The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1911-12-04
THE MAN IN
THE UNIFORM
CONTINUED From Page Nine)

booed Women are not afraid to be
seen at the theater with me or walk
ing on the streets at my side. I am
more or less respected, and the con-
sequence is that / can keep out of
saloons, dives and other disagreeable
haunts. / am not driven into jag or
forced into low company. | am actu-
ally treated like a gentleman-and
there are blamed few Of us boys in
uniforms who don't appreciate cour-
tesy from the other fellow"
My cavalry boy spoke very earnest
ly, and as | listened, my one regret
was that the enth'e population OF
nice people in Honolulu was not
there to hear that little speech.
SO our dear friend the GENERAL
PUBLIC, is making buns out of our
boys in uniform, covering DR.. Jekyl
with Mr. Hyde's reputation, just be-
cause Dr. Jekyl has changed his coat!
Sa-a-y! DO you know that the GEN
ERAL PUBLIC will have a big, dirty
splotch Oh its conscience when the
Heavenly Sanitary Squad begins it's
crusade on the Big Cleanup Day?
OF course there are buns" in the
army. I've met buns" who we're
rich mems sons, too, college gradu-
ates who rode about town in automo-
biles and who never did a stroke of
decent work in their lives. I've met
"bums" in the book business, in the
music business, in the dry goods bust
ness, in every business under the face
of the heavens. So have most of the
| nice" people in Honolulu, That is,
they have if they weren't started in
incubators and then transferred into
glass cases and kept there! I've seen
town Off one may grace them with that
name in a place the size of this) so
drunk they could not stand without
support. BUT THEY DID NOT HAVE
UNIFORMS ON, therefore the mice"
people did not see" them. If they'd
been enlisted men-well, then the
| GENERAL PUBLIC would have stared
with all its befogged eyes and would
have sneered:
More drunken soldiers."
We've all read of the "pranks" of
college boys. Dear, jolly, rich mems
sons-they will have their larks! They
will break down fences and destroy
property-they will "rough-house" the
crowd on the streets, New Years Eve;
they will have their little fun in spoil
ing a performance if someone in the
cast happen to meet with their puerile
disapproval! Boys will be boys, you
/ know, and the nice" mothers and
fathers smile it all away.
But let a soldier start something
and God help him! Be it rough
house, a celebration, loud outburst
of either approval or disapproval-and
he is a brute, a bum, a creature unfit
to sit in the same theater with those
mice" peoples boys-according to the
nice people.
But one sees so many drunken sol
diers!" the GENERAL PUBLIC eX-
claims, piously.
ONE DOES NOT! One sees a man
in uniform, the worse for some cheap
whiskey. One goes down the street
tsneering at the poor deviD, turns a
few corners, runs into the same sol
der, and calculates; Mercy An
other drunken soldier!" One may see
that same man a dozen times in a
| day, and because he wears a uniform,
not recognize him, going home with
the belief, finally, that one has seen
dozen drunken soldiers. But then,
the dear GENERAL PUBLIC does not
think of that.
, / wonder, does the dear GENERAL
/ PUBLIC think of much of anything?
. Has it a brain with which TO think
Does is sound like thought when the
| GENERAL PUBLIC extends a cordial
hand to my nice cavalry boy when he
/ wears a Illh htNhNlt anu E1itNlA ecNAoS
and then turns it's back on him when
he wears khaki? And does the GEN
ERAL PUBLIC find itself incapable
of realizing that TT is driving the man
in uniform into saloons and dives be-
cause it won't welcome him into its
own decent places OF amusement?
What's that? Do | hear some broth
er in the congregation asking me if
| am ever seen in public with a man
/ in uniform? Brother, if you are eX-
pecting a confused We'll, no go to-!
/ have walked from one end Of Homo
/ lulu to the other with men in uniform
not commissioned officers, either,
/ Brother, but enlisted men OF the Army
and Navy. But say Brother-if they
hadn't been gentlemen, / would not
bova haen seen with them Take that =