A REMINISCENCE.
BY FRANK R. STOCKTON.
When I was a boy I belonged to a small company of young fellows, all under fourteen, who had banded themselves together for the purpose of practising archery. Our company owed its name to our great admiration for Major Ringgold, about whose valiant exploits in the Mexican war we had often read and talked. He was a romantic man, and romance always has a charm for the young, even when they do not understand it. The Major was a brave cavalryman, and we had seen pictures of him charging at the head of his horsemen, with his long hair floating in the wind. In this long hair lay his romance; for we had heard the story that, having been crossed in love, he vowed he would never again cut his hair. The point of this resolution we did not then understand, nor can I say that I fully comprehend it now, but I am quite sure that each one of us would have been perfectly willing to be crossed in love if the result should be that we would charge at the head of some brave cavalrymen, with our sword drawn and our long hair floating in the breeze.
When we had decided upon the name of our company, and had elected officers, we considered that the next most important thing was to provide ourselves with a uniform dress. This subject did not occasion very much discussion. The color for an archer could be nothing else than green; and as to the cut and general make-up of the dress, it would have to be very simple, for none of us were able to afford an elaborate uniform, so it was decided that a blouse long enough to cover our ordinary coats and fasten around the waist with a belt would be quite sufficient. As to our head-gear—we all wore straw hats, and if we chose to put feathers in them we could do so, but this was left for future consideration.
The material of our uniform was determined by the state of our finances. When each one of us had put into the treasury all the money he could afford, it was plain to see that our blouses must be made of some cheap stuff.
One of our members had some family connection with the dry-goods business, and he informed us that the best thing to do would be to buy a whole piece of goods, for in that way we could get it cheaper, and he was sure that our money would be sufficient to buy a piece of cotton cloth good enough for our purposes.
It was early in the afternoon of a summer day that the meeting was held at which the matter of the uniform was decided upon, and as it was still light, we thought it well to go immediately and buy our material. If we delayed, something might happen to our money.
Therefore in a body we repaired to a dry-goods store, and it was not long before we found a piece of goods which we thought would suit us. It was a little glittering upon one side, and it was rather stiffer than we thought an archer's dress should be, but if we made our blouses with the wrong side of the material out, they would look well enough, and we had no doubt that the stiffness would come out after we had worn them for a time, especially if we were obliged to encounter storms, which true archers should never fear.
Triumphantly we carried our piece of goods to the house of one of the members, and having found out how much of the material would be necessary to make a blouse, we cut it up into suitable portions, one of which was given to each member, and he was expected to take it home and have some one of his family cut it out and make it for him.
There was a very early meeting the next morning at the house of our Captain, and every boy brought with him his allotted portion of goods. We were all horrified—the stuff was blue, and not green! The gas had been lighted in the store when we bought it, and instead of Robin Hood green we had picked out a piece of bright blue material! This mistake would have been a matter of no importance had we not been in such haste to divide the stuff among the members. If the piece had been left entire, we could have easily exchanged it, but now this was impossible.