Mexico Missouri message., 1916-08-10
BOY ON
TEXAS BORDER
Missouri Regiments Examples of Eff
fiCiency. Bands Play "Houn'
Dog" Watch Ant Fights.

w. h, Strange, manager of the
lutual Telephone Exchange in this
ity, has received the following let
er from his son, Russell Strange,
Who is a soldier boy on the Texas and
Mexican border.
Laredo, Texas, July 25.-Dear
Ones: Dust, well, I should say so.
1t is SO thick that you cannot see
across the company street which is
about forty feet wide.
We have a sand storm about once
a week and it rains then for a while
This is now the rainy season here,
altho ! fail to see much of it. Two
weeks ago there was q cloud burst,
about three inches Of water fell in
less than an hour Inside of "a
hours it had all disappeared.
We sure have it rather easy. We
get up at five, nave breakfast and po-
lice the company street Chat means
cleaning up From z until 10 we
drill and the rest of the day the
most we do is to eat and sleep. It
is 100 to 10 in the shade every
lay, but the nights are cool enough
to make a blanket feel good.
We 90 on interior guard every II
days and do other details of guard
duty, such as the water-works, post
Office, electric light plant, and the
town in general
The Missouri troops are the best
If any State troops on the border
IThcy are true ciliz,ns of the Grand
IOld state" 1t is not case of SHOW
lmc" with them; it is eve will show
Them" and they are sure doing it.
We have fine time and lots of
fun. The men in our company get
all that don't take bath every day
and take them to the shower bath
and make them stay under it half
an hour. After it is once done they
never wait for Il second time.
There is quite a variety of lizards,
horned toads, few rattlesnakes
and other reptiles and varmints.
One form Of amusement among us
is ant fights Red ants and black
ants are natural enemies and fight to
the death whenever they meet. We
take soda bottles or glass jars, set
them in the ground as near an ant
hill as possible and they fall in and
they cannot get out. When the jar
or bottle is full We take them to com
pany street where we lay a blanket
on the ground and pour the ants on
top OF each other and watch the fun
Every regiment has a band and al
roycilIc each band marches up thel
rcgimcntal street playing the regi
, mental march Each regiment has
t its own march, the First NIissouri's
S being Gray owen" and we call then
S eyc-opcucrs.
The Second Mi5sOuri's song is the
e. Hound Dog" Whenever we heal
} their band start we yurn out in ful
u force with band and all make S,
S much noise that they quit in disgust
4 They have threatened three or fou
j times to come over and get 9Th,
70 lussy first" as they call US. Let then
~ come over; we are ready for them,
+ Our yell is: We! We! Who ar,
S We? We are the First Missouri In
. rantry. First in War; First in Peace
l and first in the hands of the Cit!
( Pollce!"
70 My company goes on guard tn,
l night of the 26th. And are on guarC
until 6 p. IN. of the 27th. We ar,
afraid Of the dark as the A. X. zap
pie kuockers) are. They shoot a
every dog and bush after dark. w
try our best to get in before tap
for fear they will turn loose and b,
accident shoot one of us in the pants
1t would be an accident il they did
for they can't hit "a flock of barns.
RUSSELL E. STRANGE,
Corp. Co. d, 1st Mo. n. c., U. S.
e