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Show CAM PURE SKETCHES. 0000 SHORT STORIES FOR THB VETERANS. rorelo the Charaa ot the Meala f "Tops" A Hulriler Tolls What He Iaant4 Abool Tbll Cell la b Leal. lAaretoft. Bark from the strenuous war be come to me. Ha I my ion, grown brown with atrange scarred hands; The months of blood and death In alien lands Are In his fare; hla boyish will to be la four-fold won. 1 glow and weep to Bee The trodden meadow blackened with the bands Of bearded, marching men whom ha commanda. With being rearranged he cornea to me. I, imall beside him, try to utter prayers; I, honored for the laurels that he wears; Ood knows find know! I stand with empty hands, And lonesome heart no meed of pralsea warma. 1 crush the laurel branch. Oh, Ood, I mlsa Tha anft-moiithed baby I can never klaal Zona Gale In Bookman. t of Tap. Iipoe the Snialoe. "Taps" la the name of the last bugle rail In tha aoldler day. It la the laat tribute to tha dead, also, and la held In peculiar reverence and respect by all soldlerl. When that rail aoundi all revelry ceases, and when III balf-aaered balf-aaered tonea are unnoticed by the turbulent tur-bulent spirit of a recruit, who haa not yet learned that nameless feeling of tha soldier for It, lie Is quickly taught lesson which he never forgets. During Dur-ing the great etrlke In Bt. Louis I flrat learned the charm of the music of "tapa." Btrlke duty la Intensely disagreeable disa-greeable to the regular army. Stern discipline makes the army most effective effect-ive In quelling the riots attending a atrlke, but "It's not what I enlisted for," la a common comment of the aol-dlir. aol-dlir. Nevertheless the duty Is sometime some-time before the soldier, and hla training train-ing baa taught him to fuinil It. Bo It waa with ua when we were ordered from Fort Bupp'y. I. T.. to Bt. Ixmle on atrlke duty. Many other commanda were lent In from nil over the gaeat Welt. All waa turmoil and excitement excite-ment among tha cltlxcm, who more than half aympathlxrd with tbe itrik-ere itrik-ere and madu our work of the hardest hind. We were quartered In a church, the best nur Jolly gray-headed old captain cap-tain rould procure for ua. The nfflceri ot auvexulcUjurcuiupauLii'. Uj.u1 aWi-h lug ro Mil In our spacious uoiuMle. We had a fearful day, and the men. dead tired, were lying around the prwa and In every way ttylng to ajnther strength for tomorrow's trials, which we knew would be hard. A snail kxioarne lamp upon the pulpit cast a welid glow over th sleepers. Buddenly a crowd ot young ornccre, five or ilx of them, who had been out having a good time, rume In and they were not a quiet ait the time and place would naturally suggest sug-gest The cavernous deptha of that great church echoed their ribaldry. They went on toward the end of the church occupied by tl.elr companloua, fully Intent on rousing out other fnl-lowa fnl-lowa and making a night of It. Kud-denly, Kud-denly, out of nowhere In particular, but apparently from Bomewhcre, came the low. iweet. pleading tremolo of a pipe organ, plnylng. as never played before "Taps!" Kre the flrat a'ratn bad died away the turning of an uneasy, un-easy, dreaming aoldler was distinctly audible In the far corner of the eacred room, and not another sound, save the most angelic music, could be beard. Being on guard, I stole forward to aee who was playing and came upon our banda upon the keys of the organ. At laat tha faint notea died awuy and he ssw me. "It'i all right, sergeant I could not Bleep and thnuicht I would play a little." an Id he, which were the laat word! ipoken In that church that night Russell Frances, In Kanaaa City Star. Ooa. Crook's Jots, Crook, the Indian fighter, waa a solemn sol-emn men, but be loved a practical Joke, ay Col, Joseph Her. who knew him well. Back In the '70a, anon after he wai made a brigadier general and stationed sta-tioned at Omaha, Oen. Crook orgunlied wildcat hunting party among a lot of Ul, and one moonlight night we started start-ed acroaa the prairie from Omaha for the fort. The plan was to sleep at the fort and at daylight aturt for the wildcat!. wild-cat!. After we were ul I asleep Oen. Crook came down atalra without any ahoei on and took from our rifle tho ball cartridges, replacing them with blank!. On the way to the woods the general Indicated the orde' In which ha wished ui to fire on the first wildcat In case we ahould tree the beast. We had hardly reached the woods before Oen. Crook rose In his saddle and Bald: "By thunder, boys, there's a rut right In tha crotch of that fir! Drop off your wagona and bag him!" We were on th ground in a twinkling, and In less time than It takes to tell It we were bluing away at a monstrous big wildcat wild-cat which waa hugging the limb of th tree. The cat never atlrred aa the suc-Cwrilve suc-Cwrilve ihota were fired, anil the hunter! hunt-er! looked at one another with open-mouthed open-mouthed astonishment. We looked around for Gen. Crunk and found Mm behind a stump laughing iwny to beat the band. At once It Hashed on ui that we had been hoaxed. The general hag j Juet atralghtened up and waa begnnlng I to explain the Joke, when the driver, a j hired man at the fort, pulled from un- 1 der hla blanket In tbe wagon double- f barreled ahotgun, loaded with buck- t shoL The general didn't aee him Are, ( but he turned around Just In time to I see tufts of fur and hair fly from the j wildcat aa It dropped from the tree. Off t went the general Into another lit of L laughter. Hut this time the laugh was f on hlmseslf, for the hired man had f poured both chargei of buckshot Into I a beautifully Bluffed wildcat, complete- ly ruining It, and the general euhee. ' quently paid the saloonkeeper from f' whom he had borrowed It aliout 118. i' All that Crook said waa: "Hoy a. It ( waa worth lino apiece to see Ave good marksmen mlsa a wildcat In broad C daylight at 30 pares." Tie R.tiromeal Ua, f It Is generally agreed by the best friends of the army that the law should he modified to say 8 yeara as the best, subserving both the Interests of th government and the army. Th , theory of the retirement law la that at the age of 04 an ofllrer haa largely ; If not w holly lost hla capacity for use- , fulness. Very few military authorlttc i longer believe any such nonsense, it! ' ostensible object Is wholly negatived ' by th foregoing examples, and what j la patent on every hand. The real ob- Ject I to expedite promotion. If Oen. j Clous' ervlre were needed end likely to he valuable why should he be put , out of the wsy and another put In hi placet It there were atlll critical du- 1 tlea which only he could aurceeafully 1 perform why supersede hlra with an- I other who could not perform themt j Bo, In the rase of Gen. Bhafter and I other retired offlcere whose active aer. i vice are atlll required by the govern : mrnt The law aa It elands la In high favor with the young subalterns, and ( for very obvious reasons. Ita bcautlri and utility grow more and mora doubt-fill, doubt-fill, however, aa they near tha 64 yeal , milestone. When that fell day arrival they are to a man most decidedly "agif It," for reasons equally obvloua. Then ' la an old atory that the original act ol June 80, 1NH3, for compulsory retire- 1 meat waa conceived and anglneeret ' I through Congreaa by tha late Benatoi I John A. Ixigan. The gossips bad It I that It waa a shaft aimed at William T. Bherman, tjien general of the army for whom Uigan had a bitter entlps. I thy, aa Is well known, for displacing I him from the command of the army ol ' I tbe Tennessee before Atlanta In 18G4.- I New York Bun. I tleth I'rayers Aaaworod t I Gen. Joe Wheeler la good to th In- f tervlrwer. He talks out without re- j erve, as If speaking to a friend. He I modest In bl manner, even meek-look- ' f lug, and certainly no one at flnt light ' would limmlne that this gentle, genial, E mnrr"ntrv?i!l here) or some of tli ' "-"' r ,, 1 bloodiest, rlmmeat ball lea of modern I I times. Gen. O. 0. Howard, who com- 1 I mantled one of the wings of Sherman' 4 I army on the famous march lo the aea, and who bore Ix-e'i Arit ihock at Get- tyshurg. Is another of preeliely tht i: snme type. No one could be simpler, kinder or gentler. In fact. It seems to be the rule with men aa with Bteel 1 that the hardest knocks produce tho best temper. Old rmy otfleer And 1 old physicians are apt to hav ! 1 broad-minded charity and a hnpafal, , sunny love of their kind whlrb ll rare elsewhere. They reverse the rule of j . the witty French rynlc: "The mora , .' I know about men the better I Ilk ; dogs." The Inst time I Interviewed i Gen. Howard It was on tha subject of j answers to prayer, and I thought I bad ) him. In hla famous fight with Btona- ( wall Jackson the Union forcei were d featrd, so I Inquired of Gen. lliwsrd: , "You ptyed before that battle?' j ''Yea," he answered. "And Jackson ' was praying man. He prayed also!" j "Yes," ha answered. "Then how wa j It that he gained the victory? Did that j mean that the I'nlon cause wa ; wrong?" Vory gently the good old gen- j , eral replied: "Both our prayers wer answered. Jackson prayed for lrame- ! dlate victory and I for the ultimate trl- j umph ot our cause. We both got what we prayed for." ! Loalag aa Arsa la tlallle. Rome one asked Capt Lucius D. Crelghtnn of Missouri In the Arllng- ' ton lobby last night how It felt to hav an arm ahot off, aaya the Waalilngton Post. Capt Cralghton eerved during the civil war between the United State j In Confederate regiment, and hla left sleeve hangs empty at hla aide. "It 1 i doesn't feel at all," tha Confederate ; veteran anawered. "It la chiefly In th lack of feeling that you know you have been hit. I lost my arm at Gettysburg 1 and when tha bullet struck me I could 1 not Imagine at Arst what had hap- j 1 "encd. There wasn't the slightest j pain, only s alight tickling sensation. I which soon gave way to numhneas. In 1 I a few minutes my arm aeemed to have ! an enormoua weight hanging to my t shoulder, but It was not until after the I amputation had been made that I euf- fered actual pain. Tbe after effect! of losing an arm are not altogether ' pleasant, you aort of come to mlsi II I In time, but ao fur aa Buffering la con. f cerned I would much lesi rather bei would atlng me." Ma stopla-riro l'lalole. 1 The board of ordnance haa adopted ' new mugaxlne pistol which Ares lit shots per minute aa against 40 fired by the bent Colt rovolver, which baa been ' up to the preaent time the standard weapon of the army. The new pistol Is also aald to Are far more accurately than the Colt. It costa, however, fl& wheu bought lu lots of 1.000. : r |