Jasper County Democrat, Volume 2, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 September 1899 — SON COMMANDS FATHER. [ARTICLE]

SON COMMANDS FATHER.

Story o* the loan, Two Colorado fo|dler* itt the Philippine®. Out of the burry and bustle of the war there has come one of the most remarkable cases of tbe reversal of family authority ever known to militairy men. A son is a commissioned officer in a regiment, ..wblfii the father is a private to the same regiment. The son gives tbe father commands; the father executes the orders; he touches his bat when he passes by his boy during duty. On the rolls of the First Colorado Infantry appear the names of Ben Lear, second lieutenant, aged nineteen, and Benjamin Lear, Sr., private, aged forty-four. It is a standing joke in the officers’ mess that if tbe old man gets a superior post be Intends to take it out of the youngster’s hide. But this joke has no foundation. The father is proud of the success of his son and never tires of boasting to hia fellow privates. Lieut. Lear is a fine specimen of the young American soldier. He has ail the good qualities that are known a« “Western.” He has go and push and grit, a very intelligent mind and an aptness for hds work. From under his black eyebrows glance a pair of keen dark eyes that seem older than the rest of him. War ages a man’s intellect rapidly, and Ben Lear, Jr., has grown to experience quickly. He laughed when asked about tbe family relations In the regiment. “Why, my dear fellow,” he exclaim/:*d, “don’t you know shat in a regiment there are no family relations? Here we are all officers or privates or bandmen, and that ends the whole business. But, seriously, the curious relations which I am bound to maintain with my own father are ridiculous, and if he did not have a fine sense of hulnor himself they would be well nigh insupportable. He comes in here with a message, for instance, and, stopping at the dooT, he stands at salute until I have, time or am to a disposition to receive him by acknowledging his salute. Then he does tbe goose step and comes Into my tent, where he must stand at attention until the business Is finished; then he must salute again before he goes out. Altogether It Is laughable, because I am a stickler for discipline, even though it does involve my own father. “When it is father’s turn to carry wood, draw rations or do police duty. It ia my task to issue those orders to the old gentleman, and be touches hia cap and replies, ‘Yes, sir,’ as respectfully as you please. When the call for volunteers came I was a first sergeant in the Colorado National Guard, and volunteered. I went with my company to Denver and we were mustered in. I kept my old rank of first sergeant in the First Colorado Infantry. ' “When the regiment was recruiting father came to headquarters and wanted to enlist. I persuaded him not to join, and when I left I was sure that father would stay at home, where he was badly needed on his paper. But when the recruiting officer went back to Denver for more men, you can judge" of my amazement to find my father in the first batch sent us.—Manila Letter in St Louis Post-Dispatch.