called "Fort Sheridan," was erected, inside of
which a cannon was planted. The fort was held
by Co. "C," while Cos. A, B and D marched to
the front and rear of it, and deployed as skir
mishers, and at the command of the Command
ant moved slowly, firing all the time, on the fort,
until within about fifty feet of it, when there was
a charge ordered and the fort captured. The in
stance recalled to the old veterans present some
pleasant as well as sad recollections. •
Nature, having no kindness or hospitality for
us while camping, a year ago, seemed anxious to
repay us for her inurbane treatment. This was
the first experience in military camp life to many
of us, while those who had the good fortune (?) of
being present at last year's camp experienced
quite a different time this year. The camp life
was instructive, and was at the same time enjoyed
by all of us, and while the hardships of active camp
life were not experienced, yet we could imagine to
a great extent the trials of the soldier.
The presence of Misses Detwiler and Gossler
from Columbia, guests of Lieutenant and Mrs.
Pague, added much to the social enjoyment of
some of the students. Suffice it to say that the
camp was a grand success, owing to the indefatiga
ble work and interest of our beloved commandant,
Lieutenant S. S. Pague, U. S. A:, who spared no
pains to make each individual comfortable. His
kind as well as strict dicipline has won for him the
favor of every cadet in the battalion.
The camp was named in honor of Mr•. Mc•
Allister, one of the first supporters of the college.
AN ACCOUNT OF THE PLEASURES OF CAMP LIFE,
AND OF TAY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
The Tuesday morning on which the Battalion
started to march for the train that was to carry it
to camp, was not exactly a typical May morning.
It is true that the sun shone brightly, but such a
combination of mud and sunshine could certain
ly not be found in many places. But we started;
baggage and grub and Buck Reber and a cannon;
THE FREE LANCE.
while Petie Meek and his little blue wagon with
the red tongue brought up the rear. And it was
such a pleasant march because we were all happy,
because we were all excited and because for five
days we would breath a fresher atmosphere and
had already scented fun and pleasure in the air.
Of course the marching in the mud was not very
pleasant, and when a quart of that liquid mixture
would squirt up your pant leg, it would excite
you for a moment but who cared for a little thing
like that ? When we reached the railroad the
greater part of the loading had been done, but
the cannon yet remained, and company A was de
tailed to load it, which was accomplished after
considerable' tugging and snubbing. The re
mainder of the company attended to the tugging,
while I did the snubbing. This was the first op
portunity I had to snub anything or anybody for
a long time, so I snubbed with a vengeance.
When this innocent plaything was loaded it
still remained unloaded; at least when it was un
loaded at camp it had to be loaded before it
could be fired. (The last sentence illustrates the
beauties of "English as She is spoke.") When
once the train was in motion nothing but a rail
road wreck could stop us, which happily did not
occur and we arrived at Hunter's station after a
pleasant ride with colors flying and everybody
happy except the detail that was placed on the
front flat car to guard the baggage, and they were
kept so busy shoveling cinders out of their eyes
that they had no time for jollification. Here,
my usual hard luck followed me, and with anoth
er high private I was detailed to take charge of,
and guard some measly guitars and keep them out
of the rain. There we had to sit, private Bartly
and I, in the shade of the fence corner for four
mortal hours, while the other fellows got a chance
to unload the unloaded cannon, put up the tents,
and put up the price of milk at the farm house.
The first evening in camp was not as lively
'as those that followed, because we were' tired after
our long clays labor, and when at half past ten
o'clock, Jake Struble played a selection from