The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1907-11-28

orange TO get In Cn0 enO tent OF MS
street." and as soon as no officer was
ooking that end tent would come down
Ind the occupants wonld vanish. The
,fficer taking night roll call would go
rom tert to tent, and, finding two men
n each, would consider his company
Ill present, therefore two men could
'tay away as late as they wished.
On the second day the "browns"
we're advancing instead of the .'blues"
md the flank was attao ked instead of
The advance guard. We had among
The advance guard, infantry, cavalry,
partly cadets and partly troopers that
are stationed at the Point" some field
artillery and two guns of what the
cadets call "jass-a AK" battery. They
are small cannon which can be taken
apart and packed on mules. There are
four mules and eight men to each gun,
q leader and beater per mule, and they
cover the ground very rapidly.
Our company was artillery support
again, and the battle seemed much like
that of the day before, except that one
squad out scouting for the enemy
raided farmhouse and filed up on
chocolate cake and fresh milk, while
the rest of us had to lie sin cover" and
watch them. In modern battle forma-
tion the observers never see the troops;
they are behind walls or in the edges
of woods, or, at worst, are prone on
their face in the open. The troops
sneak from place to place on the run,
crouched over or behind fences and in
ditches. The men always deploy as
skirmishers, that is, they are several
PAGES apart, so that there may not be
so much chsuce 0f their being hit. The
battery moved around considerably
that day, and we followed, but We
didn't see much of the blues until just
before recall, when we fred shot or
two, useless ones, the umpire said, as
we were too far away to do any damage.
We now hurried for camp, which
was to be at Fishkill village, alta pace
which surprised the cadets, sit being q
very hot day." pitched tents, got a
swim and a chance to wash our clothes
AMI hurried to town. People had come
from near and far to see the soldiers
and as there was fireman's playout, a
band concert and dance in town, we
had very good time
The next day the advance guards of
two imaginary armies met. Our COM
pany was in front of the Brown army,
and we lay behind wall at the top OF
a hill watching and waiting for the
Blues. At last their advance came in
sight. We held them in check for q
time and then retreated. As we. with.
drew, we received orders to hurry te
another road to head off some of the
enemy who were approaching We
worked our way down hillside, thrr
tract of woods and into swamp
After awhile we reached the road, ol
which we were in search, with our uni
forms soiled from the swamp and oul
! hands scratched from the bushes
Finding no one, we advanced slowly
only to find atirecall, that the road wa
full of the imaginary enemy, and w
y were supposed to be captured whicl
was most disheartening. Camp tina
might was at Wappinger Falls,.a tow
of two thousand inhabitants. Gu
guard, Of which the writer was mem
ber, was composed about equally 0
cadets and dough-boys as the infantr
are called. As for the duty, it wa
nothing but q loaf; we walked post 70
four hours, and that, on a..warm nigh
t in August was no hardship. Their
{ was nothing to do but to borrow RAJ
8 onion sandwiches, eat them, and loo
Q wise.
A few words about the guard wh
was on the post next to mine might il
9 terest you. This fellow was cadt
:. plebe. Along about midnight an upp'
: classman tried to run the lines, bt
was stopped with q harsh: Halt, who
therel"
9 sWhat's your name, sir2" asked Il
= senior.
, sMr. Smith, sir"
y .Well, Mr.. Smith, yon want to 6
., more muaic Into thu challenge" o
= served tho other, and ~ walked OF.
81 Presently - retnEped: the sentip