Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1861-02-14
The Progress of my Zouave Practice.

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to them for trowsers with an embroidered
and braided bag for vest; with a cap like a
red wooen saucepan with yellow boots like
| the fourth robber in a stage play; with a
moustache like two halfpound paint brushes,
and with sort of sword gun or gun-sword for
weapon that looks like the result of love
| affair between an amorous broadsword aud a
lonely musket, indiScreet aud tender-that is
| a Zouave
A fellow who can "put up" hundredaad-ten
pound dumbbel who can climb up an eighty
foot rope, hand over hand, with barrel of
-four hanging to his heels who can do the
giant swing on a horizontal bar with
fifty-sx tied to each ankle who can walk up
four flights of stairs, holding heavy man in
each hand at arms length; and who can climb
q CREASED pole feet first, carrying a barrel Of
pork in his teeth-that is Zouaye.
A fellow who can jump seventeen feet four
inches high without spring board who can
tie his legs in double bow knot around his
neck without previously softeni1g his shin
bones in steam bath who can walk Bon-
din's out door tight rope with his stomach out
side of nine brandy cocktails q suit of chain
armOr outside his stomach, and stiff north
east gale outside of that; who can set O forty
foot ladder on end, balance himself on top Of
it, and shoot wild pigeons on the wing, one at
a time, just behind the eye, with a single bar.
relied Mimic rife three hundred yards distance
and never miss a shot; who can take five
shooting revolver in each hand and knock the
spots out Of the ten of diamonds at eighty
PAGES, turning somersaultS all the time and
firing every shot in the air-that is a Zouave.
| am a Zouave.
My musket education progrGsSes-I am get
ting on finely can tell the muzzle from the
stock at first sight, and shall soon be able to
say which eEd of the ramrod to put down and
which side mp the cartridge goes
But am paying more attention to my gym
nastcs just at present than to my musket, for
everybody knows that in battle arms are not
OF nearly so much Importance as legs-It is a
very good thing to know the use of your legs
in case Of war.
I've got practicing room, where gymnas-
tic every day Eve taken up the carpet-a
performance which my landIady entirely ap-
proves I've piled the chairs on top of the
table in corner and have sold my bed at auc.
tion-Zouaves sleep on the floor.
Besides, it is good thing to know how to
sleep without bed-in case of war
Spinkey and his brother came to see my
room after had got it arranged for practice
they did things-they Zouaved a little by way
of setting me an example.
found out by the actions Of the Spinkey
brothers the exact dimensions Of my room it
is three Gp-haps long, and handspring and
two back sOmersaults wide.
By means Of fip-aap you disconcert your
enemy's aim and draw his fire, then you kill
him. y fir p-fap is good thing to do-in case
| of war
BY means Of q handspring, you reverse your
! position, and yoG bewildered enemy cuts off
your foot, instead of your head. Then you
kill them; then your screw on q wooden leg
aud DO SO again. When you've done it twice
you've killed two enemies and only lost two
legs and, afTeg that, you can only lose wood
EN- legs, which are comparatively cneap, espec-
ally if the war is in well tim bered country
A handspring is a splendid thing to do-in
case of war.
By means of forward SomerSault, you leap
over your enemy, when he charges you; then,
by back somersault, you fall on his head from
a great height and stun him then you kill
him
A somersault is an indispensable manoever
in case of war.
Our company-SHinkey commanding
60 through the manual of arms complete, and
only touch the ground three times; they do all
the loading in a single somersauit Springing in
to the air at the word up !" with their
muskets empty, and loading exactly together
at the word of command given by Spinkey
with a speaking trumpet, and firing by files as
they come down.
When Spinkey left my room | began to
c.
Oar company has been all drafted into Kerri- |
gan's Contingent, and We must all be ready.
Tried a somersault frs, as | thought it look |
ed very easy. All you have to do is, to throw
your heels up and your head down, and then
bring your head up and heels down; it is the
easiest thing in the world-apparently. When
came to try it, | thought the floor alooked
unusually hard; so put pillow on the spot |
where thought my feet would come down, as
didn't want to hurt my heels Then | took |
off my coat, tied my suspenders tightly around |
my waist, took a short run from the corner of
the room, shut my eyes, and
When | recovered, which / should judge |
was about three quarters Of an hour, | had
bump on my forehead as if I'd been hit there
by baseball, which had struck. 1t took me
fifteen minutes TO get up on my feet for | felt |
as if my legs and arms had been distributed |
over the neghboring country by a gunpowder
explosion, aud it was some time before my
mind was disabused of that impression.
Judge that something interfered to pre-,
vent the artistic execution of my contemplate
ed somersault, for my head evidently struck
the ground as soon as my heels went up; my
nose had received a severe confusion, and the
results were, map of some unknown country
done in red on my shirt front, two vest pockets
full of blood, and my hair so stuck together
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