The Drummer Boy | Page 7

been told that
he should get his drum and drumsticks; but in this he was disappointed.
The department was out of drums.
"Never mind!" said Jack, consolingly. "You may consider yourself
lucky to draw your clothes so soon. I had to wait for mine till I was
examined and sworn in. The surgeons are so lazy, or have so much to
do, or something, it may be a week before you'll be examined."
Frank was soon surrounded by acquaintances whom he scarcely
recognized at first, they looked so changed and strange to him in their
uniforms.
"How funny it seems," said he, "to be shaking hands with soldiers!"
"These are our tents," said Jack. "They all have their names, you see."
Which fact Frank had already noticed with no little astonishment.
The names were lettered on the canvas of the tents in characters far
more grotesque than elegant One was called the "Crystal Palace;"
another, the "Mammoth Cave;" a third bore the mystical title of "Owl
House;" while a fourth displayed the sign of the "Arab's Home;" etc.
"My traps are in the 'Young Volunteer,'" said Jack. "We give it that
name, because we are all of us young fellows in there. You can tie up
here too,"--entering the tent,--"if you want to."
Frank gladly accepted the proposition. "How odd it must seem," he said,
"to live and sleep under canvas!"
"You'll like it tip-top, when you get used to it," remarked Jack, with an
air of old experience.

Frank made haste to take off his civil suit and put on his soldier clothes.
Jack pronounced the uniform a splendid fit, and declared that his friend
looked "stunning."
"But you must have your hair cut, Frank. Look here; this is the fighting
trim!" and Jack Winch, pulling off his cap, made Frank laugh till the
tears came into his eyes, at the ludicrous sight. Jack's hair had been
clipped so close to his head that it was no longer than mouse's hair,
giving him a peculiarly grim and antique appearance.
"You look like Sinbad's Old Man of the Sea!" exclaimed Frank. "I
won't have my hair cut that way!"--feeling of his own soft brown curls,
which his mother was so fond of, and which he meant to preserve, if
only for her sake.
"Pshaw! you look like a girl! Come, Frank, there's a fellow in the 'Owl
House' that cuts all the hair for our company."
But here an end was put to the discussion by some of the boys without
crying, "Dinner!"
"Dinner!" repeated Jack. "Hurrah! let's go and draw our rations."
Three or four young volunteers now came into the tent, and, opening
their haversacks, drew forth their tin plates, knives and forks. Frank did
the same, and observing that they all took their tin cups, he took his
also, and followed them, with quite as much curiosity as appetite, to the
cook-shop, where a large piece of bread and a thick slice of boiled beef
was dealt out to each, together with a cup of coffee.
"How droll it seems to eat rations!" said Frank, on their return, seating
himself on his bed,--a tick filled with straw,--and using his lap for a
table.
The bread was sweet; but the beef was of not quite so fine a quality as
Frank had been used to at home and the coffee was not exactly like his
mother's.

"Here, have some milk," said Jack. "I've an account open with this
woman"--a wrinkled old creature, who came into the tent with a little
girl, bearing baskets of cakes and fruits, and a can of milk.
"No, I thank you," said Frank. "I may as well begin with the fare I shall
have to get used to some time, for I mean to send all my pay home to
my folks except what I'm actually obliged to use myself."
"You'll be a goose if you do!" retorted Jack. "I shan't send home any of
mine. I'm my own man now, ye see, and what I earn of Uncle Sam I'm
going to have a gallus old time with, you may bet your life on that!"
Frank drew a long breath, for he felt that the time had now come to
have the talk with his friend which Mr. Winch had requested.
"I saw your father, this morning, Jack."
"Did ye though? What did the old sinner have to say?"
"I don't like to hear you call your father such names," said Frank,
seriously. "And if you had seen how bad he felt, when he spoke of your
enlisting----"
"Pshaw, now, Frank! don't be green! don't get into a pious strain, I beg
of ye! You'll be the laughing-stock of all the boys, if ye do."
Frank blushed to the eyes, not knowing what reply