The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1909-12-24
Soldiers, pets.

F
the West adopted a stray boy, the
officers remarked that climax Of the
pet habit had been reached. The
soldiers picked up the youngster as
they might have caught a dog. They
were on their way from the East. The
train stopped in Minneapolis, there to
be switched to another railroad. The
boy got aboard.
"Where'd you come FROM" some
ont asked him.
Jest run away from home" said
the boy.
Without any formal consultation the
men in the car decided to take him
along with them. A conductor came
through, and they hid the boy under
a seat. 1t wasn't any trouble at all.
Before an hour had passed every man
in the company had taken turn at
inspecting the captive. Nobody SEEM
ed averse to taking care Of him. He
became, to all intents and purposes,
a member of the organization
When the officers heard about it af-
terward they couldn't understand why
anybody, even soldier, should want
the boy. A more stupid or more
unattractive specimen in appearance
would have been hard to find. The
only explanation was that a soldier
would "take up with anything"
Upon arriving at the new post the
men saw to it that their human pet.
got place to sleep and all he wanted
to eat They even paid a tailor to
make him a small uniform, exactly
like their own. At first they made
mild attempts to get work out of him,
to turn him into a sort of company
messenger; but when he exhibited
signs of incurable laziness they didn't
resent his attitude at all. 1t was as
though they considered him an orna-
ment to the company quarters.
In the following summer the com
pany was ordered to take practice
march OF more than a hundred miles.
The boy decided he'd rather ride. He
detached himself from the infantry
and quietly joined an engineer COM
pany, the members of which seemed
to be glad to add him to their col
lection of pets, including several dogs,
a cat, and Gagged fox. The reason
he joined the engineers was that he
heard they would ride to the summer
camp on train. That was what they
did. When the camp was reached,
however, the boy did not return to his
infantry friends, but remained with
his newer patrons.
This was bad decision for the
young adventurer. The engineer SOL
diers remained at the camp until win
ter, building bridge, and the boy
had to sleep under tents pitched on a
snowclad plain. He didn't care for
it bit, but the infantrymen had gone
back to the far-off post, and he had
to stay where he was.
The men continued kind to him,
despite his worth!essness, which was
SO extreme that when the officers Of
fered him remuneratiye job, with
regular pay, for keeping their tents in
order and polishing their shoes and
such services, he promptly failed to
make good" AS the cold weather
advanced, he would lie covered up all
day in some soldiers tent, the en-
bodiment of inertia. His fine uniform
was worn out, and he was now clad
in CASTOR garments far too big for
him. "A stranger would have taken
him for just what he was, an embryo
tramp.
Yet he might have continued COM
pany pet" for many day if he had
been even passively respectable. The
reason he happened to lose his berth
was that they caught him stealing
from the officers-not money or any
thing else of much value, but old neck
ties and stray bits of other clothing.
The men would have forgiven him
that. possibly giving him drubbing
to teach honesty, but the officers in
sisted that he get out, and enough
money was collected to send him
back to Minneapolis. Whether he
was ever reunited with his family-he
said he had one-nobody discovered.
Fortunately the boy pet" episode is
unique. With their animals the sol
diers rarely have any trouble. There
have been times when the number Of
dogs became SO great in company's
quarters that an order has been is
sued to get rid Of them by shooting.
When that happens, however, the
men take the trouble to find homes
for them in the vicinity, rather than
see them killed, and for a long time
thereafter the barracks echo with
abuse Of the officer who issued the or
der.