The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, June 19, 1898, Page 17

We ATCH me!” said the sergeant ‘ I ’ The s¢ t wore U his collar and three white stripes on his eeve 1y 1 marked him in his mother's womb. He came » bullet head, the bayonet eye, the beak and chin rvice had done the rest. He was cropped, cleaned, d. His st were set at right angles to -his a his chest was full, his legs spread like a compass, He walked step! step! step! step! T a shears. vhen you hear the order ‘About face!’ you do right foot, and it turned him as a pivot htly resting on the toes swung round an His tr 1 legs carried him without a half turn, brought him about again, heels men. f twelve—the rawest of the raw, the green- e poor. Most of them were not only new to \ ey came from the woods, the gills, s had been bent to the plow, bowed mattock, crooked and stiffened lined strength afflicted them like g loosely to their trunks; their chests retreated into their shoulders; their honest, vague, remin- cfe sunbaked, wind-dried, storm-beat- and yields no experience. They vears in looking down, from whom for all she gives, sucks at their rack. Thei urved to the il. Their faces we their questioning 1 withered in the chills and enties. saddens their 1en they came from field and farm, or ll—clothes of ancient cut and am- patched and brushed with all absurd with that absurd- zarments, e though they cover e coat that makes the man, but it n of him. face!” squad took it calmly between the t, turning in handsome {llustration, aping motionless. Didn’t you hear the command? Attention! watched the effect of the command. It was ympathetic instant of hesitation, a concerted vidual resolution triumphed and every man moved for e legs, and it moved one leg vond the fact that they all whirled around, es without stopping, their movements bore no to one another's than they did to the sergeant’s. His voice the scra le: out over heard and v was derstood. The rest kept on trying. patient. He was a good man for the place. ning,” he called out. *“Pay attention to command. Here! Can’t you do tI And oh! it looked 8o easy. They tried and tried. TI " rested on their right heels and their left , as he told them to rest; they t d as he told them to turn; they stopped as he told them to stop. But their ur iplined heels flew out from under, their untrained toes gave way beneath, their surprised legs shook and staggered, their unhappy bodies balked Now and again one of them got the swing of it, became hysterical with success and lost it agaln immedi- ate The sun shone on their efforts. The water ran from their pores. The sergeant took them singly. “See!” he said. “This is the way to do it!"” And they could do it any other way. o e R e e he troopship’s on the tide, my boys, he tr p's on the tide.” 1e to Captain Carringten to muster m for the lunteers he rented the almost empty Armory noderate sum, : melancholy of familiar halls disused. st Regim that First .which now 1s ause it has taken the new oath, gone from the e to the grim service of the Government, ex- mory for the necessities of the camp, the glory ur rm of the march, the play of soldier- the lette, C. for the letters U. 8. V. There is so little of it left to laugh at. ousness of its parades. There is that march of y tor ber. No one questions its courage. The on the rolleall of its country. The stars have risen on the € its upper 1 nd corner is blue, the red stripes cross its d under it our little soldiers have gone to the war. MR e ey When the order c egiment of California ed the comforts of the a 0ld lace on parade for the > busir »t war mili Captain Carrington had the minors up for cross-examina- aced him with a touch of defiance—the touch that will be 1 in the army. You look pretty young.” ggered. “I may look young for nineteen: ptain. Nineteen isn't old you ki wered the v, } ; with a your parents are dead?" I'm sure.” . re d@id they die?” h other's arms, 4 suppose. Well, what of?* “They was sick,” sald the boy sulkily. “Indeed! Who's your guardian?’ The boy brightened—"A man downstalrs, sir, He'L in the ranks.” “ONE OF THEM WORE d CUTAWAY AND TOPPED IT WITH AN OLD SILK TILE.” “Well, bring him up here.” The boy was gone like a streak, “I see you've got your brother's consent here your brother your guardian?” “I guess he is. He's the oldest.” “Father dead?” “No, he ain’t dead.” s your mother dead?” “No, she ain’t dead.” “Get a letter from one of them. “They can’t write.” “Let your father make a cross, his mark—see! like this. ¢ to witness 1t.” “Couldn’t my brother make the cross? I could witness it myself.” “Cet that from your father by letter.” “I've got three brothers,” said the boy desperately. anything I asked 'em to—"" The Captain shook his head “Off with you! Who's next? What's your name? O'Mally? How many brothers have you got, O'Mally?” But O'Mally didn’'t have any. He didn’t have anybody. He remem- bered having a mother and a father once upon a time, but he said they were dead. and another took his place. began the Captain. .*“Is Get somebody “They’d all sign know me mother’s dead,” he added, “and I think me father’s dead.” ‘Don’t you know about your father?” “No, sir. They sent me to the asylum when I was a kid, and I never seen ‘em since.” “How do you know your mother’s dead?” “She’d a come to see me,” said O'Mally confidently. wouldn’t forget him."” The boy with the guardian came back. The guardian was twenty-one and had had a little trouble to prove it. Nevertheless he had taken a father’s place to the other. So he was ready to swear. ““Where did his father dfe?” asked the Captain. “Here on Fourth street, sir.” “The boy says he died in Australia.” “A feller's mother “Yes, sir,” replied the guardian without a wink, “on Fourth street, Aus- tralia. § “What did you mean by saying’ here on ‘Fourth street?” “Mean, sir? What did I mean? Nothing at all. I didn’t mean anything.” “You want to fix up these little stories outside in the hall,” said the Cap- tain, grimly waving them away. “It'will'save you trouble. I'll see about this boy later. Come here, Jackson!" Jackson was about fifteen, little and trim, hard and springy, like a fox terrier. He came smiling. “Jackson, your mother’s been here,” said the Captain. “She said she’d come back in an hour—Wait!" But Jackson didn’t care to wait. He was going out at the door with his quick little step, when a sharp, swift, wiry little woman came in. They faced each other and squared nerve to nerve. “You would, would you?" she said, dancing up to him. was quick, but his mather was quicker. It was another sort of parent who came up to the Captain, dragging a tall, awkward lad by the arm. He saluted respectfully. “Captain,” he said, “I want you to know the kind of boy I've got to give. I'm his father, but I must say I like his grit. He came up to the first call, sir, and—" “Here’s something for you, Captain.” said the secretary. waited mildly. “And was rejected on account of underweight, sir. So he came.up again and tried it again and now he's passed, sir. I tho you'd like to hear about a at. I thought you'd admire his grit said the Captain, deep in his papers. ‘“Yes, y The old man turned to a non-comm oned officer, waiting for an order. “These are the boys we need in the service, . he id. The non-com- missioned officer bowed and yawned. “This the second time he's tried it, you know. Got rejected the first time and went right at it again. I'm his father, sir, but I must say, I admire his grit.” His eyes turned fondly to his son. “Captain,” he said, suddenly. “Oh! ah! I beg your pardon,” said the Captain, recalled, Washington. “You were saying—"" “If you haven't any objection, sir, I'd like to take this boy of mine out and give him a lunch. I don’t want to spoil him for the service by petting him, sir, but I must say, although I'm his father, I like his grit.” A gaunt man tiptoed over the carpet to the Captain’'s side. He came like a shade from another world. He was hollow everywhere, of eye, of cheek, of chest, of voice, of manuner. His clothes flapped on him like washing on a line. “I want a word with yvou, sir,”” he rumbled, “about weight.” “Well, what have you got to say about weight?” inquired the with fine irony. “I'm a trifle under, sir, and I thought you might advise me how to put on. Tl eat anything you suggest or——"" “I'd eat everything,” suggested the Captain, sizing him up., “and all I could of it.” “And exercises, calisthenics, sir? I find I'm a little weak in the chest and about the shoulders. Do you think a week would do it, sir?” “It would take fully a week.” “Thank you, sir,” replied the shade. very much to go with the boys.” “Wish you luck,” said the Captain, cordially. tion.” Isaac, the son of Abraham, possessed his soul in patience. He had been Jackson wilted. And Jackson The old man possibly, from Captain “I'll go about it at once. I'd like “Look out for indiges- standing with his big, liquid eyes fixea on the Captain, his ripe mouth vouting like a plum. “Well, what's the matter with you?” “They doubt my vord I'm twenty-von.” an’t you prove it?" Vell, maybe; but how vill I brove it?” “Got a father living?”’ “He gand gom here, he’s vorking.” “He can’t work all the time."” “Yes, he gan.” “What's he working at?” “At United States uniforms.” The Captain paused. “Get him to sign it, that'll do. You'’re under height, I think.” The little Jew flushed and quivered. “So vas Napoleon Bonaparte.” The Captain laughed. “Get under that measuring stick and see. Isaac the son of Abraham looked at it. “I gand,” he said shrewdly. “I'm too tall.” o heie e e e The squad came crunching up the drive and took their place before the hill. They carried their guns as new-made fathers carry new-Horn babes, in boundless love and fear. They were graduated from the march drill. They had learned with heaven knows what effort to move to command. They had been drilled, drilled, drilled in the alphabet of the service until it got first into their heads and then into their legs. They knew the mys- terious orders of the march one from one. They could step in concert, if not with precision. Their seérgeant called them fit to carry arms. They had no uniforms. A few of them had no coats. One of them wore a cutaway and topped it with an old siik tile. 1e girls at the entrance to the park laughed slily as they passed. A ted them from the curb. "They've got no coats in Kansas, Th got no coats in Kansas; And Uncle Sam Doesn't give a damn If they never get coats in Kansas The regulars were coming in from setting up exercises in the park. Tramp, tramp, tramp, tramp! They swept a splendid, steady, broad, blue stream around the curb and met the Awkward Squad face to face. “Right oblique!” The squad turned to command and humped itself out of the way. The regulars grinned as they passed. An early carriage dawdled on the drive, The squad was trying to present arms. A girl leaned from the carriage win. dow and laughed frankly. “Aren’t they funny?” she said. “They're being taught how to drill.” “Yes, my dear, and how to die.” SEES ALICE RIX, |