Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1908-06-18
THE OLD
COLONEL
BY HUGH JOHNSON
(Copyrtght)


was half white smbsrs, and the room
was stufy and dark. In the gloom
lest corner Of all. where the great pol
ished desk was dimly outlined In the
shadows, sat the leoniae old man him
self. hts weakening gray eyes strain ed
out across the drill ground where a
squadron OF his cavalry was maneu-
Vering In the white glare Of . Texas
sun on naked Texas limestone. The
motives and the song Of the rapidly
shifting picture was youth, triumphant
and resistless.
The horses were Wild, eyes blood
shot, nostrils red, but the men who
rode them stin looseRed rein, stood In
their strrups and yelled like the
demoniae horsemen Of Attila- Their
cheeks were flushed with the adde's
csncs OF 20; and as the gait grew
furious, boot to boot and shoulder To
shoulder, they, too, became crazsd
with the primal fervor Of swift, ire
sistible motion. The Tapping pen
nants Of the guidonS and the flying
names blew In their faces. and
through the dust clouds from their
horses feet their sAbers flashed glints
OF the sun to the colonel's eyes and
bis own blood Quickened with theirs:
but as they wheeled into column and
broke to right and left at the end
OF the course, he dropped back IN his
chair, his eyes gazing dumbly at the
rows OF photographs above the bronze
mortars Of ChapultepSc.
There were they-ths mon who had
been young with HMM all their
quaint bravery, baldrtc, tunic and dol
man, and out on the plain were the
men who were young when he was
old-so old. It was thsy-they and
their youth-who were slowly forcing
him from the service that he loved
and he almost hated-them and their
youth They were always respectful
even admiring; but between him
and them there was no one thing IN
common. Even his majors were
young majors, and In q garrison OF a
thousand souls he was pitifully alone
he remembered the hill and the gen.
sral on his immortal white horse and
every face that looked down on him
from the wall. The youngsters might
laugh but 1t was all very real to the
colonel; and he was sure that he
hated them and their youth.
He arose and crossed over to the
mess as they came in all aglow from
drill. The boisterous excitement OF
the charge was still with them, their
spurs dragged with the bravado that
young spur-wearers know, their sabers
cIanked with every movement, and
they talked Of 'I'' troops error or &C"
troops mistake In loud, boyish voices
but as the colonel passed into the bill
lizard room every voice quieted. hats
came on, and chairs rasped across the
floor as their occupants got to their
feet, all laughing ceased. He was not
OF them and they could not have said
so in palmer words; his very pres
ence was q discomfort to them, and
ne scowled from under his hat brim
and gutturaled unintelligibly. He
walked angrily into the stewards room
and the door crashed behind him: he
stalked along the gravel path to head
quarters and sank again into the big
leather chair beneath the rows Of
photographs on the wall, glooming.
Once he raised his eyes to the brave
faces; his own dropped forward on
his hands and rested there long. Per
haps he drowaed a little,
This was why the adjutant. who sat
In the coloners outer office and acted
as a buffer between him and his regi-
ment, shook his head to subalterns.
and even to youngish major who
stood ready to tap the coloners door.
Better cuidado," he warned. THE
old mans all liver to-day" and the
subalterns and the youngish major tip
toed away thankfully. having init
mate knowledge OF the bitter tongue
Of the choloric old man.
Lord pity that new youngster from
the Point if he joins to-day, two DAYS
over his leave" breathed the youngtsh
major, safe in the mess window seat;
and 20 Lord" echoed the subalterns.
He's coming all right" volunteered
the quartermaster, whose business it
is to know everything in a garrison.
Here's his telegram from Perdido
station. The Daugherty's been gone
to meet him for over two hours"
Poor kidd" patronized the subal.
terms from the prestige Of their two
years service.
The Daugherty clanked into Fort
Perdido in the late afternoon, the four
mules, the boot, everything, white
with alkali dust. II drew up with a
creaking Of brakes before the adju-
tant's quarter and very straight,
very slender, hroYn-eyed boy climbed
out of its depths as the teamster
tumbled a long military trunk from
the boot and threw a chamois-covered
saber on the walk. The boy, whose
cheeks glowed through their coating
of dust like the bloom of dead ripe
peach through its fqzz. stood by his
suit case and gazed about him in be-
wilderment; then, a. the suhaltsrns
fiocked out to greet him who was to
be one Of them. he stiffened cadet-wise
to attention and saluted very ceremo-
niously like an oflcsr OF the day at
guard mount, all of which was woe
fully incongruous from a military view
point. The youngish major watched