Evening star., 1898-10-21
ROOSEVELT'S STEW,
How the Colonel Cheered His Men at
Critical Time.

from tne tnlcego lnter-Ocean.
An incident illustrating Colonel Roose-
velts devotion to the men of his regi-
me MT was told by Trooper Burkholder of
the Rough Riders. Burkholaer was all
through the active campaign with the
Rough Riders and returned with them to
Camp Wikof.. He was away on furlough
on account of a slight attack Of swamp
fever when the Rough Riders were mus
tered out, and thus missed, as he puts it,
IAN opportunity to say goodbye TO the
most gallant commander and the truest
man that soldier was ever privileged to
fight under
only us few men who We're with him.
said Burkholder, know how considerate
he was of us at all times. There was one
case in particular that illustrates this bet
ter than any l can recall. 1t happened
after the fight at La Quasimas. The men
were tired With the hard march and the
fighting. and hunger was gnawing at every
stomach. Besides, We had our first men
killed there, and taking it all in all, we
were in an ugly humor. The usual shout
ing, cracking of jokes and snatches Of
song were missing, and everybody appear
ed to be in the dumps. l suppose we were
all thinking of poor Ham Fish and the rest
Of the poor fellows who had been dropped
in the short scrap.
well. things hadn't improved a bit, in
fact were getting worse along toward meal
time, when the colonel began to move
about among the men, speaking encour-
agingly to each group. L guess he saw
something was up, and no doubt he made
up his mind then and there to improve at
least the humor of the men. There's an
old saying that a man can best be reached
through his stomach. and L guess he be-
lieves in that maxim. Shortly afterward
we saw the colonel, his cook and two Of
the troopers of Company 1 strike out along
the narrow road toward the town, and we
wondered what was up. 1t was probably
an hour SO after this, and during a
little resting spell IT. our work of clearing
ground and making things a little camp
like, that the savory and almost forgotten
odor of beef stew began to sweep through
the clearing. Men who were working
stopped short and began to sniff, and those
who had stopped work for a breathing
spell forgot to breathe for a second. Soon
they joined in the shifting, and III wager
every one of US was sniff1ng as hard as
he knew how. Oh, but didn't that smell
fire, We weren't sure that it was for US,
but we had a smell of II, anyway. Quick
ly dropping spirits revived, and as the
fumes of the boiling stew became stronger
the humor of the men improved We all
Jumped to our work with will, and picks,
shovels and axes were piled in race horse
fashion, while the men would stop now and
then to raise their heads and draw a long
breath and exclaim:
Wow! but that smells good
I'VE were finally summoned to feed: ana
then You can imagine our surprise. lnere
was a big boiler and beside ii a crowd OF
mess tent men dishing out real beef stew:
We could hardly believe our eyes, and
had to taste mine first to make sure IL
wasn't dream. You should have seen the
expressions on the faces of the men as
they gulped down that stew, aud we al
laughed when one man yelled:
"'And it's got real onions in 1t, tooF
after we had loaded up we began II
wonder where 1t all came from, and then
the two Troop I men told how the colonel
had purcha sed the potatoes and onions
while his own cook secured the meat from
Siboney.
You probably won't believe it but the