The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1899-05-12

Vic map
sob, wish l was in the land Of cot
toni" played the band as the regiment
came marching by.
A convalescent soldier leaning on his
cane near our party drew in his breath
with sharp, whistling sound.
SCI wish to God wasi" he murmur-
ed.
Then he stiffened up and took off his
hat, for the colors were passing
The regiment countermarched at the
end of the parade and marched back on
the road to the barracks and disappear
ed through the gate.
wish was in the land of cotton;
Olden times are not forgotten
Look away! look away. look away to Dixie
land!
The music of the band died away
The sun slowly sank and darkness gath
cred The Americans walked silently
down the hill The convalescent soldier.
Joined them
"What did you think of itT" he ask
ed. "Fine, said we. 1T was the best
appearing regiment l have seen in Gu
ba, said the army captain
"Say. said the soldier suddenly
"you are not going back to the States
and say that. are your
Certainly, replied the captain.
"It's true, isn't it?" He turned to me.
"Why, yes. ;" replied. 81 wouldn't
hesitate to say that dress parade was
magnificent thing and that regiment as
soldierly lot of men as ever saw.
''Look here You are not going to put
that in the paper. are your asked the
soldier
"Why. yesl Why notf'
"Why notY Why, because the people
at Washington will read it, and they
will make us stay in this God forsaken
land another thousand years. Look
here" he went on appealingly, "Iwant
to go home. We all want to go home
except the officers. Don't say we are
good Don't say that the regiment is
the best you ever saw. Say it's bad.
Won't you. please2 Say it's the worst
looking gang you ever came up with in
your life 1t won't hurt you. Nobody
will know the difference. Why. / guess
most people have forgot there ever was
such thing as the Fourth Immune
regiment. Say we are on the verge of
mutiny and ought to be sent home in
disgrace Won't your That will help
us out.
He seemed 10 like the idea. for he
went on rapidly That's the stuff.
Tell 'em we're so rotten that the insur-
gent soldiers don't have any respect for
us and that If we are not taken home
the insurgents are liable to attack us
and drive us off the island Say we
don't look able to fight detachment
of the Salvation Army Give us holy
roast. and it'll make the department
mad. and they'll say What's all this
about The Fourth immunes What
are the Fourth immunesr Oh. yes,
that's regiment. amt it9 Well. where
are theys Let's bring EN- back home
and send decent regiment there that
reflects some credit on the United
States That's what they'll say Do
that for us, won't your
He stopped at the beginning of the
town
81 can't go any farther But do that
for us. won't your You don't know
how tired we are of being Robinson
Crusoes Say I've got a mother at home
and / want to go back.
We walked away and left him. But
that night as the passengers sat on the
deck of the Antinojenes Hernandez and
watched the water widening between
the steamer and the pier there was a
shout from the shore. In the moonlight
we could see the figure of the soldier
we had met at parade. He formed his
hands into a speaking trumpet and
shouted after us;
"Do that. won't your Say we are
going to mutiny and join the insur-
gents. Say anything We want to go
homel We want to go homel' The
steamer came about and stood straight
out to sea. But as far as we could dis
Germ objects on the lonely coast of Man
zanillo we saw dimly forlorn figure
leaning on cane, and once or twice
the night wind carried his voice to us
again. II want to go home, go homel',
R. H. Little in Chicago Tribune
Brides Who Prefer Wet Weather.
A Breton bride rather likes to have q
wet wedding; 1t is held to signify that
all her tears are now shed, and that
she WILL therefore have happy mar
ried life. know of no similar belief
in the British isles. The Era Of Sim
brisk call the day before the wedding
the weeping day, and the bride and her
girl friends weep all they can. with
the idea it would. seem, of getting the
mourning of life over, 80 that only joy
may remain The Badagas of the
Neilgherries attain the same end by
sousing the bride with water; some
Greek tribes have similar belief In
the virtue of a drenching.
Mheeler's Mistake.
In obtaining the first report Of a bat
tie on one occasion, General Whee.er