Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-06-18
Fall Heavily Upon the Officers Sta
toned at Tampa.
50 SAYS an ENGLISH CORRESPONDENT
Though He May Be Writing in a
Sarcastic Vein.
HEADQUARTERS IN A HOTEL

Tampa, In Florida, gazing dreamily out
| over the Gulf OF Mexico. General Shafter
| and General Wade. with the headquarters
| stan. and as many of the army war corre-
spcndents as there is room for are at the
Tampa Bay Hotel Here we have been for
a fortnight CT three weeks or more or less
in this balmy scent-laden atmosphere one
loses count OF time-and here for all one
can see, we are likely to remain until the
war is over
The troops are in three camps One is at
Pert Tampa, which is nine miles down the
bay-one regiment there is encamped on
Picnic Island, all among palm trees and
pines-the Others. cavalry and artillery, are
on the mainland, but quite handy to the
wooden pier, where the fishing is excellent.
Another camp is on Tampa Heights. along
a road which is knee-deep in loose sand.
All the regiments under canvas have the
| advantage Of nice. dry. sandy camping
grounds and plenty OF palm and pine trees.
At the Hotel.
The Tampa Bay HoteI-that is to say,
headquarters-is a building a couple of hun
dred yards long, in the Alhambra style Of
| architecture-the London Alhambra style.
1t has gilded cupola and a broad veranda,
embellished with dropping woodwork and
shaded by sun-blinds The commssariat is
| on the table d hote system. Breakfast is
served from Z until To- dinner l to 3 and
supper o to 8. The bar in the basement
where 1t is very cool in the mornings. is
| open all day until midnight The bed rooms
are light. airy and clean. The thermometer
| is somewhere handy to 30 in the shade. 1t
| is probably a good deal more than that in
| the sun. but then make point of never
| going out in the sun.
The most grievous of all the hardships
We are suffering is the terribly long walk
! from the great, cool. airy hotel lobby.
where we smoke and otherwise carry on
the war, to the dining room. The dining
a Ia her of
| that is considerably over 100 yards in
length The gentlemen of New York who
| sit at home at ease little know what the
soldier feels who cannot get his simple
| table dhote rations without walking
| couple of hundred yards more. And not
infrequently when one gets back from the
dining room to the lobby finds that
ones favorite cushioned rocking chair has
been appropriated by some one else. How
ever, hardships are incidental to war, and
We cheerfully make the best of them.
Sometimes Think of Cuba.
All the various duties here briefly indi-
Gated We religiously fulfill. Now and then
we think Of Cuba. This afternoon in the
lobby L yawned and said to the man in
the next rocking chair-he was an officer
of high position on the staff-"Have you
any-heigho-idea when are likely to
make a move?" He yawned in his turn
and said ii was too warm for ideas. Every
day seems to bring another weeks post
ponement. Today there comes a runor
that when. if ever, We do go the expedition
will consist of 5000 regulars That means
| weeks of preparation. But it is far too hot
to speculate. Better make the best of our
hardships
Tampa is very rich in fauna as well as
| fora. Up in the queer little town, which.
sidewalks and all, is elevated on wooden
piles above the loose sand. there is a most
amusing acrobatic monkey, which is
chained to the veranda of house. Some
times when 1t is not too hot we go and
watch him. Then there are hundreds Of
gorgeous parrots; We have some here at
headquarters well few pretty mon
keys. Then, also, in the town there is
live crocodile on exhibition in old pack
ing-case. He was caught not far away in
the interior, and smells awful. In front OF
several of the shops. on the wooden plat
form which forms the main street Of the
town, there are cages in which other ami
mails are kept. We go and look at them
all in turn
Violent Exercise.
But. after all, the hotel-that is head
quarters-is the coolest place, and for
choice the central lobby. When We feel
the need of a little exercise we go out on
the shady side of the house and look at a
horse. A man waits there all day with a
selection of horses, which he says are suit
able for soldiers and correspondents.
We stand under a tree while the man trots
the horse up and down. AS as we
feel that We have had enough exercise OF
just yet, and go back into the lobby and
sink into a big chair. The best cigar of
loo al manufacture costs five cents and We
all have cigars to burn. l do not know
whether among all the rare and beautiful
trees and plants and shrubs amid which
We are living there are any specimens OF
the lotus plant. But i do know that its
delicious fruit is being plentifully provided
by the commissariat, and is being eaten
freely. The balmy scent-laden air Is as
soft, and smooth, and warm as new milk
from the cow. A restful, blessful feeling
of sweet indolent content pervades the
place. You know now why it is that the
southerner is easy-gong and poor, and
why he drawls in his speech. There are
en- here from the north-even from New
York and Chicago They are fond of dis
cussing the southerner. They talk about
him with sympathetic contempt, as rest
less, active men usually talk of an ami
able ne er-do-welL They remark how idle
he is, how resourceless and slow, how IL he
lad been born with the enterprise and
energy of the northerner the southern
states would have been developed TO beat
the band years back. But you notice that
when they say these things they are them
selves lying back in cushioned rocking
chairs, that their speech slackens into a
gentle murmur, and that they frequently
yawn. If Chicago had the climate of
Tampa, 1t would be dreamy little village.
with broken planks in it's wooden side
walks, just as Tampa is.
Something Startling Happened.
This morning, for the first time in a week.
something startling happened. A war cor
respondent, who had fitted himself out
with big revolver, was unable to resist
the bloodthirsty desire to let Ii off. So lie
picked an orange from tree, fixed II in
the cleft of two spreading leaves OF e giant
cactus. and took a shot at 1t Now We
are community of hard warriors, whose
in PIGMENTS Of trade are guns and 3ayonets
But We have been down here lotus eating
for week or two, and the effcct of the
sound upon our ears Was Startling as
the sudden smashing of crockery. IL got
upon our nerves. We jumped TO our feet
astonished and indignant. OF all sounds in
the world OF noise, that OF letting off a gun
was the most unexpected and the most out
of-place. A grizzled old soldier, who has
terrible record as an Indian fighter, jumped
to his feet from his rocking chair and said
Jerusalem. What In h-'s that?' When
we found out what IL was we were exceed
irgly angry and indignant. We told the
rash experimental that he oughter know
better than go do a blame fool trick like
that. 1t took a good hour before our nerves
recovered, and we talked about IT all the
time, and afterward told people of it who
had been absent at the moment II was
aaT hrx. 49,