The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-06-30

him despite his coddled youth, and an
 hour later he was clad in khaki, and with
 a stomach full of hot food was dreamily
 listening to the admonitions of an elder
 ly sergeant who was openly diSgusted
 with his job. William Montgomery Ormi-
 son Carhart had put his hand to three
 year contract with the government and
 was now rookie" in the United States
 army. He had sold what was left of his
 birthright for a badly needed mess Of i pottage. It hemained to be seen whether
 the army could do for him what parents, tutors. university and Paris had failed
 to do-make man of him.
 For a time he had little leisure for thought upon his misfortunes. He waS drilled and drilled and drilled till the rife on his shoulder weighed like ten inch gun, and his back and legs ached
 with a healthy fatigue. His appetite was
 a marvel to himself and his sleep was dreamless oblivion.
 At the end of a week of this he was
 herded on a transport with a dozen others under command of the recruiting sergeant, and south they went to join the regiment on the island of Negros.
 Strange things happened to William
 then His comrades in D company were
 like men of another planet. Tough, in the
 specialized sense of the term, is perhaps
 the best way of describing them. Their sole connecting link with the civilization William was used to seemed to be the toothbrush which each man carrled anu | regularly used.
 Williams first night in camp was an I experience to be remembered He awoke dripping from head to foot from pail of
 water some one had distributed impartial ] ly over his extended person. In this , sopped and bewildered condition he was seized roughly and. before he knew what tIf.,.r .re,Iyx or1 a taut blanket. He came down whirl- ing mindmill of arms and legs struck the ! blanket on his head and shoulders and
 rose again like an uncommonly resident
 rubber ball.
 Time and again he went up and came down, till he knew he was dying, and
 when at last his bolsterous tormentors loosed him from the coil he sank to the ground weeping like baby face bent down close to his and a rough voice said | tauntingly:
 ] ;'There, there. mamma's pet Don't cry"
 | Now in these circumstances there was | but one thing for William to do. If he l had struck out in a blind rage at the i taunting face, if he had rushed his tor ' mentor with the barbaric passion of a , breech-clouted savage. he would undoubt- | edly have been soundly thrashed, but he l would have gained mems respect. In- | stead, William sat in the grass and soft l, lyblubbered, till the man left him in | disgust.
 | Such was Williams introduction to D I company and it was not suspicious. The days and nights that followed were a | continuing torment edged with fear. The l men t. eated him with unmitigated con- | tempt. He was held unworthy of the | least consideration. He was kicked like | a dog for purely accidental faults In- 1 dignities which should have reused him I to elemental passion he suffered with such abject meekness that it seemed as | if his spirit must be broken. ! The truth was merely that the spurious self-respect bred of countless dollars had | fled along with the dollars, and William | lacked as yet anything to take its place. | He wae like cat shorn of it's claws and | dropped in a strange alley.
 With the hard outdoor work and the three square meals of heavy, gristle-mak- I ing food per diem Williams inherited constitution at last got a chance to
 assert itself. and he develoDed into 2