The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-09-06
MECHANICS FOR VOLUNTEERS.
The Soldier Lads Have Rechristened
One Another in amp.
From the New York Sun.

From the New York Sun.
Camp life among those of the volunteers
who have not had the good fortune to be
sent to the front has resulted in the prac-
teal remaining of almost every man in
every company. The intimacy of the daily
routine brings every idiosyncracy into
strong relief and the labelling nickname
follows Immediately upon the perception
of character. "A few hours spent among
the boys win supply a close observer with
a complete index TO The personnel of
company. A shreWd officer is glad to learn
what name man passes under with his
fellows, for the nicknames of the camp
have a descriptive potency which often
throws useful tight upon disposition and
behavior.
A reporter recently visited a Long Island
station in search of a volunteer friend.
The name appeared 10 be unknown.
Private Brown? Private Brown?Doesn't
belong here, l guess. What sort of a fel-
low is he?'
Description followed, personal and biog-
raphical
oh, you mean Daredevil Dick, I guess.
Cali up Daredevil Dick, one of you"
Daredevil Dick appeared, and he was
the man wanted In days of peace, it is
true, he would not have suggested any
such terrible ideas as his camp name indi-
Gated, but on observation it was impossi-
bic to ignore the fitness of his title. With
thoughts of war and the educating eXper-
fence of the soldiers life he had developed
a latent recklessness or nonchalance of
manner. He had been ditfident. studiOus,
reserved; now he wore all the air of
traditional Western cowboy, fearing moth
ing and nobody, ready for anything, resc-
lutte to take life and men and things as
they might come and make the best of
them. The nickname fitted him like a
glove. On question he admitted that he
liked it.
1T was good naturedly given, and IL is
a constant stimulus. Dare deviltry, as they
mean it, is a good thing to help a fellow
on in life. 1 guess l Won't change it,
But your name isn't Dick"
ooh, that doesn't matter. Some fellow
dug the name out Of a book, I believe, and
it seemed to fit me down here so every
body took it up. They like the ALTERATION.
There's Handsome Harry now. Nobody
knows whether his name is Harry or not,
and nobody cares. But, you see, he thinks
no end of a lot of himself, is always pol
ishing up his buttons and setting his hat
at different angles to see which suits him
best. He carries a little mirror about with
him and arranges his curls every few
minutes and twists up his mustache and
f1icks the dust off his shoes. Altogether
they see that he thinks he looks nice
as he does, by the way-so they give him
the name. But he likes it, all right, and
1 dare say he'd fight like the devil, in
spite of his vanity. Most of the fellows
got names like that? Why yes; all of
them, 1 guess. A good many of them
mean much the same sort of thing. There's
'Swaggers,' for example, bit of a boast
er; a little too much stuck on himself.
And Lady F<iller'-that explains itself, es-
peciaIly if you allow a little for irony.
Then we have 'Fire-Eater,' a good sort
of chap, and in deadly earnest, too; lost
a friend on The Maine, and goes about
remembering it all the time and vowing
vengeance; that's how he earned his name
Some other examples? Well, we have
most of the ordinary school names, of
course-'Carrots,' Ginger and that sort
of thing Names of countries. too, swell
our list We have Irish Mike for eX-
ample, and The Bold Ital.ano, addressed
as Ttalano' simply. There's a Terrible
Turk too No, he's not a real Turk, but
he thinks a lot of his wrestling. And we
have 'Frenchy, a Greek, who knows lot
of languages; most of them, do you know
He speaks Greek, Turkish Armenian, and,