Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1903-10-10
.1ribute to the G. A. r.

the G. A. r. in San francisco AoS
Angeles newspaper published the 1oi-
lowing splendid tribute to the boys
in blue"
Speaking of the fighting business
don't presume that the nation appre-
ciates what magnificent reserve OIL
seasoned troops it still has in you
savage old fighters who won out IN
the biggest war that ever deluged the
earth with the blood of the sons OF
men. Why, say, old fellows, l reckon
that if there were to be trouble, inter-
nal or external, there is about 1,O0O,-
600 of YOU vets of the sixties who
couldn't be kept out of the ranks with
a regiment of Hotchkiss rifles
And, say, boys, would love to see
you fight again. Not for the sake OF
killing, but just to note with what
ease and celebrity you are still mt Tor
business. know that there are
mighty big gaps in the old lines that
swung around the points at Missionary
Ridge. that raised Ned at Port Hud-
son and that ripped the living Gay
lights out of the esteemed enemy on
many another bloody field, but Tor
all that this bird of the broad ana
sweeping wing would stake his last
pin feather on your proWess ana
audacity in the face of any old enemy
that ever marched down pike Sf
took side cut through the woods
You remember the way it was done
boys-skirmish lines out along the
TANKS skulking through the brush.
and the bullets from the guns of the
Johnnies tipping around, careless and
free. in the trees overhead Pretty
soon there was the boom OF six.
FOUNDER, and a shot came sailing, lazy
like over the marching column and
giving a fellow goose pimples all
over him. Then it was halt and lie
down and hear the guns begin to thun-
der as if hell had broken loose and
pitch enough hot to roast all creation
Next thing an orderly riding like a
tornado down your way, sudden
command to get out of that and move
by the left flank to position on the
left of the 'Steenth Minnesota, the
Eleventh Michigan, or some other old
regiment And there you are-all
standing up to be shot at and nothing
doing by you fellows. That was the
job-that standing still-that made a
fellow yearn for home and mother, as
many of you old chaps who are out
here in California in this good old
summertime can swear to.
But no regiment was ever left under
fire for more than a week without be-
ing given some sort of an order, al
though it may have seemed like a
month of Sundays at the time, but
when you did go it was with whOop
and q rush and a yell that set the
wild echoes flying, if you hear me
scream.
Charge! You know what that meant
boys A rush, double-Quick over the
fences and through the corn.
Charge, A swirl of blue and a gilt
ter and clash of guns.
Charged A dash down the slope,
through the ravine, up the slope and
over the ridge, and there they are
those Johnnies, peppering away in this
face of you as if they were merely pot
ting at rabbits.
Then here comes Bouton's, or some
other old battery, making the darndest
clatter that ever murdered sleep.
Horses on the dead run; caissons and
guns jumping ten feet high at every
jump; gunners hanging on and gritting
their teeth; the men on the mounts
laying on the whip and shouting Ian
guage at the skurrying steeds that
wasn't learned from prayer books;
swords flashing; mnsketry firing. on
the right and getting hotter every min
ute; and halt!
The guns are whirled into position
on the top of the ridge, unlimbered
quicker than / can tell it, and then
Lordy, how they do begin to sing, Do
you remember the tunes those old
guns sang, boys, when the fight was
just lively enough and not too lively?
Course you do-the mad music of the
fight, the rip-roaring chorus of car
mage the Wagnerian orchestra of ar
tillery-that was great and glorious
music, l don't care what they may say
about the deplorableness OF war.
But it's all over now, old lads The
guns are cooled of and the gunners
gone to sleep by the tens of thousands
under the pathetic little mounds like
those out yonder in Rosedale- Some of
them were laid away not far from
where the guns belched fire that day.
Some of them went to the hospitals
and then went home and limped
through fifteen or twenty years of life
only to go into permanent quarters at
last in the barracks that have no win
dows-
| And there are few of you still left,
glory be. 1t is you that the Eagle again
salutes Before you go away over the
far mountains that are purple in the
twilight that is setting about you all
The mad old fighting days are over.
but the memory of your splendid deeds