The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, July 20, 1898, Image 7

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    OUR ARMY PUTS 01T
ITS HEW UNIFORM.
. IDEAL SUITS HAVE BEEN PROVIDED FOR A
TROPICAL CAMPAIGN.
mm
Despatches from Culm tell Low the
eoldiers of our army, burdened with
hot flannol uniforms and heavy out
fits, are 'throwing away everything
they cau on the march, even their
coats. In the terrible heat every
ounce of weight adds to discomfort
while marching, and, regardless of the
future, men'nre castiugaside blankets,
extra clothing, tin plates and other
articles in their Merriam kits, caring
only to lighten their burdens.
Men in regular marching order who
Lave been sent to Cuba, volunteers as
well as regulars, carry in all ne.-.rly
sixty ponuds including their rifles,
enough to stagger a man in a cool
climate. This casting away of every
superfluous article is not a new prac
tice, for it was done by tens of thous
ands of men in the Civil War and
Las been done by soldiers in al
most all other wars.
Recognizing the unfitness of the
regulation uniforms for the tropics,
the Government is having 40,000 cot
ton drilling and duck uniforms made,
MAKE A STUDY OP THESE INSIGNIA.
which will greatly add to the comfort
and general appouranceof the soldiers.
Already 4000 of these snits have been
completed and shipped to Tampa to
be forwarded to Cuba for General
Shafter's commnud.
The new' campaign uniform for in
fantry is made of canvas duck or drill.
Its distinguishing feature is a Norfolk
jacket, or blouse effect with a box
plait down the back. There are four
pockets in the front aud five buttons.
The two upper pockets are faced with
blue cloth, the epaulet straps, curl's
aud collars being of the same material
and color.
The uniform is made with felled
seams. Brown canvas leggiugs some
what darker than the uniform nre
used. A web cartridge belt, blue
woolen blanket, haversack to contain
tin plate, knife, fork and spoon and
rations, a water bottle and tin cup
complete the equipmeut. No kunp-'l
sack is used.
The trimmings of the cavalry uni
form are yellow and of the artillery
red.
Regulation army uniforms now in
nse are lined and weigh about eight
pounds, being better suited for use in
the Arctic regions than in a climate
where the sun's rays are as hot as the
blasts from a furuaoe. The lining
carefully sewed inside the coats makes
thein doubly warm, and officers do not
wonder that the men nnder them cast
the garments aside in disgust.
Different from any uniform ever be
fore woru by any United States troops
are the new styles adopted, and they
are as attractive looking as they are
durable. The cloths used in the suits
for the Cuban campaign are what are
known to the trade as drill weave aud
duck. Housewives would call the first
named material cotton drilling.
I . 5r ' r pier' l
fts IFf . sgz jPlTio dp i
I r'.y' it0('! J? Htis ""lj ',m1gr,,h J
Ml ..r& rw!W rtriB7i5(ciW SiislieiV 0oXice COBPORAt l'"'"r"1"
THE NEW CAMPAIGN UNIFOKM FOB U. 8. ItEOULAIip.
Baits of these materials weigh less
than half as much as the uniforms now
in use, and because of their looser
weave are much cooler. The eotton
drill uniforms, which, are of a light
buff color, weigh just two pounds and
.fourteen ounees, while the duok, which
mora. -
, No colors could be found bet-
ter adapted for servioe in a country
where the men are exposed to dust and
?'rt in all kinds of weather, and even
c.Uir a hard, long campaign it ia ex
' -ithe KDiforms will atil) present
" r- 'tl appearance.
i t- octts for ail depart-
raentsof the service, iufantry, artillery
and cavalry, are like the once pnprflar
Norfolk jacket, with a belt of the same
material. The trimmings nre of the
same style, but of different colors, blue
for the infantry, red for the artillery
and yellow for tho cavalry.
Tbis trimming, which lends an at'
tractive bit of color to the uniforms,
consists of a deep facing at the ends of
the sleeves, over the lapels of the two
upper pockets, shoulder straps and
around the low cut military collar.
The trousers are perfectly plain.
The uniforms of privates and non
commissioned officers are worth about
$:l each. Four big pockets are innde
iu the coats.
, Dressed in these suits, with the
light nnder-wear being provided by
the Government, the soldiers will feel
like new men. No attempt probably
will be made to carry the kit on forced
marches, except wheu absolutely neo
ceasary. Ofllcers will wear uniforms of finer,
but no more comfortable, material.
AND YOU CAN ItECOONIZE THE HANK
The cloth is known as kahko in India,
where it comes from, and is like
brown linen. Uniforms of this cloth
cost about $25.
Iu addition to the canvas aud drill
uniforms, which will be sent to the
camps in the Houth as well as to
Cuba, the Government is providing a
blue Annuel suit, uuliued, which
NEW V. 83. ARM! UNIFORM LIOHT AND
HEAVY MARCKINO ORDER.
weighs only a few ounces more than
three pounds.
Clothing the army and navy is one
of the most important problems pre
sented to the War and Navy Depart
ments for solution. The quartermas
ter-general performs the task for the
army and the paymaster-general for
the navy. In time of peace the duty
involves considerable labor. In time
of war, and especially at the begin
ning of hostilities, when the public
are. crying for a million men to be
enlisted, clothed and put at the front
in a minute, the task assumes the
proportions of a mountain in a fog.
Take the quartermaster-general, for
instanoe. . It is his duty to see that
the big army which t he President
bas called to give battle to toe spau
ish is clothed at the very earliest pos
sible moment. His usual sonroes of
supply are quickly exhausted. Oth
ers must be found. The clothing
must be made. The first thing the
quartermaste.-general does is to as
iwrtain, a nearly as possible, the ex
act number of suits required, the kind
of suits, the number of shoes anil
underclothing, also Lats. The exact
kind is then specified in detail, aud
ASTOH BATTERY. I! AX lDRAIi TROPICAL
, VNIFORM roH SERVICE IS THB PHIL
lN'INES. bids for the whole or part of the
clothing needed. Accompanying every
bid is a check to guarantee that the
terms of the contract wilt be carried
out to the letter.
These bids are submitted, together
with samples of the goods required.
The bids are carefully examined and
compared and the lowest bidder (the
quality of goods being satisfactory)
gets the contract. The goods con-
OF A MILITARY MAN AT A GLANCE.
manufacturers and jobbers in that
line of bnsiuess are invited to submit
tracted for must be ready on time auu
delivered to the Government. When
they are delivered they are inspected
by Government officials and, if all
right, accepted. Then they are for
warded to the store house of the army
at Philadelphia to await orders.
Whon a regiment is recruited and
sworn into the United States service,
the captain of each company makes
out a requisition for the number of
uniforms needed and forwards the
requisition to the quartermaster of the
regiment. The colonel approves of
the requisition, aud thon it is for
warded to the brigade quartermaster,
who, if he has not the clothes required
on hand, makes a requisition on the
corps qnartcrmastor. The latter, when
uniforms are needed, makes a requisi
tion on the quartermaster-general, who
draws the supplies needed from the
depot at Philadelphia.
Upon the delivery of the clothing to
the regimental quartermaster, the
captains of the several companies are
nouneu. rue oaptains maroh their
men to headquarters and there they
receive the clothing apportioned to
them and for which the captain gives
a reoeipt to the regimental quarter
master, who keeps it for his voucher.
The same formula for the issuing of
clothing is followed in the navy.
The army and navy uniforms are
made in nearly every large city of the
Union, and the cost of those for the
privates is about $5, r.nd those for
men before the mast is about 88 per
man. The ofllcers' uniforms range in
price from $50 to $76. A bullet will,
however, pierce the one as quickly as
the other. The uniform of the gen
eral ofllcers of the army is a double
breasted blouse of dark blue cloth or
serge, with four outside pat oh pockets
with flaps, a rolling collar, with two
rows of buttons, grouped according to
rank, of the same kind as .those worn
ou the dress coat. For all other of
ficers a single-breasted blouse is worn,
of dark blue oloth or serge, with four
outside pookets with flaps, falling col
lar, with five buttons in front of the
same kind as those worn on the dress
ooat. The skirt of the dress coat ex
tends from oue-third to one-half the
distance from the hip joint to the
knee.
Quite as important as the olothes
are the shoes. For Cuban servioe the
men will wear dark brown canvas
clothes, but the shoes will be the
same as worn at home. They are oom-
mon brogans, these shoes, stout of
upper ana mighty of sole and hel.
In faot, the army shoe is not a thing
of beauty, but on the maroh it is a joy
forever, as every veteran knows. They
are made of cowhide, and, if possible,
of the hide of a vary touch bow at
that They are exceedingly broad of
sole and heel, and are made with the
double view of securing durability and
comfort.
Itocord In Clothes Making.
Thomas Kitson, employed in one of
the oloth mills of Pennsylvania, had
six sheep sheared at 6.80 o'olock one
morning recently. The wool was then
sorted, eooured, dried, carded, spun.
woven into oloth and the oloth was
given to the tailors and made up into
a suit of elothes which were- given to
Mr. Kitson at 13.84 o'olock, or sis
hours and four minutes from the time
of shearing. The best previous res
old was about sight Hours,
. HE WROTE "DIXIE."
Dsn Kmmfttt I.lvos to Sue the North aud
Month Sine His Famous Bong Toethr.
Perhaps very few people know, that
Dan Emmett, who wrote "Dixie," is
still living.
His home Is in Mount Vernon, Ohio,
where he was born and where he
hopes to end his days. The old man
is a picturesque figure on the streets
of the town. In his prime he was one
of the raid-century dandies of New
York City, but now, with calm indif
ference to the conventional, he usu
ally carries a long staff aud wears his
ooat fastened in at the waist by a bit
of rope.
His home is a little cottage on the
edge of the town, where be lives en
tirely alone. On almost any warm af
ternoon he can be found seated before
bis door reading, bnt he is ready
enough to talk with the chance visit
or, whose curiosity to meet the com
poser of one of the national songs of
America has brought him out from
town. ,
It was this curiosity that took me
to the aottage. The old composer was
seated in the shade by his house with
a book open before him. As I went
np the path I said, for I had some
doubt in my own mind:
"Are yon Dan Emmett, who wrote
Dixie'?"
"Well, I have heard of the fellow;
sit down," and he motioned to the
steps.
"Won't yon tell me how tho song
was .written?"
"Like most everything else I ever
did, because it had to be done. One
Saturday night, in 1851), as I was
leaving Bryant's Theatre, where I was
playing, Bryant called after me, 'I
want a walk-round for Monday, Dan.'
The next day it rained and I stayed
indoors. AC first when I went at the
song I couldn't get anything. Bnt a
line, 'I wish I was in Dixie,' kept re
peating itself in my mind, aud I finally
took it for my start. The rest wasn't
long in coming. And that's the story
of how 'Dixie' was written.
"It made a hit at once, and before
the end of the week everybody in New
York was whistling it. Then the
South took it up and claimed it for its
own. I sold the copyright for $500,
which was all I ever made from it.
I'll show you my first copy." He
went into the house and returned iu
a moment with a yellow, worn-looking
manuscript in his hand.
"That's 'Dixie,' " he said. "I am
going to give it to some historical so
ciety in the South one of these days,
for, though I was born here in Ohio,
I oount myself a Southerner, ns my
father was a Virginian."
Half a century ago Emmett was a
famous minstrel. Those were the
balmy days of burnt cork art, when
Bryant's Theatre on lower Broadway
was one of the most popular resorts in
New York City. Emmett was born in
1815, at Mount Vernon. He began
life as a printer, but soon abandoned
his trade to join the band of a eironi
company. He was not long iu discov
ering that he could compose songs of
the kind in use by clowns. One of
the finest of them was "Old Dan
Tuoker," of pleasant if inebriate
memory. Its success was so great
that Emmett followed it wi'h many
other l.
Finally he took to impersonations,
singing his own songs in the ring,
while he accompanied himself on the
banjo. He made a specialty of old
men, and blackened his faue and
donned a wig of kinky white hair. He
became such a favorite with the pat
rons of the oirous in the South and
West that at last, partly by ohance
and partly through intention, he in
vaded the stage himself.
This was some time in 1812, at the
old Chatham Theatre in New York
city, when, with two companions, he
gave a mixed performance, made up
largely of songs and dances typical of
slave life and obaraoter. The little
troupe was billed as the "Virginia
Minstrels," and their popularity with
the publio was instantaneous.
Healthy n angary.
In Hungary there are thousands of
Tillages and hundreds of small towns
without a doctor within ten miles.
Hard Lack.
Terrible situation of Henpeek, who
enlisted to get away from his wife and
found ber at the front as Bed Cross
nurse.
DAN BMMKTT.
A BATTLKSIIIPS KITC11EN
THE COOK'S CALLEY THOROUGHLY UP
TO DATE IN ITS APPOINTMENTS.
ttsnslly Presided Ore by Jmp Cooks
Trv Neat anil Homelike and Provlda
Jack and Ills Superior! With Fins Pood
I'oflea tlervod Molina- the Buttle.
When the news of Commodore
Dewey's great victory at Manila was
sent over the wires it was recorded
that during the entire engagement J
Paymaster Martin made and served
coffee to the ofllcers and men. It is
difficult to associate a kitchen and a
cook with a battleship, but every one
of the big lighting monsters with its
terrible guns and turrets and flags has
its kitchen. It is called a "galley"
on board ship, and it is one of the
most important places on board to
both the ofllcers aud the men.
Nothing gives an American tar such
a relish for food as the smell of powder
and smoke. It has become quite a
fashion of late to divide a battleship
np as thongh it were human, giving
it brains and eyes, a heart and lungs,
but no prominence is given to the
galley or the man in the galley, who
is quite an importaut personage. The
man in the galley is usually a Japan
ese, for almost every one of the big
ships has a Jap cook and a staff of
servants of the same nationality. The
boys wait on the officers' table, dust,
clean silver, carry messages, and at
tend to minor housekeeping duties in
a way that wonld put the average
housemaid to a great disadvantage.
It is quite possible that during a
great battle like that of Manila a self
centred Japanese cook might continue
his work of decorating an eatree or
giving an expression to a soup, while
the enemy's guns boomed against the
side of his range or copper pans.
While the space that is given to com
fort on a man-of-war is necessarily
limited, its interior is ape to strike
one as luxurious in comparison with
the stern and frowning exterior of the
great lead colored monsters. The
galley is as thoroughly np to date in
its appointments and cooking arrange
ments as the kitchen of a modern resi
dence. There is a large hotel range with
splendid ovens, from which each day
the cook turns out tempting brown
loaves and even pies and cakes, that
must make many n Jackie think of
home. There are great coppor soup
boilers and coffee boitors in which
these two items of the menu are pre
pared by the gallon. Then there are
copper pots and pans on shelves in
rows, bright and shining as those in
the kitchen of our great New York
hotels. There are cupboards, too, in
which the sngar and the spices and
other rooking condiments are kept all
nicely labelled, for there is no slip
shod housekeeping on a mon-of-wor.
There are other cupboards with sliding
doors and spring locks that when
opened disclose rows of cntlasses and
rifles and great King revolvers in
racks from the door to the ceiling.
The china, silver and glassware
nsed on our American bnttleships are
pretty enough to delight a woman,
and woinon as a rule are particular
about china. The sailors have rnder
ware, but that nse.l at the officers'
mess is white and fragile, with a de
vice of nn anchor iu gold on each
piece. The glasses, which are fixed
in stationary racks on a Bideboard in
the wardroom, which, by the way, is
drawing roorp, sitting room,' dining
room, all in one, are of rut ware and
are ornamented with a naval device.
Some of the battleships have gorgeous
silver services, bnt that ordinarily
used is an up-to-date and complete set
of spoons, knives aud forks in all the
different sizes. Then there are in
dividual pepper mills in silver, salt
cellars, and salvers, all of which are
kept in shining perfection.
The sailors on board our American
ships live, much better than the work
ingman on land. When in port they
have fresh meats and vegetables, and
when at sea for any length of time the
terrors of the old time regimen of salt
pork and salt beef are mitigated by a
supply of canned v ;etables which
give variety. Besides this, Uncle Sam
is so generous to his raeu that the al
lowance for each is too much, and they
have formed a system of pooling the
supplies which gives each man an
amount of money which he can spend
for extra thiugs for the table.
The officers have their special cook
and, of course, their special foods,
which in port are apt to compare fav
orably to those offered on the menu of
a flrstcluss hotel. They appoint a
j caterer aud steward from among their
' 1 1 . 1L 1 J..A- It. 1-
uitiuuor eiiuu wuuvu wuune umy ll is
to look after the welfare of the mess.
The wine mess is contributed to ou
shares.
The man in the galley, like the
stokers, doesn't get much glory out of
naval warfare, but he is an important
mau ini his 'place. Who can tell
whether many a glorious victory has
not resulted from a well-cooked break
fast or dinner and crushing defeat
followed on an indigestible pie or a
badly seasoned chop? Paymaster
Martin's coffee must have possessed
the elixir of victory, whether it was
made with an egg, according to rule,
or just thrown together any old way.
New York Sun.
Thaa Ho Oot Mad and Didn't.
; "It you don't have me,' he cried,
"I'll blow my brains out."
"Ah!" she said, "I knew yon didn't
love me as the mau who wins my hand
must love me. Blowing your brains
out would simply amount to nothing.
It would be the least thing you could
uo. lueveiana lieauer.
Snails ara hanniuina mora nnnnlna
iu Europe every year as food during
Lent They are exported in barrels
Homing sometimes as many as 10,000,
w uejr are raised in gardens.
HUMAN NATURE LIKES PETS.
This Is Especially Trne of Hainan Nature
That Ooes Into Camp.
They call them mascots in the lan
gunge of the camp. The word is the
cover for the expression of the sol
diers' affections. The brawny Mis
sonrian, carrying about in the hollow
of his arm a half-grown rabbit and oc
casionally touching it with a caress so
delicate that the shy creature forgets
to shrink, hasn't any thonght of luck
to come from the possession. He has
found something which affords a vent
for the sympathetic and emotional of
his nature. Yon can't take a young
American volunteer away from home
and social surroundings and make of
him in a week a machine to fight and
kill. It is human nature for the regi
ment to have pets, and the fresher
from home the command the more in
number and extravagant in character
the pets, by misnomer called mascots.
The Miasourians who received' from
the hands of a little girl in "Athens,
Ohio, her rabbit as they came through
to Camp Alger, near Washington, have
preserved it and tamed it until the
bunny lions among the tents and ' re
fuses all opportunities to escape. The
self-appointed guardians take It ont
in the woods to pasture on the ten-
derest grass and it hops back to camp
with a loyalty to its possessors which
is Vonderfnl.
As interesting as the lavish expres
sion of the soldiers' sentiments tow
ard their pets is tee appreciative re
sponse of the brute creation to the
enforced adoptfon. There doesn't
seem to be any representative of ani
mal creation which will not take kind
ly to camp life and to men in uniform
after the first strangeness wears off.
Of course the masoot dog is the bead
of the list. There is in canine dispo
sition a liking for vagabondage which
answers quickly to the invitation.
When the volunteers visit Washing
ton for a day off the dogs follow them
back to camp. The higher the strain
of blood the more luxurious the home
kennel of the dog, the more willing
he seems to be to quit his comforts
and enlist with the soldiers at a snap
of the fingers or an encouraging. look.v
Yon may see on the curbstone in
Washington a group of soldiers gath
ering strength for the long tramp to
Georgetown and over the a-jueduct
bridge to the Falls Church electrio
cars. ' Beside them will squat the fox-
bound of costly pedigree looking np
in their faces with admiration and
confidence. And when the soldiers
slowly get upon their feet aud move
off the dog follows with an air of
Whither thou goest I will go. St.
Louis Globe-Democrat.
In a Mexlcnn Household.
As all cooking is done with 'char
coal and ovens are practically un
known in private houses, very few
families bake bread. I he small hard-
crusted loaves of French bread are de
livered all over the city in great bas
kets four feet across that are carried
on the heads of carradores.
The arrangement of furniture is
much more formal than In the United
States. It is a very common sight to
see a splendidly furnished parjor with
a row of straight-backed chairs all
alike with their backs against the
wall and as close together as they cau
be placed clear around the room.
A good .Mexican cook relieves the
mistress of the house of worry and re
sponsibility in a manner that is al
most unknown in the United States.
The cook is given so much a day and
with this amount she will purchase
each morning all the provisions of the
day, including even the staples that
are usually bought iu large quantities
in other countries. On a dollar a day
a cook will provide a very good table
for a family of three or four, and get
enough beans aud tortillas and chile
to set the servanjs' table besides.
They can really do better than their
mistresses, because they cau drive
sharper bargains with the market men
of their own class, and they have more
patience to haggle over the last penny.
Modern Mexico.
Parting Shot of I'at.
Two visitors nt Camp Black had
saluted a general and passed on wheu
one chuckled and said:
"I never meet an army officer of
that rank that I am not reminded of
an incident that occurred on the ver
anda of a retired general's house
where I was a visitor. He bad just
been retired. He had been a brave
soldier, and bis advancement was due
to merit. But his excellent wile bad
the reputation of commanding the
home field. Her word was law.
"A quick-witted son of the old sod
had been employed about the place as
general utility man. He had the
usual weakness, which caused him to
be forgetful, and ou the day I was
there he bad received his discharge
from the wife for over-indulgence.
There was an agreeable party on the
veranda as Pat passed witi his bundle
on his shoulder. He hulted immedi
ately in front of the general and
saluted him, and then he said in the
hearing of the general's company:
" 'Good bye, sor. I can lave, sor.
Ye can't" New York Suu.
Tha Homo or Buddha. -
Far away on the bprder 'of Nepal,
the home of Gautama Buddha has been
discovered. Buddha, lived about 600
B. 0., and was the son of the Rajah of
Kapilavastu. A pillar, inscribed by
me umperor &soua in me intra cen
tury B. C, marks the city's site. The
ruius ere all of brick and are covered
with jungle and so extensive that their
exploration will require yearsv The.
city was destroyed during Buddha's
lifetime. It was a mass of ruins iu.
A. D., 410, when the first Buddhist
Chinese pilgrim jnade bis way there.
The buildings now being excavated
are older than anything know i
India heretofore. ..