Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1907-11-01

name we called him anyway, was Bub.
a Wisconsin regiment but no plea
that the boy could make would get the
colonel to allow Bub to go along with
the command.
Nainly he crossed Lake Winnebago
and hung around the camp at Osh-
koSh: he was sternly ordered home
and advised to go to school and mind
his mother.
Bub disappeared from camp, and
the regiment soon after started south.
They were headed for the front, going
by way Of Covington, Ky. Here they
stopped for few days to drill and get
used to their uniforms and arms, and
one day the colonel, who had been out
riding, as he approached the regi-
mental camp, detected something like
boys form, clothed partly in white,
very evidently trying to hide behind
some trees and bushes along the road.
Riding up to the shrinking figure, the
colonel recognized Bub.
1t was raining gently but persistent
ly, and Bub was a sorry picture in his
suit Of CASTOR clothing which he had
secured from the men Of the regiment,
his neither garment being but part Of
a much larger mans underclothing
He had On an old drummer's jacket,
however, and this he relied upon to
give him a martial appearance, and
even to overcome the effect of the more
ludlcrous part of his dress.
The colonel took Bub under his wing
and caused him to be placed in the fife
and drum corps. For a few days the
boy was happy, but it was not for long.
The regiment was hurried to the fir
ing line. and soon found itself in the
thick of the battle of Perryville, and
in the hottest part Of it, too. The losses
were appalling. The colonel was, it
was thought, MORALLY wounded, and
almost every officer was killed or
wounded From home came men and
women to care for the wounded or to
take the bodies of the slain north.
With these returning people some
how, Bub got home. In his ifer'S uni
form he was the very picture Of brav-
cry and romance to the other children,
and his tales 81 battle and march, of
camp and drill, were such as were
never heard, I believe, before or since,
for Bub had plenty Of imagination.
When the colonel was brought home,
Oo;r toI OH al hA y q D1Yh
that it was evident that the boy had
had soldering enough. But it proved
to have been only the first taste, Great
ing an appetite for military glory.
A year or two later Bub really en-
listed in cavalry regiment and went
through the last eighteen months of
the war with great credit He grew
to be quite big lad while he was
away, and later developed into a giant
after his warning days were over.
But the boy would not go to school,
and soon ran down to Chicago and
enlisted in the United States heavy
artillery. This took him to Dry Tor
tugas, the island prison in the Gulf of
Mexico, and there he had enough of
military routine to last him lifetime.
From the free life Of one Of Sher-
mans bummers to that Of a fort in
the sea was too great transition.
When yellow fever began to devastate
the command on the island, Bub wilted.
He wrote to his brother, the colonel,
and begged to be released from his
obligation to serve three years, the
time for which he enlisted.
Half Of the men are dead" he
wrote, land next year yellow fever
will come with redoubled fury. If
you'll take me out and get me north
once more I will agree to be decent
and go to college, even. if that is your
wish But I'd rather drive the stage
between Fond du Lac and Chiffon
The appeal was needed. Bub was
under age, and his brother succeeded
in getting him out Of the army, and
the boy started life again as free
agent. And that was the end Of his
soldering He brought home from Dry
TOrtugas lot of shells and a doleful
ballad about THE prison in the sea"
And to the boys and girls of the com
munity he was forever more a hero
beyond compare.-Ada G. Sweet in
Chicago Journal.