Iron County record. [volume] (Cedar City, Utah) 1893-1982, 1920-09-03
The Gathering Of the Nations.

that clean makes me wish that I had
never taken the job OF telling II In
hand But you can find the cause and
reason of everything in the hooks
about history, and so l shall Just leave
that alone and talk about what saw
with my own eyes and heard with my
own ears.
The regiment to which our friend
had been appointed was the Seventy
first Highland Light Infantry. which
wore the red coat and the trews. M
had It's depot In Glasgow town. TheNs
we went, all three, by coach, the ma
jor In great spirits and full of stories
about the Duke and the Peninsula,
while Jim sat in the corner, with his
lips set and his arms folded, and
knew that he killed De Lissac three
times an hour In his heart. I could
tell It by the sudden CLINT Of his eyes
and grip Of his hand.
We were in Glasgow next day. and
the major took us down to the depot,
where soldier with three stripes on
his arm and fistful of ribbons from
his cap showed every tooth he had In
his head at the sight of Jim, and
walked three times round him, to have
the view of him as If he had been Car
Isle castle. Then he came over TO me
and felt my muscle, and was well nigh
as pleased as with Jim.
"These are the sort, major; these
are the Sort" he kept saying. with a
thousand of these we could stand up
to Boney's best"
"How do they rum" asked the ma
jor.
"A poor show" said he, "but they
may lick into shape. The best men
have been drafted to America, and we
are full of militiamen and recrulties."
tut, tut" said the major. "We1l
have old soldiers and good ones against
us. Come to me If you need any help,
you two" And so. with a nod, he left
us, and we began to understand that
major who Is your officer Is a very
different person from major who
happens to be your neighbor In the
country.
Soon came the news that the folk
nj Vienna. who had been cutting up
Europe as If 1t had been a jigget of
mutton. had flown back, each to his
own country, and that every man and
horse In their armies had their faces
toward France.
We heard of great reviews and mus
terings in Paris too and then that We'll
lington was I'm the Low Countries, and
that on us and on the Prussians would
| fall the first blow. The government
was shipping men to him as fast as
they could, and every port along the
east coast was choked with guns and
horses and stores. On the third of
| June we had our marching orders Also
and on the same day we took ship
from Lelth, reaching Ostend the night
after. From there we went on to a
place called Bruges, and from there to
Client, where we picked up with the
Fifty-second and the Ninety-fifth,
which were the two regiments that we
were brigaded with. It's a wonderful
| place for churches and stonework. Is
| Client; and. indeed, of all the towns
we were in there was scarce one hut
had finer kirk than any in Glasgow.
| From there we pushed on to Ath.
which Is little village on river, or
| burn rather, called the Bender.
There we were quartered-in tents
mostly, for II was fine, sunny weather
and the whole brigade set to work
at It's drill from morning till evening.
General Adams was our chief and Rey-
nell was our colonel, and they were
both fine old soldiers; but what put
heart into us most was to think that
we were under the Duke, for his name
was like a bugle call. He was at Brus-
sells with the bulk of the army but we
knew that we should see him quick
enough II he were needed.
had never seen so many English
together and indeed had kind OF
contempt for them, as folk always
have II they live near border. But
the two regiments that were with us
now were as good comrades as could
be wished. The Fifty-second had a
thousand men In the ranks, and there
were many old soldiers of the PENN
sua among them. They came from
Oxfordshre for the most part. The
Ninety-fifth were a rifle regiment and
had dark-green coats instead of red.
II was strange to see them loading, for
they would put the ball In greasy
rag and then hammer II down with a
mallet, but they could fire both farther
and stralghter than we. All that part
of Belgium was covered with British
troops at that time, for the Guards
were over near Enghlen, and there
were cavalry regiments on the farther
side Of us. You see, II was very nee
essary that Wellington should spread
out all his force, for Boney was be-
hind the screen OF his fortresses and
OF course we had no means Of saying
on what side he might pop out, except
that he was pretty sure to come the
way that we least expected him. On
the one side he might get between us
and the sea, and so cut us Off from
England; and on the other he might
shove In between the Prussians and
ourselves. But the Duke was as clev a
as he, for he had his horse and hls
light troops all around him. like a