The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-10-01

the cavalry. Once in a while ''the men
behind the guns" are seen in the streets
of Worcester when the jolly jack tars,
some who served with Sampson and
Schley, and one or two with Dewey, are
seen taking a hitch in their trousers
with considerable vigor. The sea soldier,
the marine, is a branch of the service
rarely seen in this city till the recent
opening of the marine recruiting station
on Front street. The corporal in charge
of that Office is the possessor of five diff
ferent uniforms, but he does not have
any more than the private. 1t has been
aptly said that marine has but little
else to do than to change his uniforms
while he is on duty
The exhibition of smart looking uni
| forms, while it goes a great way in the
matter Of getting recruits, is not all the
| on-commissioned officers. do in the
way of getting recruits for the differ
ent branches of the service. The Off
GERS at the local recruiting stations
| have a good deal of clerical work to do.
Some Of The Spy readers may have re-
| ceived recently a long official looking
envelope with the words War depart
ment" printed on the corner and on the
other end the penalty of use, 5000, for
other than official business. The recip-
| lent has many different feelings before
afraid that he has done something that
he is to be called down for, and then
again he thinks that he is to get gov
eminent position, perhaps. If he hap
pens to be one of the many volunteers
who served from this city in the war
with Spain he has visions for the mo-
ment of commissions in the army of the
United Safes and that the secretary of
the war department is writing to him
4 = hi fO 1t hot bo
has unconsciously let slide. He is quick
ly disabused of all these notions when
he opens that official looking envelope
and finds that he has a simple request
for his services as a recruit to help
make up the many vacancies in the diff
ferent regiments that the country is
rapidly filling for service in the Philip
pines.
His vanity will receive quite a shock
If he has fondly expected something
better. and nine cases out of ten the
envelope and it's contents are assigned
to the waste basket. But the other
case is what the astute recruiting Off
Ger is looking for. He reads it and
ponders, hesitates and is lost. In a
few days he calls at the recruiting sta
ton Here he meets the genial officer
in charge and the latter quickly sizes
up his man. The applicant usually be-
r.
ton and the glib uniformed minion of
Uncle Sam soon has the applicant with
his eyes sticking out of his head with
establishment at the wierd tales that are
told him. Usually the non-coms in
charge are men with previous service
in the army or navy, and one who mas
served in one of the wars of recent date.
He has a fund of stories of the good
times that the private will have pro-
vided he enlists. He paints such
vivid picture that the "would-be roo
key thinks that he is to go on reg
ular junket His life is to be one con-
tinual round OF pleasure, and he has
nothing to do but salute his superior
officers and say Yes, sir" in response
to their commands.
In the progress of the preliminary
talk. the sergeant, with little skillful
questioning. finds out whether the APP
pIicant is 8 single man or not, what
his age is, if he is naturalized
or native born citizen of
this country, whether he can read
and write, has ever been i'll, what his
deceased relatives of the fourth remove
died Of, and many other questions that
he has to ask. The unsuspecting appli-
cant is not aware of the cross-exan1in-
ing he is undergoing, for the ever-smil-
ing sergeant is all the while inteTspers-
ing his questions with funny stories and
anecdotes of what happened when the
sergeant was nothing but a poor pri-
vate with the gallant Sixth Massachu-
setts in Porto Rico. He tells how he
stole chickens in Ponce; at the same
time he is finding out whether the in
tending soldier ever had rheumatism
or varcose veins, and whether he ever
was afflicted with hammer toe.
The applicant, if he has intention of
enlisting at all never goes out Of the
office without avowing his intentions of
becoming one of Uncle SANS defenders.
IF he proves to be physically fit, he is
examined by the physician of the office.
This is the only method that the local
office employs in getting recruits. They