The Robesonian., 1917-06-07

'iiS iiAOi AIliS WICllOUC lc0l1ug the
strain, and company 16 came in pref
ty well tagged that is to say, ev-
eryboy except the company commard-
er, detailed from the regular army,
who is always fresh as a daisy, al
though he goes through work prac-
tlcally as severe as any man in the
ranks. For endurance a regular ar
my man has Hercules backed off the
map.
At 10 Comes 'sTaps''
But after dinner there will be
blessed hour, an entire 60 minutes,
during which company 16 will not
have thing to do except learn
few pages Of the Infantry Drill Reg
ulations, the Manual of Interior Guard
Duty, the Plattsburg Manual, maybe
bit of the Signalling Manual, and
glance at few other textbooks for
outside reading. At 1870 the COM
mander will take them off to some
shady spot where he will proceed to
find out how lamentably little they
have gathered from this course Of
study. After some two hours Of
cross examination, No. 16 will gather
itself together for hike, a pleas
ant little stroll of six to eight miles
in a couple of hours; or if the lesson
runs close to 4 o'clock, the company
will be taken back to the parade
ground and put through more setting
up exercises After 4:3O there is
nothing to do but take a bath be-
fore supper; but as there is always
a formidable waiting list at the bath
houses, it sometimes becomes an ex-
citing race to get back before $3.50
when mess call sounds for supper
At the whole regiment is gathered
together and somebody makes a
speech-"general conference" it lis
called, and often it is the most val
liable part of the days work. After
the conference, it is study more books
until $3.50, when tattoo sounds; anC
at 10 comes taps.
Decidedly, it is no life for a Syba.
rite; and yet you might make long
journey without finding more
cheerful place than company 16 bar
racks. That is, you might, unless yor
: had chanced to visit it on the day af
ter the company had been given its
second shot of the anti typhoid Sc
rum. Then you would have found {
congregation of misanthropes Of tn,
deepest dye. All the world wa
|, wrong that day. Company 16's arms
!, ached; it's heads ached; its back
, ached; it's commander was transform
: ed from a pleasant, if unbending
I gentleman, into a monster of incred
ible viciousness; and the kaiser wa
sure to win the war. Anti-typhoi'
serum is powerful stuff, especial.
r the second dose, which is the wors
: of all. It is the essence Of gloom
f distillation of despair; and the MAJ
: recently inoculated is man beref
r of friends, man with no joy in life
: His last dog is dead.
: One Biue-Eyed Doctor
t The reputation Of the serum wen
S before it, and many and various a
e autumn leaves were the excuses tha
e company 16 had framed up before it
: visit to the hospital. Few member
p there were so lacking in ingenuit
that they were not provided wit
5, what was, in their own estimation,
/ perfectly legitimate excuse to pr
v sent to the doctor for not taking tt
d dose. But company 16 did not kno
vt what it is to go up against an arm
e surgeon, especially surgeon wit
IS bright blue eye, a merry, twinklln
5 blue eye, but withal the most i
It credulous, the most skeptical, tt
l. most sophisticated blue eye in Il
is world. Alas for company 16! II
D. blue eyed doctor had heard each al
le every one of it's $50 excuses so ofte
at that he could have repeated them
d. easily as the multiplication tabl
r. and his answer to each was the san
* "a jab of the needle and dab
yel iodine. Company 16 went to the no
IS pital with high hopes; it came ba
al in a ruined community.
I'd But fortunately "a hours sees t
c. end of the worst of the anti-typho
OF treatment, unless there is somethl1
yh radically wrong with the man befo