The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1917-03-14
BORDER TALES
INTIMATE TALES OF BORDER
SERGT. PIERCE, OF HOWARD,
TELLS OF SOLDERING.

did object to the cook passing ii out
with a fiye-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 in Company f.. Fourth South
Dakota and returned March T.
The company of which Pierce was
a member went into state camp al
Redfield June % last year, and was
mustered into the federal service on
July J.. After drill and work. they
went TO the border on July 81. reach
ing their post at San Benito, Tex,
on August 5. 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 90 under the coIors.
OF those who were not wounded or
who did not contract sickness in sery-
ice. he says that the experience was
without money value. The health
and physical well-being of masses of
men is now reduced TO a science. he
says. Two or three years of the
training. with it's instructions of by
giene. sanitation and exercise. would
add many years to the life of the or
binary individual Carelessness i'm
posture or personal are 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 were
limited. In a few days there were
all the facilities possible for the con
venience IF the soldiers liberality.
On their arrival their camp was
near an old garbage dump. Flies
were so thick that 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 yaccinated 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-
TEN might become tolerant of the
p~oisons OF the ri 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 in camp.
from burros and deer TO mice. rab-
bits and as in the case of the cook
referred to above, snakes. Snakes
i'm the hands and or the body OF the
cook were not regarded with the I'M
qualified favor that the cook desir-
ed. ana the boys made several snakes
of each individual one. using their
bayonets for the purpose. II re-
quired several lessons of this kind to
convert the otherwise deserving
cook.
Extreme poverty and improyidence
on the part of the Mexicans was OBJ
served. "Spicks." Sergt. Pierce
called them, and when asked the
meaning of the term he could only
say that 1t was the appellation hand
ed to the new men, and il stuck
The food of the Spicks was unbeliev-
ably meager and r%evoltingly foul,
and the morrow was far, far in the
unrealized future.
On the whole the men enjoyed the
big excursion. The big m~aneuyer'
taught them lessons i'm actual field
living. The NEGOTIATIONS and 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 160 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.