The National tribune., 1900-09-27

| heard issuing forth shouts of joy. UpoI
other tents were to be seen There shall
| be no swearing or cardplaying allowed
here" Yet in the course of Il few months
there was lull in our religious enthusi
| assn.
1t is frequently asserted that it is al
most impossible for soldier engaged il
active campaigning to wholly maintain hi:
| true Christian character. Yet, there wer,
many who remained loyal and true t.
their early Christian training through
their entire service, and only returned
home after the last rebel put down hi:
| arms.
True. card-playing was INDUCED in by
many of our regiment; not a/gambling
game, but harmless recreation and amuSe
ment. But let us see. We are speaking
of life in the early COS, when we were
not the battIe-scarred, stoop-shouldered
furrow-cheeked and gray-haired men OF
today, but boys five and SiX-foot saplings
and felt that we could out-run, out-jump
out-shoot and out-lick treble our number
of any rebel band that the boastful South
ern States dare trot out against us.
Early the next morning after our ar
rival in camp we were awakened by q
fellow who came through our company
quarters yelling like a hyena, why in
thunder don't you get up? Don't you
hear the morning reveille?" We reply:
Yes, we hear terrible din of flies and
drums. but don't know what it's all
about why, reveilIe, of course" end
ing with a iong-drawn-out Company
fall in" Now we are stuck again; but
being anxious to see what we are going
TO fall in, we hastily dress ourselves and
step out of Uncle Sans lodging house,
when we find a lot of boys standing in
Il line as if they were going to have a
spelling match. We hastily join them,
~ IL, h. Il
Wintry winds that blew through the
cracks in our company quarters. and got
in line just as the Captain yelled out,
Attention, company. Dress up" Gee
Whit We thought if anybody out there
wasn't dressed up, they had better be
about it and save funeral expenses. The
Orderly then produced a roll of paper and
began to read lot of names, which quiet
ed our fears and convinced us that we
should never come to want. There We're
Bears, Wolves and Lambs, living har-
HloniOusly beside host of Hunters, Fish
eIs, Carpenters and Shoemakers.
After roll call was over we were re-
minded of breakfast. Mothers table was
not to be found Oh, goodness. we will
surely starve. We don't know anything
about the culinary art, therefore our ex
perience in the cooking department was
not promising, as in some unaccountable
to such proportions that we were puzzled
to find storage room for the surplus.
While sojourning in Camp Latta we
had a greater and more complete variety
Of visitors than in any camp covering our
entire service, as quite often fathers and
mothers, sisters and brothers visited US.
who We'd with each other in making US
the happiest lot of beardless guardians of
liberty on earth.
Many of the boys had their violns, and
the cold Winter evenings of December
and January resounded with music and
song until late into the night, interspersed
with the whistling of the noted human
mocking- bird, Jim McEntire, who upon
one occasion gave a. stag entertainment
in the Court House at Napoleon.
How our young hearts thumped with
delight when We first received our En-
field muskets and marched out of our
camp, keeping step to the soul-stirring mu-
sic of fife and drum. How fierce our Of
ficers looked as with swords a-port they
gave the command, acknowledgements
And, presto, how those
guns would Immediately find lodgment
on our shoulders in all conceivable ways,
Just as we used to carry our rifles when
hunting game in the Maumee woods
How we used to march and counter
march around our parade ground, a short
distance east of camp, and we thought
that another day Of such hard soldering
and marching would make us fit subjects
for q cOrOnerS inquest, as we were quite
sure that if we learned how to be sol
der much longer our organs of locomo-
ton would drop off, and our arms be
pulled out of their sockets. And thankful
We T"re when we turned our faces to-
ward our camp, where we threw ourselves
down on our last nights couch, and med
itated upon the uncertainties of life. and
how long before this cruel war would end.
But we were boys then, and little did we
realize what war, cruel war, was to mean
to the rank and file of our noble com
mand.
The mysterious workings of fate were
even in Camp Latta. as to the
with which our camp guard
the camp kettles, said to CON
tain canal water. The guard, however,
would buit their hooks and go fishing in
those kettles, when, behold. what they
found we dare not tell. Suffice it to say
that some of the boys who had seen ser
vice in the 2lst and 18th Ohio, in the
three months service, had learned well
how to forage, and when any of the boys
appeared at the main entrance to the
camp carrying a camp kettle, the above
tactics were carried out, much to the cha
grin of the owner.
CHRISTMAS TINE.
On the evening preceding Christmas
several Of the boys of Co. | began to
consider the subject Of Christmas din
mel. SO early the next morning each one
provided himself chicken. The chickens
were nicely dressed and deposited in q
camp kettle, and hung over Il campfire
But in the hurry and hustle of the occa-
sion a greasy, dirty dishrag disappeared,
and look as we did in all sorts of places,
our pickets. it could not be
found. In due time our Christmas din
ner was ready, when each one seized his
tin plate and proceeded to help himself
out Of kettle full of yellow legged chick
en-. But in sounding the depth of that
kettle, up came our lost dishrag, and the
time we had dividing up the choice NOR
sci would have put to blush an epicure
The old saying that dishrag soup was a
cure for inconsistencies never proved more
true, as none of those who partooii of
that grand Christmas dinner ever pined
for home.
Much might be written upon life as we
saw it III our first camp Of instruction, in
ending the many laughable jokes we
upon each other, where a con-
tinual round of pleasure and enjoyment
burst forth each day; which assisted us
10 remove all thoughts of inconvenience
incident to our newborn life.
We were boys fresh from our pleasant
homes, and few of us had become adj
dIeted to the use of tobacco in any form,
The fumes of the weed had not tainted
our breath or its Juice stained orr live