Indiana State sentinel. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1861-01-09
From the Sunday Mercury.
The Progress of Wy Zouave Practice.

A fellow with red bag having sleeves to it
for a coat; with two red bags without sleeves to
them for trOwsers with an embroidered and
braided bag for vest; with cap like a red
wOolen saucepan with yellow boots like the
fourth robber in stage play; with moustache
like two half pound paint bSuShes, and with sort
of sword gun gun sword for weapon that
looks like the result of a love affair between an
amorous broadsword and lonely musket, indis
Greet and tender-thats Zouave.
A fellow who can ''put up a hundred and ten
pound dumb-bell; who climb up an eighty
foot rope, hand over hand, with a barrel of flour
hanging to his heels; who can do the "giant swing"
on a horizontal bar with fifty-six tied to each
ankle; who walk up four flights of stairs,
holding heavy man in each hand at arms
length; and who can climb a creased pole feet
first, carrying a barrel of pork in his teeth-that
is a ZOuave.
A fellow who can jump seventeen feet four
inches high without springbOard; who can tie his
legs in double bow knot round his neck, without
previously softening his shin bones in a steam
bath; who can walk Blondns out door tight rope
with his stomach outside of nine brandy cock
tailsa suit of chain armor outside his stomach and
stiff north east gale outside of that who set
a forty foot ladder on end, balance himself on top
ofit and shoot wild pigeons on the wing, one at a
time, just behind the eye, with single-b -barreled
MIME rifle, three hundred yards distance, and
never miss shot; who can take five shooting re-
volver in each hand and knock the spots out ofthe
ten of diamonds at eighty PAGES, turning somer-
saults all the time and firing every shot in the air
that is a Zouave.
am Zouave.
Ny musket education progresses-I am getting
on finely-I can tell the muzzle from the stock at
first sight, and shall soon be able to say which end
of the ramrod to put down, and which side up the
cartridge goes.
But am paying more attention to my gym
nastics Just at present than to my musket for
everybody knows that in a 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 1 gymnastic
every day. I've taken up the carpet-a perform
ance which nv landlady entirely approves-I've
piled the chairs top of the table in a corner,
and have sold my bed at auetion-Zouaves sleep
on the floor.
Besides it is a good thing to know how to sleep
without bed-in case of war.
Spinkey and his brother came to see nv room
after had got it arranged for practce-they did
things-they Zouaved a little, by way of setting
me an example.
/ found out bv the actions of the Spinkey
brothers the exact dimensions of my room; it is
three fipfaps long, and a handspring and two
back -somersaults wide.
BY means of hip-hap YOU disconcert your
enemy's arm and draw his fire, then you kill him.
A fiip-fap is good thing to do-in case of war.
By means of a handspring, you reverse your
position, and your bewildered enemy cuts off your
foot, instead of your head. Then you kill him;
then you screw on a wooden leg and do so again.
When you've done it twice, you've killed two en-
emys and only lost two legs; and, after that you
can only lose wooden legs, which are compara-
lively cheap, especially if the is in well tim
bered country.
A handspring is splendid thing to do-in case
of war.
By means af a forward sOmersaut, YOU leap
over your enemy, when he charges on you then,
by back -somersault, YOU fall on his head from q
| great height and stun him; then you kill him.
somersault is an indispensable maneuyer-
| in case of war.
Our company-Spinkey commandng-can go
through the manual of arms complete, and only
touch ground three times they do all the loadings
in single somersault, springing into the air at
the word "Upl'' with their muskets empty, and
| loading exactly together at the word of command
| given by Spinkey with speaking trumpet, and
| firing by files as they come down.
When Spinkey left my room began to prac-
| tce; for L am very anxious to progress. Our
company has all been drafted into Kerrigan's
Contingent, and we must all be ready
Tried a somersault first, as / thought it looked
very easy. All you have to do is to throw your
heels up and your head down, and then bring your
head up and your heels down; it's the easiest thing
| in the world-apparently. When / came to try it,
thought that the floor looked unusually hard, so
Iput pillow in the spot where / thought my feet
would come down, as / didn't want to hurt my
heels. Then / took off my coat, tied my suspen
ders tightly round my waist, took a short run
from the corner of the room, shut my eyes, and
When | recovered, which | should Judge wa:
in about three quarters of an hour, had bumI
my forehead as if I'D been hit there by bast
ball, which had stuck. 1t took me fifteen min
utes to get up my feet, for felt as if my legs
and arms had been distributed over the neighbor
/ ing country by gunpowder explosion; and il wa:
some time before my mind was disabused of tha
impression.
i / judge that something interfered to prevent
the artistic execution of my contemplated somer
sault, for nv head evidently struck the ground a.
soon as my heels went up; my nose had received
severe confusion, and the results were, map o
some unknown country done in red on my shir
front, two vest pockets full of blood, and my ha
so stuck together with the same fluid that had tc
get my head cropped like prize fighter. Whethe
4 / broke the window with nv head when il wen
down, or with my heels when they came up, il
comparatively immaterial-certain it is that ther'
was hole in the sash big enough to throw
bushe basket through without touching the edges
As to the pillow, it didn't seem to ease my fee
after ALL perhaps it is because neither of then
came within rod oft, for discovered that whl
l broke my only water pitcher with one heel ha,
put the other through my picture of John c
Heenan, in his favorite character of Champion o
! the world.
/ mustered up courage in three days to try
handspring, but the results not satisfactory
being merely a new and extensive assortment o
bumps and bruises.
Then sent for Spinkey-Spinkey taught M
the art can do it now-I do it all the time
keep doing it; in fact, / don't do anything else
When come down to breakfast generally wall
on my hands around the table, and give each on
of the boarders a patronizing shake of my slip
per; then turn handspring over the table, an'
come down easily in my chair, and read column
of tho, Tribune, while the people are looking il
the air for me to come down. | never sleep on
bed now a-days; sometimes / hang myself by tn
toes to the gas fixtures; sometimes / suspend my
self by my little finger to a staple in the wall
sometimes balance myself on my trusty sword
or take short nap. on the point of my bayonet
I've practiced thrustng with my bayonet an,
sword till there isn't picture in my whole collec
! ton that has its regular number of features.
Dolly Davenport has only one eye, and frac
} ton of a nose; Edwin Forrest is playing Hamle
without any top to his head, and John Heenal
with one arm and big hole in his ribs, is fighting
Tom Sayers, who has no legs and nary an eye il
his head. I've put up target on the brick par
tition that separates me from the next house an
have fired many balls into it, that the brick
are not now more than an inch and half thick
and l expect every day to kill baby or two i
there; when l do l suppose l will have to apollo
E gize. ] havn't killed anybody for good while
and really ought to get my hand in again.
{ you shouldn't hear from me next week, you ma
conclude that I'm going through the farcical fol
I mality of an examination for manslaughter, an
that I'll write as soon as can get out on bail
{ Confidently. DOESTICKS, p. B.
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NEGRoEs.-According to usage, the first