Show j OX THE PICKET LINE I Adventure AVliicIt Never found lice in Official ISpporfs A good many of those picketline adventures j i ad-ventures said It gentleman in the rail I way mail service never found place in the official reports or the letters of army correspondents They were in every case violations of instructions and to have i I spoken of them to superior officers would have been to invite punishment so by a sort of freemasonry of the picket line some of the most startling adventures of private soldiers never went to record As for myself I was a little conscientious in the matter of obeying orders and only in one case did I make any departure from the strict line of a soldiers duty It was while we were in front of Chattanooga Chatta-nooga that it became fashionable along I the picket line to exchange papers The plan was for a Confederate who wanted a I paper to come to the front shake a Southern South-ern paper as a flag of truce and in this I way invite exchange The pickets on either side in that immediate im-mediate vicinity would cease firing The Union soldier would start from his line I and the Confederate from his line and they would meet half way shake hands exchange papers and if there were no officers in sight sit down and have a chat This bad been kept up for several days when there came an order from headquarters head-quarters that no more papers should be exchanged But the boys choosing their time for exchange continued the practice against orders There came a week however in which no rebel responded re-sponded to waving or shaking or fluttering flutter-ing of paper or handkerchief and we knew then that orders against exchange j had been issued on that side as well as on ours I But one morning quite early my partner part-ner discovered a man on the rebel line i frantically waving a large paper He 1 suggested that we slip away from the reserve re-serve and go out and see what the man wanted He took a paper waved it and we started toward the rebel front When I we had proceeded about half way to the point of meeting the fellow ceased to wave his paper We were puzzled at this but finally concluded that he was down in a hollow and we would see him when he came on high ground So we walked on and walked without warning into a group of soldiers at the rebel pick etpost The men were just ready to take breakfast and after the first hurry they joked us a good deal about our extraordinary extraordi-nary willingness to get into their clutches at breakfast time When we spoke of he exchange of papers the officer in charge informed us that orders were i positive against exchangeand that all his i i men understood it As this was the case j he took the position that we had come I i willingly into their lines and that he i could not allow us to return I saw at 1 once that his men disagreed with him I but the question was how we were to getaway I get-away I iwayMy partner who had been a soldier in Germany exhibited the greatest non halance and he joined in the jokes at I our expanse and proposed that he make I the boys some com that was police The Confederates had a very poor excuse for I that article and without more ado he proceeded to make a little kettle of Ii coulee the aroma of which cemcd i to fascinate the coffee hungry sharpshooters I sharp-shooters When he had pouied the coffee into the cups and had expatiated on the good it would do the men he took up his rifle and said to me Now let UP start for our own line I followed him and not a rebel soldier on that picket post lowered the cup of com from his lips or looked in our direction I never I disobeyed orders after that |