Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1902-07-16

~ bphhhiSo hplhS DuSl-
ness at the same old stand and unwill-
ing to be interfcred with. We always
could reach them in IL days march, con.
sumo another day In passing along their
entire front and still another in return
ing to camp. They seldom returned our
attentions In force, probably because
they had not large enough force to
feel safe when far from home. Be-
sides, they could learn all they liked
about our post and its camps, for ev-
cry farmer and planter in the county
was source of information to them.
We never got into big engagement.
1t wasn't our business, except when
we were accompanied by large force
of infantry and artillery, to worry the
Confederacy by making believe that
the ION to Richmond" movement of
the Potomac army was to be made
from our direction. When we went
alone, the enemy did not worry much.
for they had a broad, deep stream
along their entire front. They could
c'-'-tly take up the planking of the
.idge within ten miles, so they
i@~.vuanged Shot and shells with us
across the river with the calm conf.
dence of tho card player who holds all
the trumps.
Our colonel had been quite right In
saying that the first scout was worth
more to us than n month of drill. The
men learned to sit In their saddles and
not to be afraid of their horses, SO we
were able to begin mounted drill In
good shape and progress rapidly. Man
ranks lower than his horse in all good
cavalry regiments, SO 1t was not until
we had completed the stables that our
own winter quarters were begun. By
this time, however. we learned, to our
delight, that we were too valuable to
consume our time in common labor. A
number of the 'contrabands" Fugitive
slaves who had made our post a place
OF refuge were sent into the woods to
cut trees and split shingles, and Just
before Christmas each company had a
great log house, about IS feet by so,
Tor Its winter home. A small contrbu-
ton from each man enabled us to put
up stove. which tempered the winter
air, and one new member, who had al
ways lived in the tenement house dis
trict IN New York, said he never before
mad known SO comfortable home.
Killing time In the winter season
was almost as hard as killing the en-
envy, for there was such an appalling
lot OF time ahead of US. Some men
played cards all day, except while eat
Ing and sleeping; others read incessant-
~; still others did nothing but smoke.
Some seemed to spend much of their
time writing. l liked to observe these,
Tor they had more heart in their faces
Tor the time being and as knew some
OF the people to whom the letters were
going amused myself by Imagining
the scenes when the letters were re-
ceived.
But 1t troubled me much that Ham.
ilton and Brainard were writing SO
perslstently to my cousin May. did
not see the letters, but heard of them
through my home correspondence. 1
knew that Brainard, who visibly wor-
shipped Nays portrait sometimes when
he supposed l was not looking, and
probably hundreds of other times, was
not the sort of man to change his re-
gard for any one, much less for
sweet girl. Some one had seen in
Hamilton's hands portrait of May. I
did not know that he brought one from
Summerton. was also troubled by
his manner toward Brainard. 1t was
not ugly, but it contained suggestion
of condescension not unmixed with
contempt, and l fancied Brainard no.
ticed it.
Still, what could l do in such
matter? May was no fonder Of coun-
sci than very young women In general,
nor was she less averse to admiration
in large quantities. could not mag
inc her in love with any one, for she
and had been rough and tumble play
mates, and knew only the tomboy
and fun loving side Of her nature.
After much thought over the rivals
and their respective chances, could
only hope, for the sake Of peace. that
she would not give the slightest encour-
agement to either, but would be won
by some other worthy Summerton
youth. I believed that both Brainard
and Hamilton were manly enough to
recover from any sorrow occasioned by
the loss of something, no matter how
precious, that was not their own and
had not ever been promised to them.
Our special comforts were not con-
fined to shelter and rest. Two or three
of the married men knew something
about cooking, and SO did one man who
had been logger in Maine; SO the
company cook was coaxed, bullied and
iattered until he learned to do some
thing besides merely boil the several
raw materials dealt him. A ration Of
cornmeal would sometimes be served
as fried hasty pudding and again rs
"crackling bread"-corn bread contain
ing tiny dice of fat pork which had
been fried thoroughly and drained Of
grease. Remains Of dinner of salt
beef and potatoes would reappear next
morning us corned beef hash. DO. ed
rice. modified only by cheap molasses.
was about as unpopular MS castor oil,
but with little coffee, which would
not be missed, we could trade with a
native for enough milk and eggs to
make that once detested rice SO popu-
lar that there always was some man
Offering his supper portion Of bread
for half of some other mans rice.
Finally Hamilton, who felt that us
commissary sergeant 1t was his duty
to study up on cookery, electrified us
one day by announcing that on the fol-
lowing Sunday there would be des-
sert Of plum pudding. Up to that time
about half of the men had called Ham
ilton "stuck up" Worse still, many had
called attention to the fact that never
once in our many skirmlshes and fights
had Hamilton been under fire. Brain
ard had combated this story for the
honor Of Summerton, but one day he,
too, learned that Hamilton had a pic
ture of my cousin May. That silenced
him. But the mention of plum pudding