Show SUNDAY SALAD A pretty good story is fcd of Colonel Lazcilc who is now in charge of the publ cation of the Records of the Rebellion and who has just been promoted to the colonelcy of the eighteenth foot as the infantry are called in the service Quito n number of years ago when a major he was ordered to West Point as commandant the chief duties of the position being to supervise super-vise the drill and discipline of the corps of cadets Soon after his arrival at the Point those exercises began which are known as battalion drills and which require the presence of all of the cadets in one body Of course 300 young men placed in line either in single or double rank or in open intervals as skirmishers stretch for a great distancea fact that did not seem to occur to the commandant during the early days of his detail as shown by his thoughtless preference for those evolutions requiring re-quiring the flanks of the batallion to move repeatedly over long distances Bad enough at ordinary quick time this sort of thing became simply cruel at double time and was exasperating beyond measure because of the manifest indifference of the colonel to the situation to whom perched upon his willing charger it made little difference whether the drill was slow or fast at quick time or double time The evil was so great and the hardship so extreme that it became necessary in the cadet mind to find a rein edy but how to do it was the question for military etiquette and austerity would not allow inferiors to instruct superiors in their duties and a suggestion from cadet to commandant com-mandant would have beea followed bj instant disgrace The direct method being impracticable it became necessary to resort to indirection The occasion was found in the annual stoop entertainment a minstrel min-strel show given by the cadets to the popu lation of the reservation in which the stoop of the barracks was fitted up and used as a stage and the starlit area as an auditorium Officers cadets and civilian I all attended the show which is one of those rare occasions in the cadet life in which oMcers and cadets mingle together on anything approach lug a social footing Colonel Lazelle vas present and seemed to enjoy the he opening overture and various other features of part one of the performance Good feeling prevailed the bars of military mili-tary etiquette were for the moment thrown down and the occasion was seized b > y the fertile brain of a cadet whose strategic ability should some day make itself felt on the tented field He was one of the end men and propounded the fcl lowing question Mister Jackson can i you tell de difference between eternity I md battalion drill Mr Jackson es ayed several answers and others came this t-his assistance but they were all unable to suggest the difference and Mr Jackson said Xo Mr Majruiah we rivet rive-t up what is the difference between eternity and battalion sirE lfYo gic it up Yes we give it up was the rely pI re-ly Well said Mr Maguiah the difference dif-ference am that ones all time LJ I the others all double time The echoes of old Fort Putnam i mile away were awakened by the shout that followed oflicers joined with cadets and the commandant with all The object was accomplished and the evil was corrected Xo truer typo of the Ould Sod can be imagined than our hacktnan Con OKeefe I as he sits on his perch enveloped iu his j I great coat the rain drizzling from his baton bat-on a stormy day Hows trade Con I we j I asked him recently Forst rate me boy i j fort rate I had wan funeral yisterday rye I another today and plaze God Ill i hav iiuotacr tomorrow I CThe anonymous letter writer is abroad and he has not forgotten the McMaaamj I jury one of the devoted twelve has received re-ceived a sidesplitting missive emblazoned I with such humorous emblems as white caps j I skulls and crossbones still another has an epistle reading thus McManamy has I gone to Indiana shall his example be lost on his jury T f Mr W a pious man has started in to train his fouryearold in the way he should go among other things he has taught him a brief form of grace to be repeated at the family meals and the other day having some friends in to dinner Tacky was asked to return the usual thanks All heads were inclined and Jacky rattled off the following Our fovver who art in heaven bessingon iss food bessing on papa and mamma and lithe buvvcr shoot bang amen1 |