The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1898-10-04
A MANS MAKING.

The Judge" paused long enough to
change the position of the stick he was
whiting, shift the chew of tobacco
from one side of his mouth to the other
and then glance around at the two
young men sitting on the plank side
walk on either side of him.
The judge was 60; not fat and
40, but fatter and go. His six feet of
height was burdened with the painful
necessity of carrying 800 pounds when
he walked and of supporting the same
weight when he did not move. The
judge supported it usually, and that
was the reason his clothes wore out so
much more quickly at one certain place
than at any other. He went up and out
from his feet to his waist and then up
and in from his waist to the top of his
head-an hourglass cut in two and put
together again with the large ends in
the middle. A fringe of long, dirty
looking hair showed from under the
band of his SLOUGH hat. Through the
hole in the top Of the hat one caught
an occasional glimpse Of bald and
shining spot, the peak of his head try
ing to get through into the fresh air.
But the strength had gone from his hair
to his beard, for his whiskers were long
and bushy and his mustaches equally
so. Judge spoke, not with drawl,
but with that slow movement peculiar
to fat and lazy people. Yet the little
gray eyes sparkled all the time, as
though they had absorbed all the energy
in the man.
"Well, boys" he continued, after
completing his survey, "where'd you
be now if you'd enlisted?"
The younger of his auditors answered:
eff we'd gone with the state regi-
ment, we'd be at Manila probably. But
if we'd gone with Grigsby's cowboys
we'd be at Chickamauga, judge"
Eyes, that's it, boys. And it's id
hot there in the summer time. spent
couple of summers in that country in
1864 with the army Had a good
place, too boys, where l didn't have
much hard work to do, but it was hot
all the same
"What did you do, father?' asked
Charlie, who was the judges youngest
son.
81 was judge advocate of the regi-
ment But soldering is hard work, no
matter what you've got to do. It's
dogs life
eyes, we know that, judge, :" the 9TH
er boy, Henry, said, "but we decided
we could stand it and had sand enough
to do what we were told to do without
kicking, and we thought if we did all
that and did it we'll we might have
chance for promotion.
We'll, boys, don't believe I'd go
as private in any company. You can't
tell what kind of an ass you re going to
have bossing you Some of the bosses
may be all right, but there's bound to
be one you can't get along with"
eyes, father, we know it would be
hard. but we thought we could stand it,
even if we didn't like it,. /"
"That's all right, boys, but you don't
know anything about it. You've got to
enlist and see for yourself It's bad
enough when you are an officer, but
when you're just private it's id
bad"
''Did you enlist as private, judge?'
Henry asked.
"No, Hal; l organized company and
was elected captain and held that rank
until got to be judge. You see, came
out to Iowa from Ohio when was quite
kid and had been living there for some
time when the war broke out, so every
body knew me, and as l was always a
good natured cuss they all seemed to
like me. -
The judges stick and tobacco needed
attention, and he was silent while he
looked after them. Then he went on:
'We had a colonel that was the big
gest ass l ever saw. He got the Office
through political friends, and he didn't
know B from bulls foot. Our lieuten-
ant colonel was pretty decent sort of
man, and the two majors were fair.
But that colonel He was so mean that
I never saw him, but l didn't want to
snatch gun from one of my men and
shoot him. / had enough sense not to
say anything, although the colonel did
know / didn't like him extra we'll
Finally got the chance l had been
longing for to tell him what thought
of him. But see here, boys, if you ever
get into the army don't you think of do
ing anything like it. was young then
and little foolish. +"
1.-THE COLONEL shan't call any
names-got US into such bad fix on
the battlefield that he had to resign to
keep from being kicked out. And there
was big feast in honor of his depar-
ture. Of course it was supposed to have
been got up as token of his under
officers regard for him. After we had
finished eating-it was in the lieuten-
ant colonel's tent-and the whisky and
wine and cigars were on the speech
making began. The colonel made lit
| leave US, and all that sort of thing.
Then the lieutenant colonel and the two
majors made little speech. They all
said something about the colonel being
such a fine man and officer and how
sorry they were to see him leave-every
| bit a d d lie
The Judge stopped and laughed. His
augh wasn't loud, and one could not
get the full benefit of it unless one saw
him. His whole body shook with the
amusement of it, and his features took
on such comical expression that it
made one laugh just to see him.
"Then," he continued, ''they called
on me for a speech. / didn't want to
respond and told them So They would
not rest, and finally l told them had
never made an after dinner speech or
departure speech in my life and didn' {
know Whether or not could make one,
but that if I did get up I'd say some
things 1 thought, and I didn't care
about doing that But they wouldn' t
hear of it, so got up.
The judge stopped again, shut up his
knife and took the remains of his stick
in his right hand, holding it on level
with his shoulder.
81 began, told them how long had
known the colonel and what kind of a
man l used to think he was before he
got his commission as colonel of our
regiment. And then started in Cen
tlemen, I said, If / had known this
man was going to have command OF my
regiment I'd enlisted as raw private
in another one. He's got no more bust
ness being in command of men than a
yellow cur dog. There's not man in
the army l would rather see kicked out
than our colonel. He's the most ornary