The National tribune., 1900-10-04

Sergeant Josiah Klegg, Co. @, 2OOth In
diana Infantry Volunteers:
Sir: / have the honor to report that
feel sufficiently recovered to rejoin my reg
iment, and shall Immediately proceed to
Indianapolis, and fall in with the squad
| there. l have the honor to be, very re-
spectfully,
Your obedient servant,
Henry G. Joslyn.
"Whew, he must've swallowed a field
order accidentally, somehow" gasped
Shorty.
The next letter, by its grabbed super
scription and other ear-marks, appeared
| to be from n youth of a legal turn of
mind. 1t read:
Josiah Klegg, esq, Sergeant, Co. Q, 200th
Indiana Volunteer Infantry.
Sir: AS / desire to take part in the
movement of the army which the news
papers say is about to begin, | herewith
and hereby, by these presents, notify you,
as Ihy superior officer, that l freely, will
ingly and without any constraint what
ever, waive, surrender and relinQuish all
my right, title and interest in such days
or parts of days of my furlough as have
not been taken up, occupied or enjoyed,
this to be without prejudice to either
party as to future rights, title and inter
est in other furloughs and leaves of alb
sence, and that l shall proceed tomorrow
to indianapolis to join the detachment of
said regiment at said place.
Very respectfully,
Montgomery Scruggs.
Great day." murmured the Deacon
that young feller'll be getting So apiece
for writing deeds, and be running for the
Legislature before he's out o the army
a year"
The fourth letter was in a weak, scrawl-
ing hand, and read:
Dear Sergeant 81: I'm very much bet
ter than when l come home, thanks to
mothers good cooking and nursing, and
am sure that l am about well, or will be
by the time we get to the regiment, and
see the boys again. There are several
boys here in town who are home on fur
Tough, but have been notified to join their
companies at once, and are in great spir-
its over it. Can't you order me to join
too? Father says 1 am not fit to go, but
/ know l am. Please send me orders to
so on to Indianapolis. 1 promise you 1
won't be bit of trouble, but will get
well right along. Send me the orders
right off, because all the rest of the boys
except under orders.
Yours truly,
Gideon Mackall.
"Poor boy" sighed Mrs. Klegg. "How
his mother must feel"
The fifth letter was directed in neat,
almost feminine hand, with careful attep-
tion to punctuation and alignment. II
read:
Sergeant Josiah Klegg:
Sir: | understand the object of send
ing us home was to regain our health,
so as to be fit for further service. The
medical knowledge which l have acquired,
and | may say it is considerable, enables
me to say that, as far as l am concerned,
l am again quite fit for service, especial
ly hospital duty, to which the Surgeon has
promised to assign me, and / will ac-
cordingly go to Indianapolis to join the
detachment of our regiment there, and
leave with it for the front
Very respectfully,
Alfred b. Russell.
"TlI give that Teller horse, and buy
him set of pill-bags as soon as he gets
out of service" laughed the Deacon.
The sixth letter was addressed in a
scrawling, boyish hand to Shorty, and
read:
"Now, look here, Corprill Elliott. me &
sandy thinks that you & Sarjint 81 is
tryin to sneak off 2 the regiment, & leave
me & sandy behind. Sandy says so, too.
If you do its real mean of you. But you
cant do it, smart as you think you are,
tho mebbe you have already. Mother sails
she will lock me up if l try to so, Il
sandy's mother sais the saim thing. All
the saim there's a Sunday school excus
shon down to near Indianapolis next Sat
urday, & me & sandy's going with it. We
can walk the rest of the way, or steal a
ried on frate car. Wele get to the reg
iment before you do, if you don't look out,
with all your scartness, now see if we
don't. YOude a heap better play fair, and
talk us along with you, x saiv trubble.
Yours till deth,
Peter Skidmore Il Alexander Baker.
Little brats," said Maria GROSSLY. Both
ought to be spanked and sent to bed.
What good can such trundle-bed trash do
in the army?"
They've done a great deal of good"
said 81, gravely, ''and they'll do good
deal more, if they're only well again, of
which I'm much afraid. You can't judge
anybody by his size, Maria. If you did,
you'd have Shorty commanding the reg
iment. Col. McGillicuddy only comes n
little above his shoulder"
Maria ran her eye, not without approx
al, over Shorty's commanding hight and
muscular proportions, and then remarked
in. her sarcastic way as she retired to the
kitchen to assist in the kneading and bak-
ing for the coming wedding:
If he knew enough to command reg