The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1918-01-04
sWith the colors.s

II
} would write and tell you about 9
soldiers life. ] did not get my ap-
pointment with Sousa because there
was no more vacancies with him. and
am glad of 1t now. because I ain
with the Fifth Cavalry Band with
three Roswell boys. two OF them are
brothers, the Young boys. They play
/ clarinet. Tell Ella the other one is
Glenn Mccoy, the boy that plays vio-
lin. We have 3S-piece band and
it is some band-three bass players
1.-TWO B fats and myself on E fiat) /.
five Slide trombones, four French
horn men. two baritones, two drums,
four saxophoncs, six comets, eight
clarinets, flute, piccolo and two bas-
soons. This is what call some in
strumentation-fuH deep chords and
harmony. The band leaders name is
M. Cain and he sure is fine old
gentleman, and some musician. He
has had this band for IL years and
some Of the men have been with him
twelve years and ray they will never
leave as long as he is here. Tell
dad we played a concert on the
parade ground to-s4ight and this was
the program: March. "Stars and
Stripes Forever" Overtures, Fam
pa" William Tell" Waltz, We'd
ding Of the Winds" March, Chicago
Tribune" This is pretty good pro-
gram for beginners. 1t is the best
band here, end there are six and all
good ones, but we are the only one
not in tents.
We have a fine brick building
facing the big parade ground. 1t
was the fort gymnasium, and they
made it into band headquarters. We
have little single iron bedsteads with
good springs, thick mattress, two
double army wool blankets and a
thick comfort for the top cover. We
sure can sleep warm. The room is |
rs by 100 feet with ten big windows,
two big swing doors in the north and
couth side. The door on the south |
leads into the toilet and bath room
and from the bath room you go into
the barber shop. On the north is
the dining room and the kitchen
All of this is under one roof So you
see it Is some building. There is a
nice lawn ind sidewalk around it.
The stable and horses are just across
the street back of us, with 40 horses
in one long barn. Every man has
his own horse and equipment. Every
horse, saddle, bride, blanket, and
everything, is Just alike. We go by
numbers on everything Well, I
have explained my surroundings,
will now tell you my duties. They
talk about intensive training every
where. Well, that does not seem to
apply to this band, as they sure have
a cinch. They very seldom ever
carry gun, just an army pistol
when out on cavalry practice, which
lasts one hour each day. To begin
with we get up at 5:45 for roll call,
at we march out the front door in
single file, every man in his place,
and form line in front of the
quarters. An officer calls out the
names and every man answers
here" Then we break ranks, go in
The quarters and every man makes up
his own bed, everyone the same way,
ready for ins,,ection, the sheets,
blankets and comfort folded a GER
ain way and placed at the head of
he bed with the pillow on top. Then
every man sweeps around his bed.
Then we go to the bath room and
wash; then, at $50 the breakfast
bell rings and we make a rush for
he dining hall. This morning we
lad hot cakes, syrup, two eggs,
French fried potatoes, bread and
coffee. When we finish eating we
axe the dishes over to big can and l
Grape everything left into it and 9
lrop the dishes into big vat, but $
We do not have to wash them. From {
to 1880 we have sitting up exer- :
Uses. and they sure are fine for US. 9
from 5 to 9 is cavalry practice. We U
10 to the stable, take our bride in .
land a certain way, put it on just
o, next the blanket folded Just a I
certain way, then the saddle. Now .
ONES the fun. Command, Company, 7
That's where had my fun, 9