The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-08-09

"A-T-T-T-T-TT TENTION!1
The regiment stood at attention as
one man, which it really was.
R-r-r-r-r-r-right, dressl''
Two eyes switched over to the right
One, the left eye, saw the silhouetted
outline of a sunburnt nose against a
background of sandy desert, cactus and
a far-off mountain. The other eye
saw about the same minus the nose, of
course.
"Eyes fr-r-r-r-r-r-r-ront!o
The same pair of eyes switched back
and focused themselves on the figure
of United States army colonel,
Drowned by the sun and hard service IN
the field, dressed in the uniform of the
coast artillery, although he was thou
sands of miles away from the coast,
and wearing a look of ennui, which in
dicated anything but delight at his
present surroundings and future pros
poets.
''lOunt 1Our-r-r-r-f-f-fSl
stOne, - responded the regiment, and
that was all, says the New York World.
What the colonel said is not mat
ter of record, Force of habit had
prompted the order. It was immedi-
ately followed by another, to break
ranks and get out of sight, or words
to that effect, while the commander of
the garrison strobe off in the opposite
direction to seek shelter from the rain
on the veranda of his quarters.
The regiment meanwhile got back
to barracks, softly singing the song
tGee, but this is lonesome town"
"Gee, but this is lonesome town,
all right, all right" said the regiment.
On the veranda of the colonel s quar-
tiers the colonel was thinking much
about the same thing.
In the foreground and partly to the
left stood the uninhabited, deserted
and silent quarters of the once animal.
ed Fort Grant. Between them and a
VI was AAtOAO
burning sand. To the right burning
sand, to the left burning sand, and
somewhere, miles off to the rear, it was
possible to make out the dim outline OF
mountain with a frontage of still
more burning sand.
But there are other things besides
burning sand and loneliness at Fort
Grant. There is plenty of cactus grow
ing all over the desert. To relieve the
monotony of living all alone there are
rattlesnakes, gila monsters, tarantulas
and some scorpions, to say nothing of
sand fieas and flies.
It is to this place, as every news
paper reader is now aware, that the
president has assigned Colonel w. F.
Stewart of the coast artillery. Situated
in the center of the Arizona desert,
described by American army officers as
the American Siberia, abandoned Fort
Grant is an ideal spot to prescribe for
one requiring solitude or suggestive of
fetal harikari.
Fort Grant is one of the typical iso-
lated posts of the frontier. Wilcox, en-
the railroad twenty-five miles away, IS
a town around which still hangs more
Of the atmosphere of the Wild West
than any other town on the border.
It is the occasional headquarters of the
big cattlemen who Craze their herds on
the plains and hills round about. Forty
miles away on the ella river is the
Mormon settlement of Solomonsville,
where irrigation makes the lowlands
along the stream fertile. All else is
the wild open country over which
rides an occasional solitary cowboy or
renegade Apache Indian from San
Carlos reservation.
Colonel Stewart has been assigned
for the last days of his service to the
same solitudes he penetrated when, as
child of the army on the back of a
pack mule, he followed the flag in early
days. There is with him in his solitude