El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1898-09-15

rally the great event of the week, and
probably 10000 or 20, 900 people stood
on the streets to witness the parade.
But on the previous day the return of
the Seventh regiment from Camp AL
ger and of the Naval Reserves
from the vessels of the North
Atlantic squadron called out
large crowds The Seventh is large
ly composed OF Irish Americans, and is
commanded by Col. Ksvanagh. Dur
ing it's stay at Camp Alger, where so
many other troops Jared almost as bad
as those at Chickamauga, this regiment
enjoyed excellent health. It lost only
two mem 5ers by death, and about
twenty-five are now sick. The men
reached the city about 10 O'Clock Fri
day morning. and were straightway
confronted by Chicago politics in pc
culiar phase. 1t appeared that the regi-
ment's auxiliary association, composed
of its friends at home who had done
much for its comfort while in camp, had
arranged for dinner at the Fremont
House. But, this coming to the ears
OF the county democracy Jour Tam
many, ii was feared that the republi-
cans were getting all the glory out of
the return of largely democratic
regiment. So the democrats set tables
in the depot with sandwiches and cof-
fee. and, with proud waves of the hand,
begged Col. Kavanagh and his men to
partake of their generous hospitality.
Then there was establishment and
wrath in the faces of the committee of
the auxiliary association, which in
| creased when they were handed an Or
der from the police changing the line
of march so as to leave the Fremont
House out entirely. The whole
scheme was plain; the soldiers
were to satisfy their hunger
on democratic sandwiches and coffee
so that they would have no appetite
| for republican cakes and ale" But
| alas for the county democracy. Col.
Kavanagh took in the situation, wink
ed his other eye, and suavelv informed
| the committees that the Seventh was
good for two breakfasts any day in the
| week. So the sandwiches and coffee
disappeared down thousand Irish
| throats like snow in spring thaw: and
then the band struck up a good old
| Hibernian melody and the boys start
ed for the second feed" at the other
end of the line. All along the route
they were heartily cheered, and every
| body was glad to see how strong and
! we'll they looked. Much laughter was
excited by small cart, drawn by a
bulldog and containing handsome
pig. with the legend 1--WE Saved Our
| Bacon"
! After the dinner and reception at
speeches., of course. Col. Kavanagh' IS
is so blunt and hearty that it is worth
quoting:
You are the toughest looking gang l
ever saw. Still I'm glad I'm with
you. Boys, we are back to our friends.
| We are back in Gods country. We
| have been thirsty and hungry together
| We have.slept together on cold ground.
| boast that whatever happened to u
we never complained. When we suf-
| fered we SAID: This is nothing to
what we expected to get when we en-
listed. It is nothing to what we
would get if we were sent where we
want to go, to the front, TO the face of
| the enemy
Th.ve seen hard marches that you
have made. You have been in forced
marches when the men of other regi-
ments dropped all around on the
\ ground. In those terrible marches
not one man of the Seventh fell out of
place. On that most terrible march to
| Thorcughfare Gap, from the effects of
which men are still dying in the hos
pitfalls, the Seventh returned to camp
every men still in his place. You
is the fighting line and the re-
serve line. The men in the firing
line cannot do their work unless the
| reserve behind them is strong. You
| held your places in the reserve, and
you held them we'll. No man can
measure the difference in honor be-
| tween the reserve force and the firing
| line.
Now, boys, go home. God bless you.
| Behave yourselves. That is the hard
est thing to do. But behave as well as
you can. Tomorrow is pay day. When
| you have paid your debts give what is
| left to your families. God bless you.
The Naval Reserves, the "jackies, :"
496 of them, tumbled out of the trains
at the union station Friday afternoon
| to the tune of ''Home, Sweet Home"
OF these men, 373 are from Chicago,
the remainder from Moline, Quincy,
and Alton. There was no element of
| sadness in their homecoming: for every
man, apparently, is in splendid healLb
after q summer on salt water. These
| tars, who have been trained
for some months, some of them
years in so much of sailors duties as
ca2 be taught on land and in an an
nual cruise on Lake Michigan, were
assigned at the outbreak of the war to
the vessels of the several squadrons in
| Cuban waters. They served on forty
two different battleships, cruisers, aux
Hilary cruisers, monitors, and smaller
craft. A number of them were on the