The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1904-03-24

piled the Orderly Sergeant, with a lordly
| wave of his hand "Rejoiced to have you.
I'm in sole command here to-day, as the
Captain and Lieutenants have to be un-
| avOidably absent"
"Noah Webster's ghost, wonder where
he gets all his big words" whispered
Monty Scruggs to ALI Russell. His
clothes fit too We'll to have them concealed
| about his person.
| probably he's been cut foraging, and
busted open an academy where they
| taught the dead and living languages, !"
suggested Harry Joslyn.
| And hasn't had time yet to make them
| fit" suggested ALI Russell.
| Guard, let those soldiers come in.
Present-Arms! Carry-Arms! Glad to
| see you, gentlemen"
You're from the Western Army, ]
| sagashiate?"
Eyes; we belong to the 2OOth Indiana
Volunteer Infantry, Fourteenth Corps,
Sherman's Army"
you. An extra-ceedingly conglomeration of
gallantacious soldiers. Gen. Sherman
| commanded. Gen. Sherman is a super
biological fine officer"
"Indeed he u.s." responded Monty
Scruggs. "Gen. Sherman was a dozen and
half better than anything the late South
| ern Confederacy could stack up against
him."
"Well, he performed what he had to
perform very symboically," admitted the
Orderly Sergeant loftily. every symbol
ically. indeed. But he hadn't no such a
survigerous job as Gen. Meade, or he
would've found it very different-very
Monty Seruggs recognized that he was
| running up against the ever-strenuOus
| rivalry between the two armies, which
| could not be discussed at that time calmly,
and he automatically changed the subject,
| for they wanted nothing to interfere with
| their seeing the infamous prison.
you're in command, you say? Ev-
erything certainly looks as il the place
could not be in better hands," he ven
| tured.
"Delighted that you think so, SIR
1.-The appearance of your men and your
discipline is frst-class."
81 may say without presumptuosity that
| that's all my work. The Captain left all
| the management of the company to me-"
with great wisdom" said Monty in
sinuatingly.
II think so, myself. sir. I'd been head
| waiter in the best hotels in Baltimore and
Washington. and I knowed better how TO
manage these sarumbaceous mokes than
any white man that ever lived. They must
have men Of their own color, sir, who'll
treat 'em suddeniferously, sir. Suddenif-
| erously, sir"
At first the boys giggled slyly at the
mans use Of big, strange words, but his
manner was so confident, and his entln-
citation of them SO easy and sure that they
| were impressed by them in spite of them
| selves. and they were coming to recognize
them as quite 1T descriptiyes.
Eyes, the less back talk you allow from
| condomitable moke, and the quicker you
make him do what you tell him, the more
he thinks of you. Here" he suddenly
4 - attn
a fatigue squad engaged in hopping the
| floor Of the large room they entered.
| keep them men in better line there. Dress
up there in the center. Hit that man on
| the left with your gun, and make him
come into line. Keep time there with your
| mops. One, two, three-hep, hep. hep!
Be soldiers, you sarumbaceous slouches.
| or I'll give you all dose Of the guard
house."
Then he turned to excoriate q squad
| who had been sitting polishing their but
| tons for the evening parade, and had not
| risen promptly enough, nor gotten into
| good line when he entered.
The boys looked about with awe upon
| the long, bare room. into which hundreds
had been crowded for months at time,
during the sitting heat of Summer and the
| biting cold OF Winter, starving. swelter-
| ing or freezing. Since it had fallen into
| Union hands the filth had been scrubbed
from the floors, and the walls white
| washed, but the gloomy iron bars were
still across the broken, grimy windows,
and the scrubbing only brought into
greater distinctness the marks left by the
| miserable occupants in Willing away the
dreary hours. Initials. names and dates
were clt on the floor, sometimes with
much skill. showing where some man had
for a long time claimed a few square feet
for his home. Little contrivances were on
the walls for holding his belongings, and
underneath the whitewash could be seen
lengthy Inscriptions, written in sadness of
heart, probably in the expectation Of i'm
minent execution. Leading of from the
main room were heavy oaken doors,
strongly barred with iron.
"Those are the cells for solitary con-
finement." said the Sergeant, noticing the
direction Of their gaze. Down below are
the dunge0ns--0ld Winder's parlors, they
used to call them s,s.s5s 8
ass g,a1o -