Arizona republican., 1898-08-18
THE SOLDIERS SLEEP.

which 10 department can control No body's blunders can rob the soldier of it for long at time It's just plain. blessed sleep. 1t doesn't have to be carried in ships that get no orders to unload, it doesn't get side-tracked and lost, it doesn't lie useless within a few miles of men who are dying for lack iof it. It's always within reach of the tolerably healthy and clear-consci- enced. The commander-in-chief him self found it amid all his anxieties, the other afternoon, when he was waiting for Spain's reply. The heroes of San Itiago found it in their muddy trenches before the sound of the guns had died away.
 Stern duty, it is true, may keep it off for awhile, as it did from Lieuten- ant-Colonel Huntington's marines those first nights at Guantanamo, and las it does from every soldier on guard. But to the lusty man of outdoor life the full refreshing ration is always finally issued. It's different with us sedentary folk at home. Humor it as we will, it may flee from us, and if at last it is ours, it may desert us after few brief moments. In the field it's democracy appears. It is not to be wooed. It is master. It levels rank and IS no respecter of conditions.- The man who wanted the easiest of mat tresses at home is glad to drop down, spoon fashion, on the hot sand, in the wet grass, on the rocks-whereveT he happens to be when duty allows him to make requisition on generous na- ture Nature not only does not fail him or quibble with him; she contin- ues the supply of sleep till most vio- lent measures drive her away again. Nothing daunts her, if left to herself Thus hundreds of soldiers at Gettys- burg, after being hurried to the field by forced marches, slept peacefully un- der the guns during the most thun- derous artillery duel the world evei listened to. The one sovereign power that banisheth the soldiers sleep is the reveille, and even that not infrequently has to have a sergeant's boot for an ally.
 How a body can sleep when he's drilling and marching and eating salt horse" every day, or when he's brasses! Under canvas, four or six in 2 tent, on mattresses, CT in ham mock, he knows luxury kings might envy. He moves to another camp, h. has straw bags instead of mattresses le marches through a dreary country without shelter, he rolls up in his blankets CT poncho by i-ie roadside "hile the rain pours, he sleeps CT his irins in front of the enemy, and still he luxury is his. He closes his eyes, lis requisiticn is honored. There's nc ed tape there.
 Peaceful tourists who look upon Ma 9oleon's camp bed are surprised at t, and wonder that an emperor should have rested in it. It is much ike the iron cot beds Of OUT officer today in peace camps. To many young soldier who three months age would have scornsd it, it would look HOW as luxurious as the finest bed il, 5he Waldorf-Astoria For the enlisted men in peace camp, the rule is three cotton mattresses, which, when spread on the tent floor, are ample for foul men. In active service straw takes the place of the mattresses, with bag to stuff it into sometimes The off cer's cot disappears and whatever sub stitute he has provided is usually astray with the baggage. Many kinds Of portable cots have been invented and much time has been spent-before the present war-in studying the prob fem of the soldiers bed; but the main stay, after all, is the homely old bian- ket, tied in a roll for the march and wrapped around the body at night.
 And be the resting place never SC unin5iting, let the day have been never 50 exciting, welcome to the soldier is the sound of ''taps''-the call to sleep.
 Fittingly is taps" the call when the whole weary march and battle of life is over for him, and he lies at last in the slumber from which 10 human reveille shall ever wake him. The marching and the fighting go On, but he--happy warriOr--has got his dis charge.
 Little hell rsck if they let him sleep
 in the grave where our hero We
 buried