of makes your blood creep and
your nerves to thrill and you want to get up and go ahead if you lose
a limb in the attempt And that's what those 'niggers' did. You just
heard the Lieutenant say, 'Men, will you follow me?' and you hear a
tremendous shout answer him, 'You bet we will,' and right up through
that death-dealing storm you see men charge, that is, you see them
until the darned Springfield rifle powder blinds you and hides them."

"And there is another thing, too, that teaches a man a lesson. The
action of the officers on the field is what I speak of. Somehow when
you watch these men with their gold braid in armories on a dance night
or dress parade it strikes you that they are a little more handsome
and ornamental than they are practical and useful. To tell the truth,
I didn't think much of those dandy officers on parade or dancing round
a ball room. I did not really think they were worth the money that was
spent upon them. But I just found it was different on the battlefield,
and they just knew their business and bullets were a part of the show
to them."

* * * * *

NEGRO SOLDIERS.

The Charleston News and Courier says:

It is not known what proportion of the insurgent army is colored, but
the indications are that the proportion of the same element in the
volunteer army of occupation will be small.

On the basis of population, of course one-third of the South's quota
should be made up of colored, and it is to be remembered that they
made good soldiers and constitute a large part of the regular army.
There were nearly 250,000 of them in service in the last war.

* * * * *

THE NEGRO AS A SOLDIER--HIS GOOD MARKSMANSHIP--THE FIGHT AT EL
CANEY--"WOE TO SPANISH IN RANGE."

There has been hitherto among the officers of the army a certain
prejudice against serving in the Negro regiments. But the other day a
Lieutenant in the Ninth Infantry said enthusiastically:

"Do you know, I shouldn't want anything better than to have a company
in a Negro regiment? I am from Virginia, and have always had the usual
feeling about commanding colored troops. But after seeing that charge
of the Twenty-fourth up the San Juan Hill, I should like the best in
the world to have a Negro company. They went up that incline yelling
and shouting just as I used to hear when they were hunting rabbits
in Virginia. The Spanish bullets only made them wilder to reach the
tren