Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1916-12-20

SJlii on MIN ana ne refused 70 Du0ge
even after / had summoned courage
enough to use my spurs. As the rear
of the column Of horsemen passed
jerked of the blindfold. He made
one jump straight up and started on
the dead run for the head of the coll
umn. When he got there he stopped
and | had a hard time to keep from
going right on You see he stopped
without reconciliation. He then
pranced up and down until the column
had passed again and then repeated
the performance. This went on until
the lieutenant called halt to rest.
Seeing he had not attempted to buck
! began to get quite courageous. Some
one told me that the cinch was COM
tighten it. Then the fun started He
tions instantaneously that I'd have
sworn he was le-jointed. The
devil of it was he kept it up without
breath or pick out a soft place to
land. II he'd given me the choice of
a landing spot, believe me / would
never have pickle out the spot on
which / landed. When the rumpus
was over / picked myself out Of the
prickliest Of prickly cactus and my
noble steed was galloping far away
headed for the corall. Seeing that
no one was hurt everybody laughed
at me. l was too busy cactus spires
out of my anatomy. The lieutenant
asked me if l was going to ride the
horse back to camp so started out
after him. On reaching the corall a
wrangler had him roped and tied to
high, fence. We blindfolded him
again and got on and succeeded IN
sticking to him this time. rode
him back to camp after he had got
over his spasm. He really wasn't a
mean horse, just four-year-old, as
scared as / was. He is all right now
and almost any one can ride him al
though one fellow was thrown and
badly injured about the head and
shoulders. We have some of the best
riders in the Guards. Fellows who
would tackle anything once. You
would be surprised if you knew
the personnel of the outfit. There
are men from all walks of life from
doctors, lawyers and college students
to professional hoboes. We have at
least twenty-five college men in our
battery. There are men on the bor-
der who are gent lis that the plural
geniusO | saw man here the other
night who could glance at four col
umns of figures and give the correct
sum. i have seen men who should
have big place in this world, spend
ing their lives for Uncle Sam for eff
teen and" | consider it the duty of
everyone to do his share in prepared
ness for the day when we may have
to fight, but / want to say right now
that | consider a man subnormal who
makes soldering his life work.
OF course there were many who
were forced by circumstances to don
the kahki, men in fear Of the law and
many who are unable to take care Of
themselves. The Guardsmen are diff
ferent. They were progressing for
war and now they think they have
furnished good political capital for
the party now in power.
If you ask a Guardsman if he is
going to re-enlist, you had better
have your fighting clothes on. 1t is
not now as pleasant as the annual
training camp. If you don't walk the
military path pretty straight, you get
jagged. The major says it's just as
easy to say two months as it is two
days, and two months in the jug is
no fun. If the Guardsmen could on
ly have their vote their campaign
cry would be be Scott strafe Wilson"
We have found out that we are not
the popular heroes which might be
expected of those who rushed to the
nations defense. You would think it
was positive disgrace to be sold
Ter, the way some people show their
feelings. Again, the majority of Of
ficers regard enlisted men as so much
encumbrances on the earth. An Of
ficer approaches-you salute, "I'm
your dog" The officer returns the
salute, 81 know it." That regular
army stuff doesn't go with US. We
had a regular instructor at Grayling
who rose on his dignity one night over
a celebration. He came down and
ordered the men to their quarters.
Some one asked, "Who in hi are
you" why, he said, I'm Cap;
tain -" well, captain; old
horse, you'd better run along home
before we toss you in the lake." /
thought the captain would burst but
he took the well meant advice and
made himself scarce.
/ must tell you something of the
4hCAlCdno WIN iiilaOlI doOs lHCy
inhabit Ell Paso in much the same
manner as fleas do dog. l had new
err dreamed that human beings could
or would live in such poverty and
There is no use trying
to describe it; it simply can't be done.
The more / see of the "Spicks" the
less do / blame them for revolving,
fighting, tearing at friend and foe
alike in their frenzy. Their poverty
is made more unbearable by disease
which affects nearly all the peon
class. Honestly, it is hard to believe
that those creatures squatting in the
gutter are human beings the same as
yourself. It's revolving. would
rather be I'D than to touch one
Of them. Still they are the most
pitiable and pitiless things l ever saw.
Life to them is just vessel overflow
ing with misery and wretchedness.
There are better classes, of course,
but they are in the minority. The
women are dressed mostly in black
and all wear mantillas. The younger