Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-04-23

gloriousness OF the Ger trail coast climate
OF California. as the mutterings of many
a shiverinG officer OF the day who has been
compelled 10 visit the sAntncs on the Al
catraZ citadel viii attest
There are, Of course, occa sional draw
backs even In the life OF an artillery Off
GER One might consist In his assignment
TO duty at Fort Candy, in the state OF
Washington. There are. of course drra-
rier military posts in the United States
than Fort Candy. but none OF them IL an
artillery post Candy is in the wilderness
OF the Siwash country on Cape Disap-
pointment, at the mouth of the Columbia
river. thirteen miles from Astoria. a town
punt upon piles, through the flooring of
which drunken salmon fishermen are drop
ped nearly every night during the fishing
season. There is no very delirious social
whfrl In Astoria, which at best IS only
reached by a daily boat from Fort Candy
IraVersing dangerous, turnultuous waters
Two miles across bear-infested trail ts
the settlement OF II Waco. where the en-
nsted man finds peculiarly barbarous
brand of whisky, and which is only visited
by the army officer when he goes there in
charge of a platoon to hunt up enlisted
derelicts.
Less Happy Lot.
The brunt OF the actual soldering in the
United states service in times of peace is
borne by the cavalrymen and infantrymen.
FROZEN by the bitter winter blasts OF Nom
fana for five years. they stand unmurmur-
ly-ofhcially-subject to an order that
may end them to be parched for another
half decade by the simoons of New Next
can deserts, or TO be soaked in the exceed
ing great wetness OF western Washington,
at Vancouver barracks. for example where.
according to an old army tradition. II rains
inlrteen months in the year. IL is a sig.
hihcant fact. by the way, that all OF the
army ofhcers who have become afflicted
WIN insanity during the last quarter Of a
a Ne halo
lantry branch. and in nearly every case the
loss OF reason has been traceabIe TO the
monotony, only relieved by severe hard
snip; OF frontier soldering. Not a single
al .iierHn man or engineer has figured in the
lists OF insane army officers since the civil
war ~
Notwithstanding the soul-paralvzing
shifts TO which cavalry and Infantry o,,i
GERS are constantly liable there are a good
many posts where officers in these branches
may mince through joyous DAYS For tho
caVairy men. Fort Myer, across the Poto-
mac, is perhaps the star assignment Of the
lot A cavalry officer NAV have a lot OF
Jun IN w ashington to atone for whatever
misery he may have undergone I'm the mes
pui.e country OF the Texas Panhandle or
among the red bluffs OF South Dakota
mere are many opportunities here for him
10 oon mis- full dress uniform. which may
nave been wrinkling in its case for any
.iuihper OF Years previous. and the drills Of
the Fort Myer troops are ATTENDED ~. a
scinclent number of pretty WASHINGTON
girls TO make any normal-minded cs,.ai,,-
living. '' J's oi
Pleasant Billet..
Next to Fort Myer. the wearers n, ,ba
yellow are perhaps more partial to Fort
Leavenworth, Kan. than to any other nos,
IN which their branch is prominent An
exceedingly beautiful and attractive post
IN itself, Fort Leavenworth has gradually.
uIflhg the past twenty years, So extended
i's ihnuence to the adjoining handsome
city OF Leavenworth, the metropolis OF
Kansas, that the city has become practi-
cally an adjunct to the fort in a social
sense There are as many Irritation
Y alks and Grooming rows" and doves
groves within the boundaries of the Fort
Leavenworth garrison as there are al Nest
Foint Moreover, the soldering at Fort
Leavenworth is easy enough for infantry
men, cavairymen and light artillerymen,
ana the atmosphere of the post is found
sufficiently lively by officers who have been
buried Tor n few years in Fort Spokane,
Idaho; Fort Grant. Tex, or other not-on-
the map -garrfsons, whose situations are
only charted in the publications of the gen.
eral land Office.
Infantry officers are generally rather mar
ual to Fort Sheridan, near Chicago which
was Tor SO many years held down by the
18th, banished for its sins TO unspeakabls
Arizona about a year ago The infantry
al san Carlos, or at Fort Whipple. or at
Fort Sidney, or at Fort Smelling or AZ Fort
Assiniboine, In any of which and In many
similar purgatories he is likely to pine and
Ole Tor the sight Of human countenances,
other than those Of his comrades I'm arms
nails with rapture an assignment either to
Fort Logan. near Denver; Fort Douglas
near Salt Lake City: San Antonio bar.
racks, near San Antonio. Tex. or Omaha
barracks. near Omaha. After a few inter-
minaple years OF plugging away with
Spr1nghelds at night-howling coyotes, of
playing endless whist or even Of occasior
ally scouting through Arizona after the
ever-elusfve Apache Kid. there Is glee IN
the prospect of putting up for a while at n
pc st where cigars do not wither or freeze
efore they are smoked where all Of Tho
femininity does not consist in the most
laundresses and the ordnance s,-rgeant's
gocd-heartcd Hife. and where a newspaper
OF magazine is not begrimed with alkau
1ust before Ii finally reaches the post Ii
brary.
More or Less Desirable.
Fort d. A. Russell is only short dis
lance eway from Cheyenne. a lively enough
town after its own peculiar breezy west
arn fashion, and for this reason fl would
naturally seem TO be a desirable post from
he officers point Of view. But ii is not
rhe reason II has achieved a reputation
among army officers which classes IL with,
Fort Yuma or Fort Keogh or any other Of
he desolate posts TO he avoided IL pos
;ible. at all hazards 4. that there IS a
disposition on the part of the municipal
authorities of Cheyenne to make ID so hot
or the enlisted men of the adjacent post
y henever they wander into the town that
All hands at the post, including the off,
,ers, are kept in hot water most of the
line.
The cavalry or infantry officer who has
been cultivating a love for the beautiful
while serving as military attache at Ber-
in. or Paris, or Vienna, or Rome. would
not suffer from shrunken spirits
we're he ordered TO proceed to the United
states and report for duty at Fort McPher-
ION, near Atlanta. Ga. Fort Mcpherson is
one of the gem posts of the whole
OF, and the life pursued by the army off,
'er there as in nearly all OF the posts south
" Mason and Dixon's line, has sufficient
iolce far niente to invite a good many
hundred applications to the War Depart
nent every year for assignments in that
egion In Atlanta, perhaps more than in
my other of the large cities OF the south,
las the feeling created by the civil war
lied out-a fact attributable not only to
he influence OF the late Mr.. Grady, but
llso to the large number of northern peo-
lie who have established themselves in At
anita during recent years. SO that Fort
MCPHERSON. aside from Its loneliness as