The sun., 1898-06-05
SLEEPING IN HAMMOCK
"Reminiscences ola Local Veteran of
Army Life During the
Late War.

Il see they say that soldiers in Cuba
ought to sleep III hammocks for their
health's sake, " said veteran OF the civil
war OF this city on Saturday. II never
slept in Il hammock but once, and that
was when | was III the army at the time
Of the civil war. But my purpose in
sleeping in hammock was not to guard
against malaria or dampness or anything
OF that sort, because we We're at that
time i'll Il settled camp that was tulerably
salubrlOus, and where we had beds
raised off the ground, made of barrel
staveS, cracker box covers, and one thing
and another; my hammock was solely
fer comfort. 1t was very hot in the tent,
and thought | might be little cooler
in Il hammock, and made one myself ont
OF Il blanket
There was plenty of wood around
where We were then, and we, that is, the
folks in our tent, had set up Il couple If
tall stout posts about six feet part along
side Of our tent and strung line be-
tween them to hang our washing on. |
used these two posts for hammock posts
! took down the clOthcsline and tied a
piece OF good stout cord around each end
OF my blanket, leaving plenty Of end on
each, and then | made these ropes fast
securely around the posts, pretty well
up, and then | was all right; all had
to do,was to get in and 60 to sleep.
/ But had the greatest time getting
into that hammock yon ever heard OF,
and thought before | got in that
should kick in the side of the tent and
wake up everybody; but | didn't, and
| finally ] managed to get over into it. ]
had no spreaders and no pillow to spread
it out, and | found it crowded me very
hard head and foot. and it sagged down
| in the middle like bag. 1t was the
first time I'd ever been in Il hammock,
and it was about as uncomfortable as
could be. ] suppose that was due largely
to the hammock itself, or the way it was
| slung, for there must be such a thing as
a comfortable hammock, because there S
plenty Of men that sleep in hammocks
every night and like 'em, and find it
hard work to get used to beds again at
| first when they 60 ashore, but found it
hard work to get used to my hammock,
and there was one thing hadn't counted
on at all, and that was the mosquitoes.
They were bad enough in the tent, but
ont here they had free approach from all
directions, and the blanket was just no
impcdiment to them at all; itdidn't even
bend their beaks; nothing short of a
sheet-ron or wooden blanket could have
kept them out.
"But | sort Of felt,as matter of pride,
that ought to stick it out and / did. /
covered up my head and pretty soon |
went to sleep, hanging there between the
two posts. But | didn't stay there all
night. Along some time in the morning,
when it was still pitch dark and the
whole camp was very still, dreamed |
heard dull thud and woke up and
found my feet still up in the air, but my
shoulders on the ground The rope at
the head end of the hammock had
parted and let my head drop to the
ground.
Il didn't put the hammock back. l
took down the other end and put the
clothesline back on the posts and crept
into the tent quietly and lay down ON
MY barrel slaves. After trying the
hammock l found the bed more COM
Portable"