The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1916-08-04

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have Us at the entrance of Black
Point, broad brick roadway forming
a huge sweeping semi-circle, swept
around to the toe of the horseshoe and
circled around the immense double
deck fiagpole, from which Old Glory
proudly foated, and as we rolled thru
the gate and smoothly worked our
way up towards the staff headquar-
ters, l should Judge about one-half
mile or so, to the left of us the st.
Johns river CLEANED and glistened
through the fringe and underground
about two hundred yards away. The
breeze from the river cooled itself as
it stole through the shade of the trees
to our left and famed US as it came
out of the woods, causing feeling of
comfort to steal over us as we bowl
ed along.
The first sight that attracted our
notice was the rifle range, where the
boys go out and shoot little steel
pointed bullets at targets. These tar
gets have varying ranges, running
from 200 yards to about one-half
mile or more. Here the boys take
cartridges with little steel bullets
sticking out of the end and put them
in their guns; they then take careful
squirt along the barrel of the gun,
shut their eyes, pull the trigger and
tear a great big hole thru the air.
When they open up their eyes the
target is still there, and they take an
other shot at it, and hit it in the same
place. There is lots of excitement in
this target practice. could write a
whole lot more about it If / could only
see them at it, but as have never
seen them shoot, and get my informa-
ton second handed, I think the above
is pretty good description.
The next claim to our attention was
a number of buildings to our left,
used for commissary stores, ammuni-
ton depots, etc., where the substance
for the whole regiment is stored, and
each company draws on these stores
for what it wants to eat and wear,
and it is the company that has the
best quartermaster who can put up
the biggest bluff that gets the most
supplies. The quartermaster of a
company or regiment bears the same
relation to his men that the head of
the kitchen bears to him at home,
viz: good quartermaster means a
bunch of contented men; so we passed
on and then back to the cushions to
enjoy and observe.
We rolled onward, making great
sweeping semi-circle, until the gen
eral staff headquarters doomed up be-
fore US, in the shape of great build
ing, situated between the driveway and
the river, surrounded by big shade
trees. Here it is that all general or
ders are received and given out. The
boys affectionately refer to the inhab-
itants Of this zone as the Feather
logging brigade" The staff officers
and their wives are quartered here
and here are held the big levees, re-
ceptions, dances and other social
functions of the like. / did not go to
see the officers, so we did not stop
here, but proceeded on and with a
graceful sweep we circled the flag
pole and parked our car among hum
dreds of others.
Having made one-haf the circle of
the horseshoe, we were now anxious
to see what the other side contained,
so facing down the field, to our left
we discerned single line or row Of
tents. They stood out in the clearing,
facing the unending row of trees as
far as the eye could see. Upon walk
ing towards them we noticed that
they seemed to be in pairs; that is,
two tents stood side by side, then a
little further on two more tents, close
together and so on to the end of the
line. Upon inquiry it developed that
this row of tents that run in pairs
were the quarters of the company
commanders, one tent for the cap
tain and the other tent for the first
and second lieutenant. At one corner
Of each captains tent stood a little
flag. They call this the company
flag. Each was of different color and
pattern from the other little company
flags stuck up at the other tents.
This whole line OF company COM
mander tents faced the woods, and as
one gazed toward the dark recesses
Of the overhanging branches of the
trees, we could discern long rows of
tents stretching away towards the
river. There were the homes of the
rrivates or fighting men of the line.
Each company had two rows of tents;
between these two rows of tents the
ground was carefully cleared and lev
eled, for a space of rs or 80 feet,
making a clear, broad lane that is
called the company street.
Now when we reached the company
commanders tents / looked for Cap
tain Edward Drake, for / know him
and wanted to see what kind of a
captain he looked like. Captain Drake
was not in evidence, so we passed on
to the lieutenants' tent. / used to
know Lieut.. Campbell when he was a
little boy and lived in Belleview, years
ago, and wanted to meet him once