Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-08-09

no knowledge of their duties and under
officers who are no better informed.
These operations at National Guard en-
campments are of the greatest benefit to
the country. The advantages cannot be
expressed in financial terms and it is still
more unjust to the plans and the partici
pants to speak contemptuously of the lace
and fancy trappings which are imagined
as adjoining an occasion of frivolity The
encanpment here and it's attendant opera
lions Of the troops. regular and National
bodies of soldiers. They will be no less
profitable because they are not SO real as
the devastating events at the same place
casualties that harrowingly marked the
engagements of that great conflict may be
diminished by the very training which is
regarded with so much contempt by some
critics"
What has been said heretofore of the 1st
Separate Battalion may now be truthfuly
repeated. neater or more orderly camp
cannot be found within the brigade in
closure today, nor is there a body of men
under canvas more inclined to learn and
to perform every duty conscientiously, or
who succeed better than do the colored
guardsmen.
Maj. Arthur Brooks of the LIST Separate
Battalion is now in the Philippines with
Secretary Tafts party. Therefore Capt.
John H. Campbell, the senior company
commander, is temporarily at the head of
the battalion. Capt Campbell is a soldier.
He does not merely wear his uniform and
hold a commission, but is a soldier in ev-
cry sense of the word. Next to Capt. Ed
wards of the 1st Regiment he is the senior
captain of the guard.
The camp of the colored guardsmen is at
one corner of the Enclosure and is most pleas
antly situated. Not a sound of disorder
has been heard from the direction of the 1st
Separate Battalion'S quarters. Sounds have
been heard, but they were harmonious and
pleasing. Each evening the men gather IN
the company streets and sing. There is
band concert in front of headquarters near
ial1 i- arNi
but at the same time concert perhaps
equally as gratifying to the sense of hear
ing is in progress in the camp of the LIST
Separate. The singing Is excellent.
The battalion has a large representa- ton
participating in the present outing. There
are four good-siZed companies and they
know their business thoroughly. The men
drill excellently, are conversant with every
phase of discipline and show it by their ac-
tons.
Advantage is being taken of Major
Brooks absence to again tell story or
him, behind his back, that has to do with
ar incident which occurred during previ-
Gus encampment The major is strictly OPP
posed to indulgence in intoxicating liquors
al any and all times, but something occur
re that aroused some doubt IN that dlrec-
ton. 1t was early morning when
screams and shouts of an agonfzing charac-
ter We're heard from the direction of bat
TALON headquarters. The screams were de-
scribed as having been loud, intense and
long drawn out. The greater part of the
battalion was instantly aroused, and the
officer of the guard instituted an investiga-
ton. 1t was found that the blood-curdling
sounds issued from Major Brooks tent but
when the officer of the guard looked in he
was met with: IT'S all right, lieutenant,
you may retire"
Major Brooks next day made the follow
ing explanations "A great big snake was
crawling up the side of my tent He was
about to swallow me whole, and l was al
most scared to death. ! yelled as though
my life literally depended upon it-and then
/ woke up c. F. c.