The age-herald., 1898-07-23
UNDERCURRENT
 OF CAMP LIFE
ny sEwELL HAGGARD.

BY sEWELL HAGGARD.
 Miami, Fla, July 20-General Gordin, commanding the Second brigade, is very obliging gentleman, as a lieutenant in the First Louisiana regiment has good reason to know While the troops were in camp in Mobile a beautiful New Orleans belle visited that city. She quite frequently vis- tied military quarters, and it was only too easy to discern that she and the lieutenant had met on several occasions before. He introduced her to General Gordin, and this was only the inception of his sorrow.
 Possessing very charming manners, she soon captured the general and they be- came fast friends. One day she became very confidential and vouchsafed the gener- al the information that she was the fiance of the lieutenant. This pretty southern charmer even went further and gave her confidante to understand that her affianced was inclined to be trif1e gay and some thing of a f1irt The interview closed with a pleading face close to the grizzled gen. erals with the request that he keep close watch and exercise a fatherly care oyer her soldier sweetheart.
 This was the last heard of this end of the affair until the troops came to Miami. One night dance was given at Cocoanut grove. The lieutenant is something of swell and, of course, he had adorned himself with best bib and tucker prepared to teach the rustic belles a few lines of city life Sud- denly he was assigned to some duty which prevented his attendance. This time he was very submissive. taking his plight as one of the hard lots of military life.
 Again dance was given at the Royal Palm hotel. Some society girls were booked to be present and the lieutenant was con- graduating himself on the anticipated pleasure of the envening when an order came from Gen. Gordon, assigning him to a duty which precluded the outing. This was too much and the handsome lieutenant sought an explanation from the general. It came in a polite, but formal note which ran:
 "A fair lady assigned me to this task and I would not be a soldier If I did not per- form my duty"
 There is one virtue the soldiers strictly adhere to-that of cleanliness. Onece and awhile new recruit comes in who needs a bath worse than a square meal. One of these cases came up a few days ago. A re- cruit arrived in one of the regiments and his sanitary condition was open to censure. A gentle hint was given that a dive in the bay would be benificial to himself and pleasing to his comrades. He did not heed it and the request was put in more urgent form. The coating of sand grew in thick ness and his mess mates held a consulta- Fl 5a5 To falxa J,x 10 forelock. Accordingly he was marched down to the bay shore and pitched in clothes and all. It is said that the recruit takes his bath now regularly every morn- ing.
 Another pecuial' arity is the method the soldiers adopt in settling their difficulties. Of course among so large number of men frequent squabbles arise. The mode adopt ed by one of the Birmingham companies the other day is worthy of example. Two privates quarrelled while at drill. On re- turning to quarters the row was resumed. Two fair-minded soldiers suggested that they were very nearly the same size and that the proper capdr was for them to re- tire to some secluded spot and try conclus- ions with their fists This was done with the result that the men are now friends. This way out of dculties was brought down from the army and navy. Capt. Burt Evans invariably requires his me to settle their petty quarrells by demonstration as to who is the best man.
 With the coming south of William Jen- nngs Bryan's Nebraska regiment, quite a number of celebrities will be gathered un- der General Lee. Aside from his promi- hence, there are such men as Keller, Wheaton, Gordon, only one of whom is in any sense military man. Lees brigadiers will be of all political casts, which brings up Gen. Wheeler's words before Santiago, when he held his glasses up and saw a body of Spaniards giving the Americans plain view of their heels. The little gen. eral clapped his hands and exclaimed: "Just watch the Yankees running, boysi" is something horrifying to the volunteers the gauntlet which all applications for dis charge, transfers, etc., must run. Some thing of the red tape measures are illus trated in the case of a paper which was returned with Its eighteenth indorsement More paper had to be pasted on the orig inal to accommodate the numerous notes. When this insignificant document was opened 1t was found to be an Application for transfer from private because he thought that in another company, the cap- tain of which was lifetime friend he would stand better chance of promotion.