Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1899-08-31
A MANS MAKING.

The Judge" paused long enough to
change the position Of the stick he was
whiting, shift the chew Of tobacco
from one side Of his mouth to the other
and then glance around at the two
young men sitting on the plank side
walk on either side Of him.
The judge was go; not fat and
40, but fatter and 80. His six feet Of
height was burdened with the painful
necessity Of carrying 800 pounds when
he walked and of supporting the same
weight when he did not move. The
judge supported it usually, and that
was the reason his clothes wore out SO
much more quickly at one certain place
than at any other. He went up and out
from his feet to his waist and then up
and in from his waist to the top of his
head-an %hourglass cut in two and put
together again with the large ends in
the middle. A fringe of long, dirty
looking hair showed from under the
band Of his SLOUGH hat. Through the
mole in the top Of the hat one caught
an occasional glimpse of a bald and
shining spot, the peak of his head try
ing to get through into the fresh air.
But the strength had gone from his hair
to his beard, for his whiskers were long
and bushy and his mustaches equally
SO. Judge spoke, not with a drawl,
but with that slow movement peculiar
to fat and lazy people. Yet the little
gray eyes sparkled ali the time, as
though they had absorbed all the energy
in the man.
"Well, boys" he continued, after
completing his survey, "where'd you
be now if you'd enlisted?"
The younger of his auditors answered:
"If we'd gone with the state regi.
ment, we'd be at Manila probably. But
II we'd gone with Grigsby's cowboys
we'd be at Chickamauga, judge"
eyes, that's it, boys. And it'sd--d
hot there in the summer time. l spent
2 couple of summers in that country in
1884 with the army. Had a good
place, too, boys, where l didn't have
much hard work to do, but it was hot
all the same"
"What did you do, father?' asked
Charlie, who was the judges youngest
son
~ was judge advocate Of the regi-
ment. But soldering is hard work, no
matter what you've got to do. It'sa
dogs life"
"Yes, we know that, judge" the 9TH
or boy, Henry, said, ''but we decided
we could stand it and had sand enough
to do what we were told to do without
kicking, and we thought if we did all
that and did it III we might have .
chance for promotion"
"W.e.l.l, boys, I don't believe I'd go
as a private in any company. You can't
tell what kind Of an ass you're going to
have bossing you. Some Of the bosses
may be all right, but there's bound to
be n you can't get along with"
"Yes, father, we know it would be
hard, but we thought we could stand it,
even if we didn't like it,"
"That's all right, boys, but you don't
know anything about it. You've got to
enlist and see for yourself. It's bad
enough when you are an officer, but
when you're just a private it's id
bad"
"Did you enlist as a private, judge?'
Henry asked.
"No, Hal; I organized a company and
was elected captain and held that rank
until | got to be judge. You see, I came
out to Iowa from Ohio when I was quite
a kid and had been living there for some
time when the war broke out, so every
body knew me, and as I was always a
good natured cuss they all seemed to
like me"
The judges stick and tobacco needed
attention, and he was silent while he
looked after them. Then he went on:
"We had a colonel that was the big
gest ass / aver saw. He got the office
through political friends, and he didn't
know B from bulls foot. Our lieuten-
ant colonel was a pretty decent sort Of
u man, and the two majors were fair.
But that colonel! He was so mean that 7
[ never saw him, but I didn't want to
snatch a gun from one Of my men and
shoot him. l had enough sense not to
say anything, although the colonel did
know I didn't like him extra well.
I got the chance | had been
for to tell him what I thought
IT him. But see hsre, boys, if you eve
into the army don't you think of do.
anything like it. I was young then
md a little foolish"
1.-THE COLONEL shan't call any
iames-got us into such a bad fix ON
he battlefield that he had to resign to
leep from being kicked out. And there
vas a big feast in honor Of his depar-
ure. OF course 1t wal supposed to have
,een got up as a token Of his under
regard for him. After we had
eating-it was in the lieuten-
mt colonel's tent-and the whisky and
vine and cigars were on the speech
began. The colonel made q lit
le talk, saying how sorry be was to
rave as, and all that sort Of thing.
hen the lieutenant colonel and the twot
majors made a little speech. They all
nd something about the colonel being
UGH a fine man and officer and how
prry they were to see him leave-evsry.