The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-05-06

and iron-bound windows, talking to senior
itas. He loafS on the street corners, glar-
along Obispo street, the Broadway of Ha-
vana, and struts up and down the plaza as
though monarch of all he surveys When
an officer passes he becomes as humble as
uriah Heep. When an American passes he
straightens up and transforms his bearing
This pitiabe man-at-armS has two virtues
blind obedience to order and open-eyed
acceptance of abuse. His creed is, obey
looks upon the officers of his regiment as
upon so many gods. The officer considers
the men in the ranks as so many dogs. Thus
they get on amicably and decently. Against
the continued neglect and abuse which is
the lot of the Spanish soldier the rank and
file of any other civilized nation would rise
Cubans? He does not know Why is he
risking his life in plague-stricken climate?
He does not know. Why does he march
and march and broil and suffer and starve
and die in the torrid sun of an apparently
God-forsaken island, far, far from his home !?
He does not know. He knows only-por la
patria.
Where does he come from? The prov
inces of Spain. What was he before la pat
ria sent him across the sea in a filthy. man
and happy in the vineyards of his native
heath. Why did he leave his vineyards, his
home, his parents his comforts his peace?
Because the agent of the King of Spain
came and tapped him on the shoulder and
said, Follow me!' The peasant followed.
He is taken to the nearest seaport, marched
aboard vessel, herded in a pen with 200
fellow-unfortunates. The vessel leaves the
shores of Spain. He looks through a port
hole and has, probably, his last , glimpse use
then an order to premature death.
The vessel rocks and rolls and pitches and
the peasant is sick. He wallows in filth and
stencil. At last, after twelve or fourteen,
and sometimes twenty days, the ship enters
the harbor of Havana. The peasant steps
ashore. Now, he thinks, life for him may
N 10 nj
becomes soldier. He landed in rags and
tatters. barefooted. bareheaded. more filthy
than swine. Does he see Havana? Yes, for
a few days. From the troop ship he is at
once sent to MORO Castle or to Castillo del
Principe. At these places he is furnished
with a battered Mauser rifle and roughly
instructed to its manipulation. very few
lessons in the verv simplest rudiments of a
soldiers duty qualify him for active service,
and he goes TO the field without eyer having
fired his rifle. With just enough knowledge
of drill to enable him to comprehend the
orders of advance, halt. or turn to the right
or left
par la patria that means starving and dy
ing in the pestilential wilderness of Cuba
For this the poor. ignorant peasant lad
few of them are more than mere boys-is
torn from his home under Spains beauti-
full sky and wrenched from his sweetheart
of the great lustrous eye. One thing he has
company; for thousands made TO share
his lot and his fate. Having been ordered
to the front, the slouchy, duli-eyed. peas
ant-SOtuler, without having Tune 10 become
acclimatiZed, begins his experience in the
field. Probably it will be his fate to be at
tached TO battalion engaged in active OPP
erations in which case he will march wear
lily day after day i'm all weathers. broiled
during the day and chilled during the night.
rarely seeing the enemy. unsheltered, over
worked, and underfed-until the inevitable
breakdown occurs and he can march no
longer Then, if he still retains Il remnant
OF strength, he may be detailed TO the gar
rison of one of the thousands of block
houses that are strung along the trocha to
form the defense of country towns.
| know of no more pitable sight than is
presented by the living skeletons who gar
rison these little forts, when they are called
upon to turn out and line up at the roadside
at salute, when some general and his staff
ride by. | have seen these men so weak
that they could hardly bring their pieces
to salute. The condition Of the cavalry is
considerably better than that of the infan-
try. As a scouting force il is capable of
doing fairly good work The horses are
small and wiry. and require but little at
tention. The men rule ride we'll. but
their clothing and equipments are in the
last stages of dilapidation.
The Spanish officer is invariably in need
OF shave, His blouse and trousers hang
upon him like so much thin bed-ticklng upon
wooden dummy The officer. like his men.