The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-10-28

low CnuTCn IFn0@ntttr NlNnNn his fold.
"you see. I don't go much on the
fringes OF RELIGION" he said simply. He
was after the genuine article. and found
II In his cowboy frfends-real reverence.
and such singing, He was holding forth
TO me upon this theme as We Jay in the
long grass. when ! ventured to remark
that I had heard that his people were
given to violence. shooting matches. and
such. He denied II vehementIy. They were
the quietest. incest fellows; only once In a
while. when a fellow was caught cheating
at cards. then
But argued the chaplain. rising on
his elbow and earnestly pointing a spear
Of grass he had been chewing at me.
when a man cheats at cards he ought TO
be shot. oughtn't he? Well. then. that is
ain"
confess to a certain enjoyment in the
thought of Captain Browns theology on
a background of Rough Riders singing
at 'meetin' In the woods. The combina-
ton suggests that FIRST funeral on the
ridge at Guantanamo. with the marines
growing out the responses to the chap
aims prayer " pot shots at the
enemy. fiat on their stomachs under the
sunken attack: and. indeed. Colonel
Roosevelt himself gave testimony thai he
had seen Chaplain Brown bring In wound
ed men from the field under circumstances
that were distinctly stirring. But for all
NANaN Nht - ~ NAk ~ NV
clergymen ! was thinking Of wore no
shoulder straps. They carried guns. One
of them came up to bid his colonel good
bye when I was sitting with him. He was
tall and straight and Of few words.
That man. said Mr.. Roosevelt. as he
went across the field back to the camp.
represents probably the very best type
of our people. He Is a Methodist preach
er OF the old circuit rider stock. strong.
fearless. self-relisnt. His people had been
i'm all our wars before him and he came
as a matter of course. You should have
seen him one morning sitting i'm the
bomb proof with his head Just below the
traverse where the shrapnel kept cracking
over his hat. They couldn't touch him. as
he knew. and he sat there as -unconcerncd
as IL there were 10 such things as runs
and battles. breaking the beans for his
coffee with the butt of his revolver. lie
wasn't going into the fight without his
coffee. He was a gam preacher"
IL was predicted that with their ante
cedents they could not he disciplined so
as to become effective In the field: but ex-
actly the opposite happened. They showed
the world the new spectacle Of "A body
of men who could think and yet be sol
diers. who obeyed. not because they had
to, but because IL was right they should.
and they liked IL. They might not have
been perfect in what the chaplain would
have called the fringes of soldering. The
pipe clay and the regulations. and all
hat. they knew nothing about. But they
kept order in their camp. and they knew
the command forward when IL was given.
IL forbade grumbling. and there were
In their brief campaign they had no op-
p~ortunity to learn any other. II forbade
grumbling. and there was none. Three
days they camped out I'm the sun and
rain on the San Juan hills, fighting by
day and digging burrows by night. with
little to eat and only the bitches to sleep
in. but not a complaint was heard. when
the enemy attacked. suddenly and In full
force. at 3 o'clock in the morning. they
were there to meet him. and. hungry and
shivering. drenched through and through
by the rains and by the heavy dews. they
drove him back.
THAT is the test" said their command
er. speaking of IL afterward; ito wake
up men at 3 O'Clock i'm the morning III
have had nothing to eat, perhaps for days.
and nothing to cover them: to wake them
up suddenly to a big night. and have them
all run the right way; that Is the test.
There wasn't a man who went TO the
rear"
II was one of the unexpected things in
this campaign that seems destined to set
so many things right, that out of IL should
come the appreciation of the colored sol
der as man and brother by those wen
who so lately fought to keep him n chat
tel. OF their patience under the
manifold hardships of roughing IL in the
tropics. their ~helpfulness i'm the camp and
their prowess In battle. their uncom-
planning suffering when lying Wounded
and helpless. stories enough are told to
win for them fairly the real brotherhood
with their white-skinned fellows which
they rave. The most touching Of the
many I heard was that Of "A negro trooper
who. struck by a bullet that had cut an
artery in his neck. was lying helpless. I'm
danger of bleeding to death. when a
Rough Rider came to his assistance.
stop the bleeding till a surgeon came. A
tourniquet could not he applied where
the wound was. The Rough Rider put his
thumb on the artery and held IL there
while he waited. The fighting drlfted
away over the hill He followed his com
rades with longing eyes till the last was
lost to sight. His place was here: but II
he abandoned the wounded cavalryman II
was to let him die. He dropped his gun
and stayed. Not until the battle was won
did the surgeons come that way: but the
troopers life was saved. lie told of IL In
the hospital with tears in his voice: III
lone that to me. he did: stayed by me
an hour and a half. and me only a mig
ger!"
So the army came home. his Rough Rid
ers with IL. ragged. sore. famished. en-
feebled. with yawning gaps In its ranks.
but saved. they to tell OF his courage and
unwearying patience: how In the fight he
was always where the bullets few thick
est. until ne seemed to them TO have a
charmed life: how. when II was over. as
they lay out in the jungle and In the
trenches at night. they found him always
there, never tired of looking after his
men. of seeing that the rounded were
cared for and the well were fed. ready
to follow him through thick and thin
wherever he led. but unwilling 10 loaf in
company or do police duty when the
COUNTRY was no longer in need OF them "a
fight. Once more the right had prevailed
and the counsel of expediency been
shamed. Roosevelt's Rough Riders had
written their names I'm history.
They were the finest fellows. and they
were dead game. II was the privilege OF a
lifetime to have commanded such "A regi-
ment. IL was "A hard campaign. but they