The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-02-13
IDEALS
And Reality Are Not
the Same.
A RECRUITS STORY
OF Army Life Shows the
Difference.

as 1T is fairly true Of all, it may not
be uninteresting to the relatives and
friends Of the more than 100 Worcester
boys who have enlisted since that time
and the scores of young men who are
considering enlistment since Worcester
has been made a recruiting station. 1t
can best be told in his words:
I entered the recruiting station in
Boston one morning early In May, more
to observe things than with any serious
intentions of enlistment The stairs
and ante-rooms We're crowded with
score of sturdy fellows, any one of
whom, judging from appearances,
might nave been able to have fought his
weight in wildcats. And yet out of that
~ men, not 10 fulfilled the surgeons
requirements. No sooner had they
passed the test of eyesiEht than they
were subjected to one OF the seyerest
physical tests imaginable. Stripped OF
every stitch of clothing, most of them
learned for the first time in their lives
what poor specimens of physical man
hood they were. One after another they
We're told to stand aside, and in all that
Gays work only eight were passed by
tne examining surgeon, and the trials
Fthey passed through were almost as
bad as lighting the Spaniards a month
later.
Il have very vivid recollections of
| the minute description made by the
surgeon after the examination was
! over l asked him his reason for that
ana received the very cheerful informa-
| ton that 1t was to be used in case the
| identity of the body was brought in
question if it should be found upon the
battlefield But, said he, you have
| still time to draw out OF this thing IL
you want to. Now, have got a cellar
want Whitewashed at my home out
at Cambridge, this afternoon, and II
you care to do 1t, 1t will give you time
| to think this matter over. I selected
the Spaniards in preference to the cell
lar, but two OF the successful warriors
started for Cambridge, and, as far as
nave been able to learn, thew have
| never been seen since. The surgeon g
explanation Of the description was too
much for them.
| For three days we lived high and
| slept in the garnet of the recruiting
office and dined at the Sherwood on
fremont street, by numbered ticket,
! Those meals at the Sherwood were
tender memories when we started on
the road looking for luck in the shane
OF ham sandwich. On the Monday
| evening following the day of enlistment
each man was given So in cash and a
bundle OF variegated sandwiches and
started on the road to Fort Mcpherson.
| Georgia. -
/ "A more magnificent combination of
Pure patriotism and general cussedness
| never rode out of Boston than on that
night. There were all storrs and sizes
from the big six-footer who had passed
| All MS life down on the farm to the
little saWed-off that had left the AL
l cor
because he had been locked a haIf-dol.
lar Tor violating one of its rules. Long
| before we reached New Tondon
shorty and the six-footer had disfig-
ured one another over the proper d.
VISION OF the ham sandwiches, and jf
we hadn't struck Putnam, Conn.
just as we did, most Of us would have
been taken to the hospital at Govern
ors Island the next day. Some one
suggested that there was a bar room
at the depot, and the warriors fell over
one another to get in line in front of
the mahogany. In the grand shuttle
OF the beer glasses and a change of
trains, five men were lost and the old
regular III charge of the squad simply
nlpped chew Off his plug and
scratched them off the list with The
observation that those five hoboes were
simply out of LUCK 1T will ooet
them two months wages when thew 40
turn up-and they'll turn up all right J
said he: You can gamble on that.
NOW, the next man that slows This
That's all ''-'s0 ~
That was enough for the men he
was talking to, and in a minute it was
taking the conductor and all the train
men to separate the bunch. Every
pody in that car was out for fight and
looking for it bad; they wanted to get
IN good trim for the Spaniards. one
young fellow who had done nothing
but sell calico for six years previo,Ies
told me, as he bandaged up his nose
that he might as well die one way as
another; he never expected TO eet
back, anyhow and he proposed to hang
out to the finish. His father and his
fathers father had died for their co,ln-
try, and why shouldn't he?
There was no fighting on the Sound
steamboat that night; everybody was
TOO weak to fight, but business was re-
neWed Immediately the gang struck the
soil of New York and the only good
Fellows were those who had saved
any part of the 50 UP to that point.
They We're only good rs long as IL lasted
and two Of the survivors had courage
and strength enough to hold on TO
some loose silver until Washington was
reached. But the rest had kept care
full tabs on them, and they could dol
nothing but yield Up. At Cincinnati
all that the thirsty members could
do was to read the sign on the brew
cries and as last desperate resort.
urged on by the squad leader d visit
was made to cheap John and good
clothes were exchanged for hand
downs, and a small cash balance, and
the bank was opened once again. six
hours were passed inspecting the fa-
nous breweries, and by singular ia
tality the parting visit was made to
a resort near the depot that bore the
remarkably apt sign emblazoned over
the door of The Last Chance
THAT Is exactly what it was. In "a
hours from that time we were eating
'slum' among the Spanish prisoners
down at Fort Mcpherson, and sleeping
on the mule straw In the rear of the
quarters occupied by the colored in
fantry. The first night most of those
Massachusetts recruits dreamed of
nothing but the Sherwood Hotel and
the So that they left Boston with. In
the early morning before they had had
time to recover from the shock, they
were washing down the barrack floors
| and hunting for dirt on the parade
ground under sun that shed a heat
far up in the sos.
For three days 1T was a never end
ing routine of eating SUM, washing
floors and drilling in the awkward
squad. Somehow the patriotism had
dwindled. but the cussedness remained
and manifested itself on the slightest
provocation. A race war had sprung
up between the recruits from the Bay
State and the colored regulars back OF
the barracks and the Boston recruits la
bored under the disadvantage OF not
knowing the material they had to meet.
When the clash came it was terrific,
and in the aftermath the new arrivals
fn ha f4rat rf fho