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008 - The Baby of the Regiment · Army Life in a Black Regiment

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Speaker 1: Chapter eight of Army Life in a Black Regiment. This
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Speaker 1: is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the
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Speaker 1: public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit
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Speaker 1: LibriVox dot org. Recording by f n H. Army Life
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Speaker 1: in a Black Regiment by Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Chapter eight,
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Speaker 1: The Baby of the Regiment. We were in our winter
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Speaker 1: camp on Port Royal Island. It was a lovely November morning,
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Speaker 1: soft and spring like. The mockingbirds were singing, and the
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Speaker 1: cotton fields still white with fleecy pods. Morning drill was over.
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Speaker 1: The men were cleaning their guns and singing very happily.
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Speaker 1: The officers were in their tents, reading still more happily.
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Speaker 1: The letters arrived from home. Suddenly I heard a knock
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Speaker 1: at my tent door, and the latch clicked. Is the
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Speaker 1: only latch in the camp, and I was very proud
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Speaker 1: of it, and the officers always clicked it as loudly
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Speaker 1: as possible in order to gratify my feelings. The door
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Speaker 1: opened and the quartermaster thrust in the most beaming face
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Speaker 1: I ever saw. Colonel said he, there are great news
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Speaker 1: for the regiment. My wife and baby are coming by
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Speaker 1: the next steamer baby, said I, in amazement, q M,
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Speaker 1: you are beside yourself. We always caught the quartermaster q
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Speaker 1: M for shortness. There was a pass sent to your wife,
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Speaker 1: but nothing was ever said about a baby. Baby. Indeed,
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Speaker 1: but the baby was included in the pass, replied the
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Speaker 1: triumphant father of a family. You don't suppose my wife
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Speaker 1: would come down here without her baby. Besides, the pass
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Speaker 1: itself permits her to bring necessary baggage, and is not
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Speaker 1: a baby six months old necessary baggage. But my dear fellow,
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Speaker 1: said I rather anxiously, how can you make a little
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Speaker 1: thing comfortable in a tent amidst these rigors of a
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Speaker 1: South Carria line of winter, when it is uncomfortably hot
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Speaker 1: for drill at noon and ice forms in your bedside
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Speaker 1: at night? Trust me for that, said the delighted papa,
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Speaker 1: and went off whistling. I could hear him telling the
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Speaker 1: same news to three others at least before he got
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Speaker 1: to his own tent. That day, the preparations began, and
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Speaker 1: soon his abode was a wonderful comfort. There were posts
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Speaker 1: and rafters, and a raised floor, and a great chimney,
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Speaker 1: and a door with hinges. Every luxury except a latch,
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Speaker 1: and that he could not have, for mine was the
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Speaker 1: last that could be purchased. One of the regimental carpenters
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Speaker 1: was employed to make a cradle, and another to make
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Speaker 1: a bedstead high enough for the grad or to go under.
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Speaker 1: Then there must be a bit of red carpet beside
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Speaker 1: the bedstead, and thus the progress of splendor went on.
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Speaker 1: The wife of one of the colored sergeants was engaged
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Speaker 1: to act as a nursery maid. She was a very
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Speaker 1: respectable young woman, the only objection to her being that
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Speaker 1: she smoked up pipe. But we thought perhaps a baby
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Speaker 1: might not disliked tobacco, and if she did, she would
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Speaker 1: have excellent opportunities to break the pipe in pieces. In
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Speaker 1: due time, the steamer arrived, and baby and her mother
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Speaker 1: were among the passengers. The little recruit was soon settled
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Speaker 1: in a new cradle and slept in it as if
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Speaker 1: she had never known any other. The sergeant's wife soon
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Speaker 1: had her on exhibition through the neighborhood, and from that
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Speaker 1: time forward she was quite a queen among us. She
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Speaker 1: had sweet blue eyes and pretty brown hair, with round
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Speaker 1: dimpled cheeks, and that perfect dignity which is so beautiful
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Speaker 1: in a Baby. She hardly ever cried and was not
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Speaker 1: at all timid. She would go to anybody, and yet
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Speaker 1: did not encourage any romping from any but the most
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Speaker 1: intimate friends. She always wore a warm, long sleeved scarlet
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Speaker 1: cloak with a hood, and in this costume was carried
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Speaker 1: or toted as the soldiers said all about the camp
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Speaker 1: at guard mounting in the morning, when the men who
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Speaker 1: were to go on guard duty for the day are
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Speaker 1: drawn up to be inspected, Baby was always there to
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Speaker 1: help inspect them. She did not say much, but she
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Speaker 1: eyed them very closely and seemed fully to appreciate their
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Speaker 1: bright buttons. Then the officer of the day, who appears
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Speaker 1: at guard mounting with his sword and sash and comes
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Speaker 1: afterwards to the colonel's tent for orders, would come and
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Speaker 1: speak to Baby on his way and receive her orders first.
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Speaker 1: When the time came for drill, she was usually present
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Speaker 1: to watch the troops, and when the drum beat for dinner,
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Speaker 1: she liked to see the long row of men in
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Speaker 1: each company march up to the cook house in single file,
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Speaker 1: each with a tin cup and plate. During the day,
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Speaker 1: in pleasant weather, she might be seen in her nurse's
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Speaker 1: arms about the company streets and sent her of an
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Speaker 1: admiring circle, her scarlet costume, looking very pretty amidst the
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Speaker 1: shining black cheeks and neat blue uniforms of the soldiers
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Speaker 1: a dress parade just before sunset. She was always an attendant.
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Speaker 1: As I stood before the regiment, I could see the
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Speaker 1: little spots of red out of the corner of my
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Speaker 1: eye at one end of the long line of men,
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Speaker 1: and I looked with so much interest for her small
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Speaker 1: person that instead of saying at the time, attention battalion,
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Speaker 1: shoulder arms, it is a wonder that I did not say,
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Speaker 1: shoulder babies. Our little lady was very impartial and distributed
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Speaker 1: her kind looks to everybody. She had not the slightest
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Speaker 1: prejudice against color, and did not care in the least
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Speaker 1: whether her particular friends were black or white. Her especial friends,
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Speaker 1: I think, were the drummer boys, who were not my
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Speaker 1: favorites by any means, for they were a roguish set
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Speaker 1: of scamps and gave more trouble than all the grown
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Speaker 1: men in the regiment. I think Annie liked them because
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Speaker 1: they were small and made a noise, and had red
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Speaker 1: caps like her hood and red facings on their jackets,
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Speaker 1: and also because they occasionally stood on their heads for
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Speaker 1: her amusement. After dress parade, the whole drum corpse would
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Speaker 1: march to the great flag staff and wait till just
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Speaker 1: sunset time, when they would beat the retreat, and then
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Speaker 1: the flag would be hauled down, a great festival for Annie.
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Speaker 1: Sometimes the Sergeant major would wrap her in the great
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Speaker 1: folds of the flag after it was taken down, and
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Speaker 1: she would peep out very prettily from amidst the stars
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Speaker 1: and stripes, like a new born goddess of liberty. About
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Speaker 1: once a month, some inspecting officer was sent to the
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Speaker 1: camp by the General in command to see the condition
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Speaker 1: of everything in the regiment, from bayonets to buttons. It
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Speaker 1: was usually a long and tiresome process, and when everything
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Speaker 1: was done, I used to tell the officer that I
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Speaker 1: had one more thing for him to inspect, which was
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Speaker 1: peculiar to our regiment. Then I would send for Baby
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Speaker 1: to be exhibited. And I never saw an inspecting officer,
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Speaker 1: old or young, who did not look pleased at the
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Speaker 1: sudden appearance of the little, fresh, smiling creature a flower
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Speaker 1: in the midst of war. And Annie, in her turn,
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Speaker 1: would look at them with the true baby dignity la
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Speaker 1: her face, that deep, earnest look which babies often have,
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Speaker 1: and which people think so wonderful when Raphael paints it,
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Speaker 1: although they might often see just the same expression in
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Speaker 1: the faces of their own darlings. At home, meanwhile, Annie
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Speaker 1: seemed to like the camp style of housekeeping very much.
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Speaker 1: Her father's tent was double and to use the front
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Speaker 1: apartment for his office and the inner room for parlor
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Speaker 1: and bedroom, while the nurse had a separate tent and
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Speaker 1: washroom behind all. I remember that for the first time
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Speaker 1: I went there in the evening, it was to borrow
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Speaker 1: some writing paper, and while baby's mother was hunting for
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Speaker 1: it in the front tent, I heard a great cooing
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Speaker 1: and murmuring in the inner room. I asked if Annie
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Speaker 1: was still awake, and her mother told me to go
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Speaker 1: in and see. Pushing aside the canvas door, I entered.
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Speaker 1: No sign of anybody was to be seen, but a
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Speaker 1: variety of soft, little happy noises seemed to come from
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Speaker 1: some unseen corner. Missus c came quietly in, pulled away
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Speaker 1: the counterpane of her own bed, and drew out the
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Speaker 1: rough cradle where lay the little damsel perfectly happy and
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Speaker 1: wider awake than anything but a baby possibly can be.
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Speaker 1: She looked as if the seclusion of a dozen family
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Speaker 1: bedsteads would not be enough to discourage her spirits, and
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Speaker 1: I saw that camp life was likely to suit her
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Speaker 1: very well. A tent can be kept very warm, for
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Speaker 1: it is merely a house with a thinner wall than usual,
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Speaker 1: and I do not think that the baby felt the
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Speaker 1: cold much more than if she had been at home
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Speaker 1: that winter. The great trouble is that a tent chimney,
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Speaker 1: not being built very high, is apt to smoke when
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Speaker 1: the wind is in a certain direction, and when that happens,
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Speaker 1: it is hardly possible to stay inside. So we used
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Speaker 1: to build the chimneys of some tents on the east
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Speaker 1: side and those of others on the west, and thus
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Speaker 1: some of the tents were always comfortable. I have seen
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Speaker 1: baby's mother running in a hard rain with little red
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Speaker 1: riding hood in her arms, to take refuge with the
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Speaker 1: adjutant's wife, when every other abode was full of smoke.
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Speaker 1: And I must admit that there was one or two
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Speaker 1: windy days that season when nobody could really keep warm,
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Speaker 1: and Annie had to remain ignominiously in her cradle, with
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Speaker 1: as many clothes on as possible, for almost the whole time.
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Speaker 1: The quartermaster's tent was very attractive to us in the evening.
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Speaker 1: I remember that once, on passing near it after nightfall,
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Speaker 1: I heard our major's fine voice singing Methodist hymns within,
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Speaker 1: and missus Sea's sweet tones chiming in. So I peeped
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Speaker 1: through the outer door. The fire was burning very pleasantly
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Speaker 1: in the inner tent, and the scrap of new red
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Speaker 1: carpet made the floor look quite magnificent. The Major sat
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Speaker 1: on a box, our surgeon on a stool. Q M
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Speaker 1: and his wife's and the adjutant's wife and one of
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Speaker 1: the captains were all sitting on the bed, singing as
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Speaker 1: well as they knew how, and the baby was under
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Speaker 1: the bed. Baby had retired for the night, was overshadowed, suppressed,
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Speaker 1: sat upon, and the singing went on, and she had
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Speaker 1: wandered away in her own land of dreams, nearer to Heaven,
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Speaker 1: perhaps than any pitch their voices could attain. I went
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Speaker 1: in and joined the party. Presently the music stopped, and
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Speaker 1: another officer was sent for to sing some particular song.
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Speaker 1: At this pause, the invisible innocent waked a little and
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Speaker 1: began to cluck and coo. It's the kitten, exclaimed somebody,
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Speaker 1: it's my baby, exclaimed missus c triumphantly in that tone
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Speaker 1: unfa ailing personal pride which belongs to young mothers. The
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Speaker 1: people all got up from the bed for a moment
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Speaker 1: while Annie was pulled from beneath. Wide awake and placid.
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Speaker 1: As usual, she sat in one lap after another during
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Speaker 1: the rest of the concert, sometimes winking at the candle,
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Speaker 1: but usually listening to the songs with a calm and
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Speaker 1: critical expression, as if she could make as much noise
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Speaker 1: as any of them whenever she saw fit to try.
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Speaker 1: Not a sound did she make, however, except one little
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Speaker 1: soft sneeze, which led to an immediate flood tide of
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Speaker 1: red shawl, covering every part of her but her forehead.
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Speaker 1: But I soon hinted that the concert had better be ended,
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Speaker 1: because I knew from observation that the small damsel had
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Speaker 1: carefully watched a regimental inspection and a brigade jill on
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Speaker 1: that day, and that an interval of repose was certainly necessary.
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Speaker 1: Annie did not long remain the only baby in camp.
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Speaker 1: One day, on going out to the stables to look
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Speaker 1: at a horse. I heard a sound of baby talk
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Speaker 1: addressed by some man to a child near by, and
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Speaker 1: looking round the corner of a tent, I saw that
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Speaker 1: one of the hostlers had something black and round lying
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Speaker 1: in the sloping side of a tent, with which he
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Speaker 1: was playing very eagerly. It proved to be his baby,
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Speaker 1: a plump, shiny thing younger than Annie. And I never
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Speaker 1: saw a merrier picture than the happy father frolicking with
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Speaker 1: his child while the mother stood quietly by. This was
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Speaker 1: baby number two, and she stayed in camp several weeks,
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Speaker 1: the two innocents meeting each other every day in the
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Speaker 1: placid indifference that belonged to their ears. Both were happy, little,
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Speaker 1: healthy things, and it never seemed to cross their minds
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Speaker 1: that there was any difference in their complexions. As I
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Speaker 1: said before, Annie was not troubled by any prejudice in
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Speaker 1: regard to color, nor do I suppose that the other
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Speaker 1: little maiden was. Annie enjoyed the tent life very much,
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Speaker 1: but when we were sent out on pickets soon after,
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Speaker 1: she enjoyed it still more. Our headquarters was at a
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Speaker 1: deserted plantation house with one large parlor a dining room
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Speaker 1: and a few bedrooms babies. Father and mother had a
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Speaker 1: room upstairs with a stove whose pipe went straight out
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Speaker 1: at the window. This was quite comfortable, though half the
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Speaker 1: windows were broken, and there was no glass and no
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Speaker 1: glazierd to mend them. The windows of the large parlor
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Speaker 1: were in much the same condition, though we had an
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Speaker 1: immense fireplace where we had a bright fire whenever it
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Speaker 1: was cold, and always in the evening. The walls of
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Speaker 1: this room were very dirty, and it took our ladies
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Speaker 1: several days to cover all the unsightly places with wreaths
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Speaker 1: and hangings of evergreen. In the performance, Baby took an
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Speaker 1: active part. Her duties consisted in sitting in a great
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Speaker 1: nest of evergreen, pulling and fingering the fragrant leaves, and
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Speaker 1: occasionally giving a little cry of glee when she had
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Speaker 1: accomplished some piece of decided mischief. There was less entertainment
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Speaker 1: to be found in the camp itself at this time,
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Speaker 1: but we the household at headquarters was larger than Baby
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Speaker 1: had been accustomed to. We had a great deal of
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Speaker 1: company moreover, and she had quite a gay life of it.
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Speaker 1: She usually made her appearance in the large parlour soon
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Speaker 1: after breakfast, and to dance her for a few moments
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Speaker 1: in our arms was one of the first daily duties
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Speaker 1: of each one. Then the morning reports began to arrive
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Speaker 1: from different outposts, a mounted officer or courier coming in
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Speaker 1: from each place, dismounting at the door and clattering in
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Speaker 1: with jingling arms and spurs, each a new excitement for Annie.
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Speaker 1: She usually got some attention from any officer who came
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Speaker 1: receiving with her wonted dignity, any daring caress. When the
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Speaker 1: messengers had ceased to be interesting, there was always the
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Speaker 1: horses to look at, held or tethered under the trees
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Speaker 1: beside the sunny piazza. After the various couriers had been received,
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Speaker 1: other messengers would be despatched to the town several miles away,
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Speaker 1: and Baby had full of excitement of the mounting and departure.
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Speaker 1: Her father was often one of the riders and would
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Speaker 1: sometimes seize Zannie for a goodbye kiss, place her on
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Speaker 1: the saddle before him, gallop her round the house once
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Speaker 1: or twice, and then give her back to the nurse's
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Speaker 1: arms again. She was perfectly fearless, and such boisterous attention
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Speaker 1: never frightened her, nor did they ever interfere with her
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Speaker 1: sweet infantine self possession. After the riding parties had gone,
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Speaker 1: there was the piazza steel for entertainment, with a sentinel
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Speaker 1: pacing up and down before it. But Annie did not
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Speaker 1: enjoy the sentinel, though his breastplate and button shone like gold,
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Speaker 1: so much as the hammock which always hung swinging between
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Speaker 1: the pillars. It was a pretty hammock with great open meshes,
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Speaker 1: as she delighted to lie in it and have the
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Speaker 1: netting closed above her so that she could only be
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Speaker 1: seen through the apertures. I can see her now, the
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Speaker 1: fresh little rosy thing in her blue and scarlet wrappings,
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Speaker 1: with one round and dimpled arm thrust fourth through the netting,
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Speaker 1: and the other grasping an armful of blushing roses and
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Speaker 1: fragrant magnolias. She looked like those pretty French bass reliefs
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Speaker 1: of cupids imprisoned in baskets. And peeping through that hammock
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Speaker 1: was a very useful appendage. It was a couch for us,
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Speaker 1: a cradle for baby, a nest for the kittens, and
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Speaker 1: we had moreover a little hen which liked to roost
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Speaker 1: there every night when the mornings were colder, and the
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Speaker 1: stove upstairs smoked the wrong way. Baby was brought down
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Speaker 1: in a very incomplete state of toilet and finished her
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Speaker 1: dressing by the great fire. We found her bare shoulders
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Speaker 1: very becoming, and she was still very much interested in
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Speaker 1: her own pink toes. After a very slow dressing, she
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Speaker 1: had still a slower breakfast out of a tin cup
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Speaker 1: of warm milk, of which she generally spilt a good deal,
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Speaker 1: as she had much to do in watching everybody came
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Speaker 1: into the room and seeing that there was no mischief done.
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Speaker 1: Then she would be placed on the floor on our
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Speaker 1: only piece of carpet, and the kittens would be brought
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Speaker 1: in for her to play with. We had, at different
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Speaker 1: times a variety of pets, of whom Annie did not
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Speaker 1: take much notice. Sometimes we had young partridges caught by
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Speaker 1: the drummer boys in trap cages. The children called them
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Speaker 1: Bob and Chloe because the first notes of the male
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Speaker 1: and female sounded like those names. One day I brought
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Speaker 1: home in a possum with a blind and bare young
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Speaker 1: still clinging to the droll pouch where their mothers keep them.
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Speaker 1: Sometimes we had pretty green lizards, their color darkening or
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Speaker 1: deepening like that of chameleons in light or shade. But
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Speaker 1: the only pets that took Baby's fancy were the kittens.
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Speaker 1: They perfectly delighted her from the first moment she saw them,
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Speaker 1: and they were the only things younger than herself that
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Speaker 1: she had ever beheld, and the only things softer than
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Speaker 1: themselves that her small hands had grasped. It was astonishing
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Speaker 1: to see how much the kittens would endure from her.
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Speaker 1: They could scarcely be touched by anyone else without mewing.
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Speaker 1: But when Annie seized one by the head and the
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Speaker 1: other by the tail and rubbed them violently together, they
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Speaker 1: did not make a sound. I suppose that the baby's
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Speaker 1: grasp is really soft, even if it seems ferocious, and
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Speaker 1: so it gives less pain than one would think. At
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Speaker 1: any rate, the little animals had the best of it
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Speaker 1: very soon, for they entirely outstripped Annie in learning to walk,
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Speaker 1: and they could soon scramble away beyond her reach, while
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Speaker 1: she sat in soft, dumb despair, unable to comprehend why
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Speaker 1: anything so much smaller than herself could be so much
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Speaker 1: more nimble. Meanwhile, the kittens would sit up look at
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Speaker 1: her with the most provoking indifference just out of her
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Speaker 1: arm's length, until some of us would take pity on
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Speaker 1: the young lady and toss her furry playthings back to
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Speaker 1: her again. Little Baby, she learned to call them, and
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Speaker 1: these were the very first words she spoke. Baby had
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Speaker 1: evidently a natural turn for war, further cultivated by an
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Speaker 1: intimate knowledge of drills and parades. The nearer she came
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Speaker 1: to actual conflict, the better she seemed to like it,
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Speaker 1: peaceful as her own little ways might be. Twice at least,
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Speaker 1: while she was with us on picket, we had alarms
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Speaker 1: from the rebeled troops, who would bring down cannon to
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Speaker 1: the opposite side of the ferry, about two miles beyond us,
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Speaker 1: and throw shot and shell over our side. Then the
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Speaker 1: officer at the ferry would think that there was to
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Speaker 1: be an attack. Maid and couriers would be sent riding
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Speaker 1: to and fro, and the men would all be called
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Speaker 1: to arms in a hurry, and the ladies at headquarters
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Speaker 1: would all put on their best bonnets and come down
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Speaker 1: the stairs, and the ambulance would be made ready to
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Speaker 1: carry them to a place of safety before the expected fight.
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Speaker 1: On such occasions, Baby was all in her glory. She
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Speaker 1: shouted with delight at being suddenly uncribbed and thrust into
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Speaker 1: a little scarlet cloak, and brought downstairs at an utterly
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Speaker 1: unusual and improper hour to a piazza with lights and
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Speaker 1: people and horses and general excitement. She crowed and gurgled
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Speaker 1: and made gestures with her little fists, and screamed out
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Speaker 1: what seemed to be her advice on the military situation,
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Speaker 1: as freely as if she had been a newspaper editor,
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Speaker 1: except that it was rather difficult to understand her precise direction.
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Speaker 1: I do not know, but the whole rebel force might
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Speaker 1: have been captured through her plans. But at any rate,
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Speaker 1: I should much rather obey her orders than those of
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Speaker 1: some generals whom I have known, for she at least
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Speaker 1: meant no harm and would lead one into no mischief. However,
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Speaker 1: at last, the danger, such as it was, would all
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Speaker 1: be over, and the ladies would be induced to go
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Speaker 1: peacefully to bed again, and Annie would retreat with them
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Speaker 1: to a ignoble cradle, very much disappointed and looking vainly
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Speaker 1: back to the more martial scene below. The next morning,
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Speaker 1: she would seem to have forgotten all about it, and
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Speaker 1: would spill her bread and milk by the fire, as
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Speaker 1: if nothing had happened. I suppose we hardly knew at
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Speaker 1: the time how large a part of the sunshine of
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Speaker 1: our daily lives was contributed by dear little Annie. Yet
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Speaker 1: when I look back on that pleasant southern home, she
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Speaker 1: seems as essential a part of it as the mocking
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Speaker 1: birds or the magnolias. And I cannot convince myself that
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Speaker 1: in returning to it, I should not find her there.
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Speaker 1: But Annie went back with the spring to her northern birthplace,
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Speaker 1: and then passed away from this earth before her little
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Speaker 1: feet had fairly learned to tread its paths. And when
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Speaker 1: I meet her next, it must be in some world
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Speaker 1: where there is triumph without armies, and where innocence is
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Speaker 1: trained in scenes of peace. I know, however, that a
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Speaker 1: little life, short as it seemed, was a blessing to us,
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Speaker 1: all giving us a perpetual image of serenity and sweetness,
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Speaker 1: recalling the lovely atmosphere of far off homes, and holding
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Speaker 1: us by unsuspected ties to whatever things were pure. End
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Speaker 1: of Chapter eight recording by F. N. H. Visit w
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Speaker 1: W W dot book Ranger dot co dot u K