The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1907-07-27
A storx 81 ! MarIoa coanty Aut6ot

A story 81 Marion County sutbef
August Il, when the ship LETT sheE
mornings Al pier East river many
Of the boys cn board we're recruits
going 10 do their tifst soldering IN
the army Of thetr Uncle Sam There
we're many anhcipat tons By the boys
On board tie good speranza
as to what theoutcoms Of the cam
paien wonid be; and they talked i
OVER ais the ship speed through the
channel towsrd the Narrows, and past
sandy Hook; and they we're glad that
they might neyer gain see Ft. Wood
as the small sta tion on Bedloye's Isl.
and was then called.
The purple haze was gathering foT
the vessel had left her moorings ut
$50 i, mo- the land was fading from
aight and neariy ali the excitement
vas passeds and the passengers were
trying % Get themselves accustomed
10 the surroundings as the pilot was
seen b. descend to the boat that was
waiting Tor him below. Some were
tourists but many we're travelling un-
der authority Of the Government, and
on transportation furnished by the
cuartermas Ter Department. Some OF
the men we're bronzed by service done
m he philippines, but they were 10
the Navy atthat time.
The sea was smooth as sheet OF
eIass, and as the sunset was watched
81 many q the boys, It brought to
some q their minds certain recollec.
lions 81 friends away back across the
mountains, while others thought OF
their friends in distant cities. One
BOY SPOKE of his sweetheart in Scot,
iand Another boy thought fondly Of
Ills sweetheart across the mountains
n west virginia, living happily among
the hiils Of that dear on State. He
stood ON the quarterback, alone, gas'
ing out On the magnifcence Of the ex-
panse 81 water, in every direction.
The thoughts and feelings that may
come ID one thus situated can not long
be endured, nor can the pen express
them. HOW grand and wild everything
SENS, and what a sense Of littleness
one feels I'M the presence Of the males.
~ 81 such a scene.
Tom Johnson had enlisted for the
artillery, but, when he round out what
L VAS IKE, he wished he had enlisted
Ion the cavalry, as his father had serv.
cd Under Phillip Sheridan, in the Civil
War he wished he had also enlisted
In the cavalry. But it was too late;
So he resolved to make the best OF It,
and 10 take his medicine like a man."
He gas young, only twenty-one years
1t .alT y . u. . L. l. .
old. tan and muscular, having spent
the greater part Of his life among the
rugged hills Of West Virginia. But
the same thoughts were in his mind
as IS the mind Of every other re,
cfuit what will the service be, and
RillsISiikes it2
Four days later, they sighted land
Cuba. What a shout Of Joy went mp
nom the lips Of the boys that bright
Sunday morning when they saw land
again. Cuba was a land Of which they
had read much and seen nothing. Ha.
vans too, where the Inflated Maine
vent down, was bound to be Of much
interest TO them all. The pictures in
tie Sunday papers contained every
thing they had seen up to this time
81 he pearl Of the Antilles" The
longing desire to see Cuba and her
people was to now be gratified. AS
the ship swung around to go into the
hay past Moro Castel, everybody was
on deck, looking at the grand old pile
81 masonry and the towering light.
honse iar above them. It recalled
dafk DAYS Of history, and the thoughts
81 tie cruelties that mad been perpe.
trated there years ago. With all the
semfbarbarlc splendor Of the formida'
bieiooking walls, It seemed that the
inns 81 d tirstclass battleship would