Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-07-23

ed heavily by Washingtonians for Capt
George F. Dudley, chaplain OF the "a
Regiment, and rector of st. Stephen
Episcopal Church in Washington, viii
preach the sermon.
Tell Of Bloody Battles.
Gettysburg is the land of the dream
Some of the real war correspondents UP
here have banded together to send away
stories of battle, pillage, carnage. noise
and general excitement and have had the
hair of the telegraph operators standing
on end for fear the enemy is right under
the table.
The impression the soldiers have from
reading the battle stories is that 1t must
have been an awful fight, written from
remembrance by a man who was not
there. The folks back home probably
think that every night the moon looks
down on a scene of dreadful carnage.
Such, however, is not the case. 1t an
noys the District guard officers to read
about themselves repulsing the regulars
in horrible battle involving 5000 men,
and in which the regulars were SHOWN
up to be not half as smart as the dear,
good boys from Washington.
The District troops have not fought the
regulars. either with bayonets, bullets or
poker dice. There has been, no fighting
or maneuvering that could be called
fighting. Regardless of the American
love for melodrama, mo officer has ram
PACED across the Gettysburg lots shout
ing Come, on boys; give the wretches
another charge of shrapnel." No artiller-
list has told his men to Aim at their
shoe buckles" No cavalry officer, wear
ing jaunty hat and yellow cord, has clat-
tered down the road. with saber drawn,
shouting, Turn around, boys; we're 60
ing to drive them back!'
Not Moving Picture War.
Oh, if they only would! But they do
not. This is not war run by the NOV
ing picture syndicate, and the battles so
far have been tame. To tell the truth,
they are not battles. They are games of
hide and seek played over miles of coun-
try. The whole regiment, or two regi-
ments for that matter. may be drawn up
as a string of outposts, with the knowf-
edge that somewhere in the mountains In
front an enemy is lurking, trying to send
spies through the line.
The enemy may be a single man, with a
white handkerchief on his arm to indi-
cate he is to be captured. He may repre-
sent himself or he may be considered q
whole company. With a combination like
that. what chance is there for a poor
These battles so far are naught but
problems. 1.-The enemy is in the woods
along the river. What would you do to
get away from him." Your battery of
artillery is fired upon? How would you
withdraw" Those are samples. Not very
stirring samples to the man who believes
that a battle is something like the pre-
cipitous onward rush of two locomotives
on the same track.
No Shooting So Far.
No real firing has been done either it
seems. The men have been handed five
rounds of ammunition on some of the
hikes, but none has been used as yet.
Very soon, though, there will be sound
of musketry from the bushes and the war
correspondent can smear blood on his
typewriter ribbon and shrek war" to
his hearts content.
Furthermore i. is not to be expected
that the Distict troops. a. a brigade, will
oppose any one. They will be split up
so that half joins one command and half
joins another. In this approach to real
practice war there will be no pitting of
regulars against militia, as such, for
regulars and guards will be in the same
commands.
But there will be some pitcuresqueness
to the big maneuvers which will take
place next week. GSlere will be night
marches. perhaps. and in that event it
is sure to rain-and the boys have no
rubbers. There will perhaps be sleeping
under the little tents that are not much
bigger than pillow slips, and the old
campaigners will be telling the boys who
have never seen a camp before how to dig
little hole in the ground for the hip
bone to rest in, for sleeping on the
ground is an art The big searchlight Of
the engineers will probably be called into
play, the list D. c. Battery will prob
ably cough vehemently at the enemies
on the hillside, and the old battlefield
will see a mimic war under conditions of
warfare somewhat different from what
they were in 3d. E. q.