The Savannah morning news., 1903-01-25

pay to the French soldier my warm
tribute of admiration. He is as easy to
lead as a child. His cheerfulness and
gay philosophy enable him to endure
the greatest hardships without a muir
muir. All he wants is justice. When he
has received his provisions he straight
way goes to weigh his meat, his bread,
his coffee, his sugar, even his salt All
he wants is his due, and if he finds
that he has not received short weight
he is satisfied and cheerful. A kind
word from an officer will make him
happy A cigarette offered to him if he
is short of tobacco, will make a hero
of him.
1 remember one day passing a young
soldier who was being taken to the
hospital. His right hand had been shot
off clean.
Cheer up, my boy!" 1 said to him;
mo more fighting for you. They will
nurse you and take care of YOU
"Ah, lieutenant" he replied, with
look pitiful to contemplate, how am
l to roll my cigarettes now?"
l put small box of ready made
cigarettes in his breast pocket. 1 shall
never forget the expression of graft
tude on his face.
In another instance a devoted order
ly was plying his captain, whose leg
had just been amputated.
Don't cry, old fool" said the cap
tain to him, Il am going to keep you.
and, in the future you will only have
one boot to clean every morning"
Devoted Orderly.
1 had the good luck to start the
campaign with a good, devoted or
derby, a man about forty years of age,
called Rabier. He was a tailor
shoemaker. a carpenter, cook, and,
in times of need, a man of many re-
sources and unlimited audacity. But
for him 1 should have had to go with
out food many day. He was an old
African soldier, and it was never with
him a question of what he could do,
but rather of what he could not do
His attachment and devotion to me
were those of a kind parent, and he
many times tended me as a kind and
skilful nurse would
When, at night, l had retired under
my tent, and was lying on some straw
or dry leaves strewed on the ground
with a blanket over me, he would
come noiselessly in, listen to find out
y
tuck me in before he himself went to
lie down under his own tent. With
a few pieces of wood he would i'm
proVise a bedstead, and my clothes
were every day most carefully exam
ined and kept in a state that would
have done honor to the best of house
wives. An officer has to stand on his
dignity more or less. My dear Rabier
had no dignity to stand on, and.
he To aof h.
fully managed to scheme and get me
dinner when l had lost all hope of
getting one.
l remember that one day my regi-
ment stopped for the night in a de-
serted village which we reached at
about o'clock in the afternoon. All
the officers were assigned to an aban-
doned farmhouse. The provisions
had not arrived. and no one had the
slightest idea how soon they would
arrive. The private soldiers carried
their provisions in their knapsacks.
They were sure of their meals. But
the officers had to rely on the arrival
of the wagons. For two hours I've sat
in silence, about thirty of u.s. By 6
O'Clock some prepared to lie down on
the floor and try to sleep and forget
the pangs of hunger, when Rabier,
radiant, triumphant, smiling from ear
to ear, entered and announced that
dinner was ready. We looked at each
other, speechless and unbelieving.
By what miracle could dinner be
ready? We repaired to a barn where
to our stupefaction, we saw on the
floor omelettes, rabbits and chickens
filling the place with odorous per-
fumes.
l heard, later on, that Rabier had
ridden to neighboring village and
called on the Mayor, stating that he
was ordered by the general command
ing the division to bring provisions
for his staff. And he got all he asked
for, the Mayor even refusing to hear
of any payment Rabier was the hero
of the day, and none of us had the
courage to reprimand him for the
manner in which he had obtained that
dinner.
Poor Rabier! At the battle of
Worth he received a bullet which en-
tered his head under the chin and
came out between his nose and his
right eye. AS he was being taken
away from the battlefield, he signed
to me that he wanted to speaks / went
to him and placed my ear close to his
mouth, when he said in tone hardly
audible:
who will take care of you while 1
am away?"
And 1 thought there were tears in
his eyes. 1 know there were in mine.
l never saw him after that. He died
in the hospital.
The Death Cry of n Friend.
At u years of age 1 struck up
friendship with young Pole, named
GojeSki, who was in the same class
with me at school. We became in
separable chums. Year after year we
were promoted at the same time. We
took our university degrees the same
day, entered the military school in the
same year, and received our commits
sions in the same regiment.
Short, fair and almost beardless,
young Gojeski was called "le petit
lieutenant" by the soldiers, who all
idolized him.
At the battle of Worth (Aug. 6, 1870,
after holding our ground from in the
morning to in the evening, against
masses of German troops exactly
six times as numerous as our own, we
were ordered to charge the enemy so
as to protect the retreat of the bulk
of the army corps. A glance at the
hill opposite convinced us that we had
been commanded to go to certain
death. The colonel drew US up in bat
tie lire, picked up a Prussian helmet
with his sabre, held it high up in the
air, and said to us: Forward boys,
and remember that bullet in the back
is as painful as in B.. the chest, and it
doesn't look so nice"
Down the hill we went like the wind
through a shower of bullets and
shells Our colonel was the first to
fall dead. Two minutes later, about
two-thirds of the regiment reached
the top of the opposite hill. The rest
were on the ground. We were imme-
.aintnlu anpa eed in q daenaria tn hard-