patriotism and less sclfishncss
in the recent grand gathering of vcter-
ans in Atlanta than in any body Of
men ever assembled In the United
States. These veterans all look alike
to me. Hard service has hammer
ed them down, like steel used to be
hammered out Of iron. Their faces,
their hearts, their walk, their solidity.
their considcratc conservatism, all
mark them as men who have been
tried and rcGncd in the crucible Of
war-thc dross expelled and the pure
gold left.
But war is bad thing-the worst
thing in the world. ~ philosophic
friend Of mine says no and he argues
that periodically nations must have
war, pestilence or famine to purify
them, to purge them and to kill off
Tho rrrrod duo<;va e,,sx1,, -