El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1898-06-18

very shiftless. Scanty crops are al
most hidden in the daisies, and patch
OF thick waving grass is rarely seen
Old fences are patched out with Hat
tened wash boilers, and altogether the
usual small Virginia farm is an eye
sore. Straight young tulip and OAK
trees make the woods beautiful, and
brers and honeysuckles grow over
stumps and rickety fences in an at
tempt to make the land fair again
Arrived at the town one must take
some sort of a carriage to the camp,
still three or four miles off. Our LOT
fell with Roman nOsed animal draw.
that made the landscape on either side
reel off like a fsst-hying ribbon and
we could only distinguish white blurs
that were probably daisies and blue
blurs that were probably soldiers. AS
the roads are frequently made after
that ancient pattern known as 'cor-
duroy," the ride was not as gentle as
one might have wished. Once in camp
this dreadful horse had to moderate
his speed, which gave the soldiers time
to twist him on account of his nose,
aud whenever he would prick up his
ears and frisk off, guard would step
out and put q gun in front of him, and
the soldiers would twit him again.
After all one did not blame the old
horse for running so fast.
The camp stretches hundreds and
hundreds Of white tents across the
fields and into the woods. Long lines
of horses picketed to q rope, their
fianksu s. lining in the SUI. mark the
location of the cavalry troops. Troops
A and G from New York City and
Brooklyn are some of the camp
'swells," as they are called. The
guard who challenges you has an &C.
cent that sounds as if well u-tom-
ed to the soft echoes of a drawing
room, rather than to the wide fields
and boisterous tents OF the camps.
From under the tents steamer trunks
poke their sides and one can see Lon
don, Berlin, Neapolitan, and other
foreign railway labels on them, show
ing that these troopers have been on
long voyages. The troopers wind yell
low silk handkerchiefs about their
throats, have fine ut iforms and horses,
and are as fine a lot of clean, we'll
set up men as ore could wish to see.
In direct contrast to them are some
of the western boys, though it is only
fair to say that neither suffers in the
comparison. But there are Missouri
men with rough accents and boards
and clumsy clothes-men who look to
be housekeeping wits. They too will
prove brave and faithful, and this ex-
perience will widen their world as it
will. broaden the Imagination of
the New Workers; and manliness
will have a new meaning for them all.
One young fellow who came from
Paris, where he was studying, to en-
Ii t, had letter from a small brother
who was left in school there. 1t
seems that a lot of little French boys
had piled on their American school
fellow, taken away his flag pin and
trampled it in the dust. He straight
way Sc about to fight the lot and had
succeeded in laying two low, when the
principal of the school scams on the
scene and demanded an explanation.
The American gave it and the master
said, chats right, my boy, fight any
one that insults your flag. Now
the boy goes about with a chip on
each shoulder and is ready for anyone
to say "Boo' to the Stars and Stripes.
The same little fellow in his geography
class startled them. all. The question
"Who owns the Philippines, was
going round aud everyb body missed un-
til it cameihis turn. He shouted,
'They belong to the United States:
Dewey get them"
One of the most picturesque sights
of the camp was to see the Missouri
boys clearing out the woods for q new
camp. The woods were full of scarlet
flames from the great fires where the
pine tree tops and leafy tulip boughs
were burning. A fragrant blue smoke
hung over everything and through the
smoky veil one would see the men
hewing down trees, dragging great
trunks about, singing and Joking at