Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-06-24
AMBITIONS OF BoYHoOD
A Camp Fire Conversation Full of Quaint
Confessions.
Reminiscences of Youth in Which
Perststent Efforts Were Crowned
With Success.


| in the mellow twilight of these warm
| June nights. Many young fellow is get
| ting the best chance at an education he
| ever had. The hard knocks of camp life
the chance acquaintance with interesting
men who are few chapters ahead of him
| In the life story, and the unfolding posi-
| bttitfes of his own experience, all COM
bine to make the soldier boys probation
Interesting to himself If to no one else.
| He Is not only learning how to sleep on
the ground and outdoors and to stouten
his stomach for it's ordeal with flat" pork
| and baked beans, he is making a man of
himself just as his father did thirty-fve
years ago pretty nearly on the same SOIL
The other night a Star reporter silently
joined a knot of boys who were lounging
on the green turf. some fat on their backs
locking up at the stars. some with their
cEinS on their knees looking thoughtfully
at the little camp fire, where, buried down
under the Goals and the hot sand, they
had slowed their bean kettle full of the
| nutritious leGumes and a nice COB Of fat
pig.
Some were whistling softly; one was
picking a banjo; another had been read
ing the evening paper aloud to several
others, and now all We're discussing Gen.
Miles probable campaign.
AT one side half a dozen bright young
| fellows were chatting away in lively
mingling of jest, anecdote and merry
laughter.
"Jims going to be hrgadier before we
get back" said short, red-headed war
rior whom the rest called Bill.
Jim tipped chip at Bill and kept still.
You know, boys, were all going to
come out with commissions Gen. Drum
began in the ranks and got to be the boss
of the whole army and four or five Presi-
dents.'
And we are all Drums just as all goats
are Billies," said an ironical youth, who
was smoking cigarettes industriously.
Ambition is great thing" said a hoy
dubbed Polly. Il remember when l was
wee kid 1 used to practice gurgling when
l drank water in imitation of my fathers
hired man. l carried water to him out in
the hay field, and his throat cracked and
| ratified like an old pump when he took
pull at the jug. 1t took me years to per-
| feet myself in that accomplishment"
Polly you are just like me- said Bill
Il spent six months learning to disjoint and
| crack my knuckles. If fellow can master
| a trick like that, the way you and l have
he can become a captain or a major, or
better 1 should think-that is, il he sets his
heart on ii"
That's nothing, your throat and knuckle
| tricks" said hatchet-faced son of Mars
| named Mug" for the time being, my
| grandfather always said Chicago, just as
plain as anything, every time he sneezed
| He said he used to say it very softly back
| in the forties when Chicago was small
town, and he sneezed it louder and louder
as the old town grew bigger and bigger
He died the day the census returns show
Chicago had 100000 populaton-sneezed
SO loud he broke blood vessel. l worked
six years with him on the farm and learned
to sneeZe just like him. Here goes!
h-ch-i-i-caw-go! 1 going to be col
onel If the signs don't fail.
See here. you fellers what are you
givin' us? What's this brigadier racket
anyway? Do We mean that If we could
crack yer knuckles when We wuz a kid
yell be d curnel or gin-ral?' piped up
| snappy lad on the edge of the group.
That's it. Toots." said Bill. what's
your lay? Dance Jig. sing song"
NIT, BILL" rejoined Toots. but here's
| my reppytory. Take anything we want out
of it and give me the change. 1 spent a
| of grass. kin sing bass on a comb. i kin
pop peanut bags. l kin make stone skip
| eight times on the water. Does them
things go?"
II want my fortune told Clipped in
| tall man of thirty-fve. He was a quiet
refined looking fellow, evidently an ex-dry
goods clerk Il learned after long and
painstaking effort to snap rose leaves on
! my forehead and to make ROSTERS on my
| fingers. My Sunday school teacher snapped
rose leaves and / thought it was wonder
| full and my older brother brought home
| the rooster finger accomplishment
"Those are girls capers. frankie; they
| don't 60" said Bill. you'll stay high pri-
vate in the rear rank. Mumbly, what was
your ambition?'
| The soldier called Mumbly looked up and
laughed You wouldn't believe it, boys,
| but l wanted to learn to strap razor as
we'll as a colored barber. That's the only
| real consuming ambition ever had
| Everything else came easily that l wanted
| But 1 spent hours for days and months
| loafing near the barber shop in my town
and watching the darkies sharpen their
! razors. l used to practice all by myself in
my room. 1t took me months to do 1t, but
| L mastered it, and l can make a raZZer
just ring out tune on a good strap;
| Good for you, Mumbly," shouted Toots
| you're goin to be cunnel of a regiment
| of immunes, old man.
There was a slightly grayhaired recruit
| in the party. He had kept still, evidently
| enjoying what the fiippant youngsters were
| saying. Several of them finally turned to
| him and said: Pap, what's yours?'
The old fellow chuckled and blushed. Il
remember my first real ambition. l wasn't
over five or six years old, guess. l no.
| ticed when I walked with my father In the
snow that his footsteps turned out. Mine
didn't That was in the days when chill
dren's shoes were not made right and left.
'Cacks' we called them up in New England
| I used to practice day after day turning
! my toes out until my legs ached from toe to
pocket I don't believe / ever did succeed.
| The thing just came of itself But re,
| member trying. My ambition was realized
without my knowing it"
Bill stirred the little fire there was left
and for a moment or two no one said a
| word. Then a bronzed man they called
professor spoke up. DO you want to
anything else when 1 was boy? I grew
up in northern Michigan and there was a
good deal of logging going on. / heard
an ak in the woods when I was born. I
saw logs, and sawed them, TOO, until was
a man, grown. 1 have breathed fourteen
| bushels of sawdust. The first Spanish
bullet that hits me will make me lock
| like a busted rag doll. Naturally learn
ed to chop. 1 used to go out in the splen-
did big pine woods near my home and
work with the Observation-Disclosures chop
| pers and keep up with any of them. But
| there was one thing marred my enjoy
ment of the work. 1 couldn't put on the
| Ugh that an old woodsman lets out every
| time his goes home. / tried for years
to get it, but couldn't. / was strong as
| an OK and my lungs worked like black
smiths bellows. I did everything so
easily there was no chance for the Ugh
| to get into my work. 1 really had to sit
down on a log and concentrate my mind .
| en- it. used to sit and turn my gullet IN
| side out yelling 'rgh! Ugh! Ugh" It took
me a long while, but finally did it,
There was a jolly laugh at this. Then
| the boys turned to a mothers darling that
| they called Willie Boy. What was yours,
| Willie Boy?"
II confess to an unrealized juvenile am
| hition, chaps I am twenty-eight and I