Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1911-05-11

other hand dazzling publicity To think that ones
legs should make difference like that. He despised
those legs and the life he led on them but he goried
in his torso and the occasional trumphs it brought
him.
1t must not be thought for minute that horseback
life held for him any visions Of limtless desert
grassy plain of bong forest bride paths of high
lifting mountain trails. He bothered by fool
fish cowboy, Bedouin Cossack haukerings He did
not know life in the open; he did not to know
1t IN the OPEN lie had felt the tug and strain
and culver Of horsefiesh the run; he didn't ride
that way. The air of the town. a proper prancng
gait, the crowd at the curb the the band the
swing Of following legs and the drop of following feet.
faces 1t innumerable windows the magic melting Of
traffic ahead, color music, glitter cheers-all these
plenty good enough for him
prcoocity, like its antonym, nearly always misses
fire when aimed ut parade The crowd will have
nothing overdonc, nothing UNDERGONE. 1t must have it
done just right That is the many
parade failures. An ounce shy or an ounce
too vainglorious and they lost forever It is n fine
thing to gauge instantly the of ones horse,
the exact aeshetical demand of street full of people.
Old Marcus Degremont could do that Where be
got the knack of It. Heaven knows One doesn't find
such things the leaves of a ledger.
Tho who rides at the head of a parade
cessfully must possess that Of all faculties
the power TO balance long lire Of display 1t is a
sort OF sublmatcd esprit corps nscd with sense
Of beauty and warmed by fine atruism toward all
the parts concerned 1t is a combination that is as
rare warrior who cmbroIors. Any marshal can
make a display Of himself but there few marshals
who can make a display of the men behind them.
Old Marcus Degrcmont could do that, too
lie could do vastly than that, indeed he could
embody at the head of 4 parade the spirit that lay
Mt the foundation Of all its units To make
thousand spectators feel Fraternity WI en- four thin
Of lOdgempn tO
thousand spectators Public Improvement when
civic societies follow the drum, Some day municipal
office will await man like that and there will be
Il splendid living attached. His bread md butter viii
not have to depend upon the keeping Of books. And
there will be adequate title attached also, that
the most unprncplcd scoffcr dare not wink the eye
is 1t any wonder that when strangers asked the
townspcople who The Man horseback that
they should reply "Why, that is our Colonel Degre
mont" Is it any less wonder that when men med
tadng parades sought old Marcus Degremont, his
wife should say, although her husband had never
sinelled stronger powder than she used in her bis
cults "ColoncI Degrcmont is not in. VIII YOU waltz
Or "Colonel Degremont will be glad to talk the
matter over with you. I'm sure" She always said
Coionel Degremon like that, as If some other Degre
mont were trying to steal his thunder.
All this was before the Spanish war. There was
real colonel in to shy nothing Of captains
and corporals, and there pryates who were
not to display. Marcus Degremont had wei
coined them heartily but he did not know that they
would ever threaten the place he had made for him
self. 1t had not seemed possible to him. perhaps that
real commander could ever care for the occasional
donors Of mere make
Not that the town had known real colonies nor
prvates before, but that those of its acquaintance
were quiet old men with dmmng eyes and sackened
steps, who had fought in the Great War and were
tired Of battles and display and wanted hence
Forth but a fireplace and the honor, once year
Of walking with flowers to the graves Of their fallen
comrades
But these latter-day Spanish veterans, with
their ardent zest of life their youth their rolicine
responsibility their Khaki uniforms jauntiy
yimplc their boyish faces, their resilient shoulders
their slender waists their swinging steps, and their
inc long Iegs-thesc young veterans Of a young wal
the to make things hard for him.
Lancy was the new colones name. He was tail
Jpendd-lookng fellow with incurvipg back, but
with not much chest to speak of. Marcus Degremon
had noted that chest at It not n swelling
chest Marcus Degrcmont could initiate his chest til
strained the cloth of his stoutest uniform and caused
the brass buttons to protrude almost to bursting Thai