The morning news., 1898-11-15
SOLDIERS HAVE TO WORK.
DO SOMETHING ELSE BESIDES
DRILL AND HANDLE A GUN.

shovel occasionally ana n Whole
Lot % other Things They Never
Bars, snoI for When They Entered
the service-speciaI Details the
Banc of the Soldiers Life-I<iclx-
ing Does No Good, but They Get
"SoIdferins" Down TO a Fine Art.
What is ii to be a soldier? This Is a
question which many people of Savannah
are turning over in their minds now.
Before the little affair with Spain begun
most people in Savannah. of the younger
generation at least, had an idea that to
be a soldier meant wearing uniform and
carrying gun. incidentally it was sup
posed that in time Of war he did some
marching and occasionally got into a fight.
He was supposed to suffer some hardships
of course, but the pleasure of being SOL
dier and fighting for his country was sup
posed to more than make up for all this.
In fact, the average citizen supposed that
the gun was the chief implement of the
soldier and that instruction in it's proper
use would be his chief labor. Many of
the soldier boys who went away from sa-
vannah last May had about the same idea.
They know better now.
The presence of the Seventh Army Corps
has been an eye opener to many citizens
as to the real life of the private soldier.
They had heard something from Tampa
and Chickamauga of what the boys were
undergoing there. but they were disposed
to make allowances for a natural tendency
upon the part of the boys to exaggerate
their hardships and work upon the SYM
pathies of the folks at home.
The thousands of people who have Wis
tied the camps of the Seventh Corps have
gotten some ideas about the reality of
soldiers life that they did not have before.
They have seen the soldiers handling picks
and shovels, digging bitches and sinks
and doing other work of a kind which evil
denuy many of them had never been ac-
customed to before. Many citizens, on see
ing soldiers engaged in loading and unload
ing lumber, and handling heavy commits
sary supplies and quartermasters' stores
and doing other heavy work have ex-
claimed: II didn't know soldiers had to
do that kind of work"
Many of the boys didn't know it either,
or they wouldn't be soldiers now. Had the
boys who were enlisting so readily six
months ago known how much hard man
ua labor there was in store for them it is
safe to say that their ardor would have
been considerably dampened The boys
were enlisting to go 10 Cuba and risk death
from Spanish bullets and yellow fever.
Every man of them expected to be in Cuba
inside of a month, and they expected
to do some hard drilling to get in readiness
to go there.
The officers who were enlisting men for
their companies never said anything
about work and the boys never thought
of it. Six months have passed and very
few of them have seen a Spaniard. They
have had an experience, however, which
they are not likely to forget and which
perhaps may be beneficial to them, The
fact is that there is a great deal of hard,
unpleasant work an the life Of the private
soldier. Drilling is no easy work and be-
comes distasteful itself, especially after
the private thinks he has learned it ALL
and that he does not require any more
of it, The officers usually think different,
however.
The army theory of soldering is about
as different from the volunteer militia
idea as sweet milk differs from corn whs-
ky. One is the milk and water stage
and the other is the real
thing The regular army theory is that
nobody should do anything for the sol
der that he can do for him
self There are no servants about
military camp except sometimes
an officers servant. The men do their
own cooking. Sometimes they get around
this by hiring cooks or having prvates
detailed as company cooks and paying
them extra. Even then prvates have to
be detailed daily to assist the cooks. The
kitchen detail, as it is called, has to cut
wood scrub pots, peel potatoes, parch cof-
fee and do anything else in this line the
cooks want done.
Then there is the police detail. One of
the four sections of a company goes on
police detail every morning 1t is the
business of the police detail to see that
the company street is put in first-class or
der and that all fifth and trash is gotten
out of the way. If there is a sink to be
dug, the police detail digs it, Some
tunes many members of a section
Will be on guard or other duties
and half dozen even will have all the
work to perform. Then it is that the boys
begin TO feel that the glory has faded from
soldiers life.
one of the most exasperating features
OF army life to the average soldier is
the general camp police which the old
guard is required to perform. The SOL
dler feels that after having come off
twenty-four hours guard the day before
IL Is an outrage that he should be required
w 6S4ASl al pOllCS Quty. II looks like
punishment for having done guard duty
after having been told that it is an honor
70 be entrusted with the protection of the
hVes of his comrades and the property of
the government while on guard. He fails
TO see any logical connection between the
two duties.
Guard duty is not the most pleasant
feature of army life, but when it doesn't
come too often the soldiers don't mind il
much. Two hours on and four hours off
guard looks easy, but those who have
tried il know better. There is little op-
portunity for comfortable sleep around
the guard tent between the tours of duty
and the temptation to fall asleep on duty
Is something hard to overcome, as many
soldier has found to his cost. Still this
Is a soldieriy duty and one that was cal
culated upon.
The bette neir of the soldiers life is the
numerous details for which he is likely
TO be caught. Companies are always be-
H.