The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1916-09-22


you no git oop again, alfetty-ain'.
it," So the laugh was on Bill, anu
/. was < long time before h ceased
II hear some one ask If he was FOND
Of music and if he wanted some one
to beat him a solo. But the sweet, /
salt breezes still came on and bathed |
our brows refreshingIy. The waves
CT the sea still beat their iuIiabys
upon the sandy, sparkling shore. The
full moon still shed her silvery rays
upon US turning the dewdrops on the /
meadow grass into myriads of spark |
ing diamonds. Some one down near
the seashore began to sing in a sweet, |
clear voice, "The Old Oaken Bucket:
Glow dear to my heart are the scenes
of my childhood
When fond recollection presents them
to view;
and then our mid-summer's night
dream was suddenly, shamefully,
ruthlessly and diabolically broken.
Bang, And three-inch Parrot shell
our camp and exploded with a loud
whang. 1t came over from the same
| federal battery that had shelled our
camps a number of times before, but
had not done so for quite awhile be-
fore this ideal night. AS soon as this
shot came however, the singer on the
seashore ceased to sing, but the band
seized their instruments and began to
play the "Anvil Chorus" loud and
strong Duff hammered the head of
his big drum as he had not done be-
fore than night and wranged his Gym
balls as though he would wake the
dead Salters ratified the head of his
snare drum like sail or tin roof; and
| the boys shouted and cheered until it
| looked like the stars trembled in their
settings in the blue Vault above! Now
whether the yanks wanted to silence
the singer on the shore and start the
band to playing again, do not know,
! but that is what Immediately happen
ed when the shell came, and they
never fired another one that night.
You may draw your own conclusion
from the facts as | have given them.
Quite number of young men when
| they went into service took along
servant with them. AS we'll as | now
remember there were five of these
negro servants along with the Edisto
Rifles, and how many more in other
companies of the regiment, / would
not now, after all these years, begin
to say, especially as it is of only one
that | am going to write about now.
Will say in a general way however,
that these negro servants waited on
and cooked for their young masters
faithfully and well. They were
rationed by the government just like
the enlisted men, and when we were
in active service in the field as we
were in Virginia and North Carolina,
they would remain in the rear with
the wagon trains, but would cook
4 there and bring in our meals at the
front regularly every day. But it is
Sam, the servant of the four Izlar
boys in the Edisto Rifles, that l am
going to write about now. | say four
Izlar boys, but later on there were
five of us, as younger brother be-
came old enough the last two years
of the war to enlist and he too came
to the Edisto Rifles. Sam was about
eighteen and had been trained as a
house servant from the time he was
ten years old, and while his duties as
one of the house boys had nothing to
do with the cooking, still he was
bright and alert and had acquired
whole lot of information in that de-
partment, so that when he went with
US in the army we found him capable
and efficient for every duty that was
required of him and with the mater
ials furnished he could and did pre-
pare and cook as palatable meals as
any cook in the regiment. Besides
that, he knew how, and did keep such
clothing as we had in good order.
Well, it came to pass that one day
while Sam was about to serve our
midday meal, that same pestiferous
yankee battery sent shell whistling
into our camp and it fell quite near
the fire where Sam was about to dish
up our dinner, and burying itself in
the ground exploded and sent up
about a cart load of dirt which scat
tered all around and fell in every di-
rection. Of course we all looked
around to see if any harm had been
done and looked for Sam as we knew
he had been near the cooking place.
He was not there, and looking about
to see if we could find him, or any
part of him, some one called out,
'fLook at Bowl Yonder he goesl"
Now Sam was pretty bow-legged, and
Bow was a nickname we had for
him, so when we heard that call we
looked where the man was pointing,
and sure enough there went Sam
lickety-split across the long bridge
headed towards Charleston. No other
shell was fired that day and while we
were examining the place that one
had fallen and talking about how
near it came to spelling our dinner,
Sam came up quietly behind us and
said "You all ready to have dinner
i I. I