.OTAy.NTY3OTk

11.

on horseback could? always to be seen moving quietly through and about all the operations and movements upon the field, pausing here and there to approve some excellence or to suggest some modification. Thus were many incidents to this active life, some amusing and some tragic, few of which I can recall. We had from one hundred to three hundred recruits in the depot going through the schools of instruction and above a hundred horses for their use. Among the latter was one named "Turk" that was a error to recruits. He had his own views regarding the proper duration of riding exercises and when that time had expired he could not be persuaded to remain any longer on the field but would break for the stables like a "quarter horse" generally leaving his rider on the ground more or less demoralized. One day he came out in Merrill's platoon. When Turk considered that his time was up he made an effort to quit the Irishman who was on his back, but the rider under the terrific exhortations of Merrill clung to him with desperation. At the end of ten seconds, however, the recruit was seated in the dust near the center of the disturbance while Turk was galloping off to the stables. Merrill asked the dizzy man on the ground "why didn't you keep the spurs out of his sides as I told you?" The poor fellow looking up replied "Holy St. Patrick Leffnt? if it hadn't been for the handles? he'd