The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1917-03-14
BORDER TALES


BfuD WHPn We were III camp bul w
did object to the cook passing it out
with a five-foot king snake wrapped
around his neck" observed Sergt.
Reginald Pierce, Of Howard, who
spent yesterday and today in Madi-
son calling on friends. talking of his
experience in the national guard on
the Mexican border. Sergt. Pierce
was i'm Company T., Fourth South
Dakota and returned March 4.
The company Of which Pierce was
a member went into state camp at
Redfield June 23 last year, and was
mustered into the federal service on
July 1. After drill and work, they
went to the border on July 81, reach
ing their post at San Benito, Tex,
on August s. The company was
mustered out of service at Omaha on
March 3.
Sergt. Pierce expressed doubts Of
ever doing the same thing again. but
said if the call came for soldier vol
unteers to do real war duty. he
would again go under the colors.
vi those WHO were uOi Wbuuuth Va
who did not contract sickness in serv-
ice. he says that the experience was
without money value. The health
and physical w%ell-being of masses of
men is now reduced to q science, he
says. Two or three years of the
training. with its instructions Of by
giene. sanitation and exercise. would
add many years to the life of the or
binary individual. Carelessness in
posture or personal care is done
away with the erect carriage of the
body. and the development induced
by the exercise and regularity of all
functions, make for health and inn
proved physical endurance.
San Benito was a town of 5000
when the soldiers got there, and the
conveniences for entertainment We're
limited. In a few days there We're
all the facilities possible for the con
venience of the soldiers liberality.
On their arrival their camp was
near an old garbage dump. Flies
were so thick hat they used one
hand to protect themselves while
eating. The men were set at work
and in a few days the dump was
cleared, the tents screened, and all
offal disposed of by evaporation and
burning. Once "a week the whole
camp of many thousand men was
swept with brooms, as one would a
parlor floor. The tents were swept,
and after they were floored with
boards they were scrubbed, once a
week anyway. The flies went to
more productive fields, and disease
went with them.
The men were vaceinated for small
pox and inoculated for typhoid.
Once was enough for the small pOX;
three NEGOTIATIONS were given In ten
days for the typhoid, in increasingly
heavy series, in order that the sys-
tenn might become tolerant of the
poisons of the serum. Some of the
men were sick and dizzy for a month
from the effects.
All kinds of pets and mascots
were kept by the men when i'm camp.
from burros and deer TO mice, rab-
bits and as in the case of the cook
referred to above. snakes. Snakes
in the hands and on the body of the
cook were not regarded with the I'M
qualified favor hat the cook desir-
ed, ana the boys made several snakes
of each individual one, using their
bayonets for the purpose. II re-
auired several lessons of this kind to
convert the otherwise deserving
cook.
Extreme poverty and improyidence
on the part of the Mexieans was OBJ
served. "Spicks," Sergt. Pierce
called them, and when asked the
meaning of the term he could only
say that II was the appellation hand
ed to the new men, and il stuck
The food of the Spicks was unbeliev-
ably meager and reyoltingly foul,
and the morrow was far. far in the
unrealized future.
On the whole the men enjoyed the
big excursion. The big m~aneuver"
taught them lessons i'm actual field
living. the NEGOTIATIONS ana lessons
in taking care of themselves kept
them in health, and though the food
was UNMARRIED, they had appetites 10
eat anything eatable and thrived
amazingly. The men lost weight
greatly at first. But when they had
become acclimated, and the routine
and work became mechanical. their
weight increased to points above
what they had ever been before.
And as in the case of Sergt. Pierce.
a man of 100 pounds. stoop shout
dered and thin a year ago, now
weighing ISL, straight as a ramrod,
alert, clear eyed and strong. the reg
ularity and training of army life
does make men.