The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-07-04
THE Dude.
From The Chicago Record.

He took twin brushes for parting his hair
And a burden of fine silken underwear;
Also pajamas and a manicure set,
And the mildest timed mixture that
he could get.
| And he babe farewell to his cronies all
With a nose exceedingly bellicose drawl;
And all of them laughed in a gleesome
way
When Reggie, the dude, had gone that day;
And even his old companions spoke
OF Reggie Belligerent' as capital joke.
The girls who had known him at bah and
rout
Laughed when his act was noised about;
| And each of them pictured with keen de-
light
Reggie. the dude, involved in fight
Reggie, The dude, appeared in camp
With an outfit of most elaborate stamp;
buckskin shirt with knotted fringe
And a knife that worked with a secret
hinge.
And the widest and fercest Of golfng
caps,
And legs incased in a pair of chaps;
And neatly fit to his polished heels
Silver spurs with two buAz-saw wheels;
And like window, upon his face
A single glass held its proper place
Indeed, he seemed TO the ones that viewed
40 nan a CIV IVY anu nail q ALdts
The shaping of Reggie the dude, fear,
Would be a tedious thing to hear;
The countless jobs that were set on foot,
The course of sprouts through which he
was put,
The cowboy jokes which were full of force
And the play that people denominate
horse"
The constant efforts to victimize
The man with the glassware over his
You've heard them hundred times at
least,
For you know the ways of the cowboy
beast;
The keenest and craftiest scientist
Could mention no trial that Reggie missed.
They stole his pajamas and cigarettes,
His manicure and his smoking sets;
They dipped his toothbrush in turpendne
And trained red ants toward his sleeping
spine;
They were all past masters of vulgar jest,
But one there was who outshone the rest
There was one whom Reggie most fercely
cursed,
A lanky Texan called One-Eyed Hurst;
And after a season of petty woes
| Reggie removed the most Of his clothes.
And, calling his batter to do likewise,
! Promised to blacken his Texan eyes;
For Reggie had learned in his Northern
school
To uppercut and to punch by rule.
But truth and conscience extremely
strict
! Oblige me to say he was shortly licked.
For Hurst himself was a lusty chap,
! Who had LOST his eye in a lightweight
| scrap
Had lost his eye, but had won the bout
! Which serves to explain why Reggie
went out"
Let us have done with these lesser things
! Comes now the fight that knows naught
of rings;
| Comes now the fight on the foeman's fed,
| Where it is death to go on--Or yield.
Faint with the heat of the jungle morn. r.
Sweating, half naked and scratched and
torn,
Crawling through underground thick and
rank
Mystery waiting in front and at flank
Parching for water and sick of the sun.
Dragging the ten-ton weight of his gun,
Reggie, the dude moved on with the first,
Shoulder to shoulder with One-Eyed
Hurst
Black with shadow the trail was laid
Save for IA blaze or two in the shade
Crossing these a dot here and there
Told OF the Vulture that hung in air.
Poised in the ocean of heat overhead
! Waiting for Misunderstanding the dead
Every one knew that the thicket before
Might mark the end Of a dozen or more;
Every one knew that the lush bent trees
Maybe held Spaniards that swarmed like
bees.
| Every one knew that the closest of traps
Hemned in the painting trough crawlers"
perhaps.
Who said perhaps? TIE guide sent ahead (?
Here in the path they have found him
| dead.
Who said perhaps? Not the voice that
cried
Out its command from the bush along
side.
Rattle of Mausers ana spain's battle shout
Cancelled and disestablished the doubt
Bullets flew thick, like a stratum of lead
| Sheeted in space. Fell the stricken and
| dead
Just as the clover falls after the blade
| Passes beyond where it nodded and sway
ed.
Men in bewilderment looked, but unseen
Popped the rifles behind banks of green.
Gurglng of breath from the grass beneath
Told of the wounded and registered death.
Stupefed, actionless, more and more fell
/ Under the fire of that terrible he'll;
Then rose a voice through Juror and flame;
Follow EN-, boys! Wen give EN- our
gamer
And with a yell through the eunderbrush
burst
Reggie, the dude, and his enemy, Hurst.
That was the end of bewilderment; then
Ended confusion and men became men.
You know the story: the cables have told
How step by step the foe loosed his mold;
| How inch by inch he fell back to his forts,
Then to his town. You've read the reports.
Possibly, though, you never have heard
Hurst tell the tale of how one death oc-
CURED.
1--WE two were off to the left, there" he
said,
"Chasin right after an givin' 'em lead.
when of sudden we come right on top
OF a whole bunch, an hollered to drop.
Down we both went by palm tree, but