The Goodland republic. [volume] (Goodland, Kan.) 1891-1907, 1899-07-14
CHARACTER OF CHAPLAINs.
Some Furnish Excellent Examples
OF PrObify and Others FAN
from Grace.

That the army is not exactly cOndU-
Give to the upbuilding Of splendid moral
characters is pretty. generally cOnced-
ed, but soldiers sometimes have things
to say about their spiritual advisers
that induce one to believe something Of
what Sam Small had to say about chap
lains - that they are not very much
good and are merely "sops to public
sentiment"
Many chaplains are as good men In
the army as out and the lives Of strict
upright Christianity they led before en-
tering the army have been followed up
with even greater precision than be
fore they dOffed their clerical Testments
to don the soldiers coat with the cross
on the shoulder strap. But there are
others.
A regiment that arrived not long
since from Cuba and passed on through
TO another city TO be mustered out had
what the soldiers denOminated a peach
OF a chaplain" He had been a minis
ter before entering the service and it is
probable he viii return TO his congre-
CATION when he is mustered out and be
as sanctimOnius as requirements de-
mand- But in the army he has been
looked upon as a sort Of bon viTant and
a rare old sport.
While the chaplain did not play poker,
he was yet a judge Of the great game,
and It always gave him a, pain TO see
a novice losing golden opportunities
with good hands. He sat behind an
officer, young in the service, on the way
I'D from Cuba. Time had hung heavily
and a quiet little six-handed game had
started. Pay day had been almost for
gotten and it had been so long since
the paymaster had turned over the
crisp new bills that Uncle Sam uses to
pay of his soldiers, so the limit was
small.
The chaplain was interested. Per
haps in his younger and sinful days
he had bucked the striped cat himself,
and a little Of the virus of those days
remained. He continued to inspect the
hands as they were dealt the officer in
front Of him. The latter was not su-
perstitiOus and made no objection to
the chaplain sitting behind him, but
finally he got three jacks. Another
player made a good stiff bluff and raked
down the pot the jacks should have
chaplain. ''Why the mischief didn't
you kick him uP?" which, In the days
Of the pastor chaplain's youth, meant
raise him."
When one of the regiments dis
charged here was about to go out Of
the service a question arose about the
chaplain. His senior officers were in
a Quandary. The chaplain had for
saken the strait and narrow paths, Of
ficers and men said, and there had been
nothing of a very religious character
about him since his connection with
the command, though he had been a
good preacher before securing his com
mission and had stood we'll in the
church. IT was another example Of the
effect Of army life. Finally 1t was de-
cided to hold a court Of inquiry to look
into the chaplain's record, and the re-
suit was that he was the only officer
in the regiment who received q dis
charge reading service not honest and
faithful"
One Of the best fellows in the world
was a chaplain who was here for awhile.
He had a lot Of friends in Savannah,
but they did not see what he was
chaplain for. They called it practical
religion, but the designation nailed the
general run Of practical religion as
Intensely impractical, for it was as diff
ferent from that shown by the chaplain
as If could well have been. The chap
lain had never shown any great fond
ness for holding services even in this
country, and when his command
reached Cuba their frequency was not
increased. His plea, when his brother
officers jOEed him about it, was that
he had no place to hold services. III
call that bluff" a young captain de-
cided, and he got lot Of his men to-
gether and built a tabernacle" The
bluff was called and the chaplain
went to the declz.'-Savannah News.