The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1916-08-04

Then there are tarantulaS, and ants
l do not believe there is a bug made
but what is down there. The ants
ARE very large, some of them an inch
long. One of the boys saw one of
these big ants in his tent and cut it in
two with his sabre. He forgot about
it and later when he came back to his
tent and lay down the half of the
ant that bits was still alive and came
around and bit him. 1t swelled up
Idreadfully. We expected to see rat
tlesnakes crawling over the ground,
as yet.
Appearance of Camps.
at is interesting to notice the ap-
pearance of the camps. Upon arrival
there we pitched our tents and got
busy next morning clearing away the
brush. The streets are now nicely
graded, and the fronts of the tent
yards are being decorated with shells
by the boys. One tent in particular
has fine United States flag made of
shells on the yard. Each squad takes
pride in having their tent grounds
nice and some of them are quite ar
tistic, boys doing landscape gardening
digging up and bringing palm trees
an dplanting them in front of their
tents. OF course it is only required
that the tent yards be clean, but ev-
eryone decorates as much as they can
"The first night we were there the
company assembled, given ammuni-
ton, and told that they were on dan
gerous ground. They were especilly
cd fn OFT nj 70 fhn
guard line, and were shown what
each company was to guard. The
guards were instructed if they saw
anything to cal halt three times,
and if tn object did not
stop to shoot, the first time
in the air. Well that night the young
man on guard near our company was
pretty nervous. He thought he saw
something, and called out halt, halt,
halt as fast as he could and fired. 1t
was about IL p. m. and he brought
out the entire regiment. They bdat
up the brush and stumbled over the
cacti, and finally, when they discov-
and that it was false alarm, they
returned to their company streets"
Duties of Soldiers.
The following outline of the SOL
diers' day was given by Mr.. Nostdahl:
eve get up at $50 and have break
fast at 6. At GAO we have a steady
marching drill, returning at TAO.
The first few days we made three
miles on these drills, but the distance
is being gradually increaed. At 8:15
we drill again until 800. From 10 to
1880 the privates attend the school
of instruction in tactics, war duties,
etc. Mess at IL. The privates are
instructed by Lieutenant Spicer or
Lieutenant Hauck, and Lieutenant
Spicer also instructs the non commits
stoned officers in advanced tactics.
The non commissioned officers have
school from to 2 p. M, and the Of
ficers have, school from 2 to 3 p. M,
the officers school being at the col
onel's headquarters. From 4:15 to
$40 there is drill, and mess at $3.50.
Retreat is at $50, and we drill until
1880, when we have guard mount and
then we are through for the day. Dur
ing the afternoon the privates are
busy cleaning up, grubbing out the
cacti,i etc., A special squad cleans the
streets. In fact the boys are busy
all the time. Every Friday we are to
take a hike. The first Friday it was
to be for ten miles, taking only can
teen of water and guns, and to see
how many men could return without
touching the water in their canteens.
It is proposed to gradually increase
the marching distance to twenty -four
miles. These are the hardening ex-
ercises of which General Funston
speaks so highly. A private soldier
gets SIG month, and all his equip
ment, and the boys are getting nicely
fitted out with their full quipment
now"
Mr.. Nostdahl was called home to
attend the funeral of his mother, and
will return to camp at the end of his
furlough, which extends fifteen days
from last Thursday.