The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1899-07-08

Qh, well, father, you must make some
allowances" said Mrs. Lindsay. These
boys don't remember the other war;
II guess they DON'T just good an
guess they wouldn't be spoutin' so much
about bein' heroes an all that. There's
a blamed sight O. difference between
chasin' some runt Of a dagO with white
feather in each hand and chasin'a six
foot Johnny Reb that Jest raises up on
his everlastin' hind legs an comes at you
like runaway horse, breathin' out
smoke out of his nose an ears, y Cory,
an yellin' like an Injun. It's easy
enough to chase ANYTHING that runs the
other way, but this hero jobs got its
drawbacks when the other feller gets it
into his head that he wants to do the
chasin' and sWoops out O. the woods like
an Ioway cyclone, by Gosh, pumpin'
lead into you till you git too heavy to
run. Battle When we had 'em stacked
up till we couldn't see over 'em an every
regiment uz whitfield down to a
company an our flags uz blown into
carpet rags an the blood got SO deep it
wet the ammunition in the wagons We
used to begin to suspect that we'd had a
battle. Somethin' little less argymen-
tative than that we called skirmish.
Anything the size O. this San Jewan
basket-meetin' we didn't keep no tally
OF atall. That kind O. come under thu
head O. target practice"
Il wouldn't be too hard OIL 'em, father.
They say these boys fought real we'll
down there in Cuby."
"Well, to see 'em struttin' around
town here in their cowboy hats and
gassin' in front Of every store you'd
think, by Cracky, that every one O them
had chawed up a thousand O. them
Spanish generals, whiskers an all. You
take some old codger that crawled
through them swamps for four years,
dodgin' mimic balls and nothin' to keep
him alive but hardtack an slough water,
an he amt in it no moro with one O
these cussed little whlpper-snappers, by
ginger, that well, you ought to heard
old Cap Nesbit the other night after post
meetin'. He made few remarks about
these kid soldiers that wouldn't pass
muster in crowd O women, but they
wnz satisfyin' to me-"
Il don't see why Cap Nesbit wants to
pick onto those boys. l think they de-
serve a lot O. credit for goin' down there
III that hot country to fight.
"Enlistin's all right an 6ghtin's all
fright, il you do it. don't begrudge no
man the credit OF goin' out an hghtin'
for his country. These boys done well
as far as they went, but ! don't want no
/ kid to tell me what war is until he's been
through one. These young fellers got
q sniff O blood. and now they think
They've been through the slaughter
house. There's old Dan Bailey that got
shot so often he didn't mind it at taH to-
4 wards The last. laid in Andersonyille
4 till he was a rack O. bones, come home
here lookin' like a corpse aud amt seen
a we'll day since, and he amt as big a
man in this town today as that grandson
o. his that went down there to Porty
Rico last winter an laid in a hammock
for six months smokin' cigarettes. He's
what they call 9 hero now-had an ice.
cream reception for him when he come
home, didn't they? I don't recknllect
that anybody had an ice. cream reception
for old Dan when he come home. Heroes
wuzn't quite so gosh-danged scarce
about that time. Nobody paid any atten
tion to 'em. They used to ship 'em hert
4 by the carload. and most OF 'em wen
A right on through town an out to thl
graveyard. Wuzn't it you mother, tina
wuz readin' the other day about som,
regiment that wouldn't git on a trail
hecuz they wuzn't no sleepers? Grea
Jehoshophatl I'd like to seen somebod
ask cid Col. Griggs for a sleepin' cal
: I'd like to beard what he'd say. Sleepin
:. Ecarsl We wnz tlcklcd to death to ge
: box cars, cattle cars anything o.
wheels. We didn't have no porter t
brush our clozs, for the darned goo
reason that we didn't have no cloze t
brush. Then there's altthis talk abou
:. embammed beef. We'd a been might
!. glad to git embammed. petriiet
moldy or any other way. We though
. we wuz lucky il we could git hunk
salt pork to drop in with the beans no
lam then. We wuzn't out on no moor
II light excursion, by Gosh, playin' ia
J, with lot o tambourine players. "
.. was In the underhrush, dad ding N
g buttons, hayin' 1t out with the toughe
Lotto human panthsrs that ever wol
uniforms. Ar yit, like as not, II we /
Ie to breakin' in on this San Jewan celebr
~ H tion, III git a back seat in the CALLER
y We amt heroes, / guess. Wy, Z
Decoration day these kids marched
front. every one Of 'em puffed up like
"a toad in n Thunderstorm bigger ma
n than old Grant, as The feller says. No
they're goini to Celebrate the annyyersal