Daily national Democrat., 1861-02-28
From the Sunday Mercury
The Progress of my ZOuave Practice.

10 them Tor trOwsers, with an embroidered
and braided bag for vest; with a cap like
n red wooden saucepan; with yellow boots
like the fourth robber in stage play, with
moustaehe like two half pound paint brush
es, ard with sort of sword gun or gun
sword for Il weapon, that looks like the re-
suit of II love affair between an amorous
broadsword and lonely musket, indiscrete
and tender that is a Zouave
A fellow who can put up" hundred
and ten pound dumb bell; who can climb
up an eighty foot rope, hand over hand, with
barrel of flour hanging to his heels; who
can do the giant swing" on horizontal
bar with ffty-sx tied to each ankle; who
can walk up four flight of stairs. holding a
heavy man in each hand at arms length;
and who can climb creased pole feet first,
carrying a barrel of pork in his teeth-that
is Zoudve.
A fellow who can jump seventeen feet four
inches high without sprngboard; who can
tie his legs in double bow knot round his
neck without previously softening his chin
bones in steam bath; who can walk Blon-
dns out door tight rope with his stomach
outside Of nine brandy cocktails, suit of
chain armor outside his stomach, and stiff
northeast gale outside of that: who can set
forty foot ladder on end, balance himself on
top ofit, and shoot wild pigeons on the wing
one at time, Just behind the eye, with sin
Gle barreled Mime rifle, three hundred yards
distance, and never miss a shot: who can take
a five shooting revolver in each hand and
knock the spots out Of the ten of diamonds at
eighty PAGES turning somersauts all the time
and firing every shot in the air-that is a
Zouave.
| am a Zouave.
My musket education prugresses-I am
getting on inely-l can tell the muzzle
from the stock at first sight, and shall soon
be able to say which end of the ramrod to be
put down, and which side up the cartridge
goes.
But | am paying more attention to my
gymnastics just at present than to my musket,
for every body 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 practicin- room, where gym
nastic every day. I've taken up the carpet
"a performance which my landlady entirely
approy yes-Fve piled the chairs on top of the
table in corner, and have sold my bed at
auction-Zouaves sleep on the floor.
Besides. it is a good thing to know how to
sleep without a 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 little, oy
way of setting me an example.
| found out by the actions of the Splnkey
brothers the exact dimensions of my room; II
is three Hip-haps long, and handspring and
two back somersauts wide.
By means of fiip-Aap you disconeert yGui
eneny's aim and draw MS fire, then you Xii
him. A hip-hap is a good thing to do-ir
case of war.
BY means of handspring you reverse
your position, and your bewideped enemy
cuts off our foot instead of your head Ther
you kill him. then you screw on wooder
leg and do SO again. When you've done il
twice you've killed two enemies and on
lost two legs; and, after that, you can only
lose wooden legs, which are comparatively
cheap, especially if the war is in well tim
bered country.
handspring is a splendid thing to do
in case Of war.
BY means of forward somersault, yol
leap over your enemy. when he charges OF
you; then by a back sonersault, you fall OF
his head from great height and stun him
then you kill him.
A somersault is an indispensable manue-
vre-in case of war.
| Our company-Spinkey commanding-ca
go through the manual of arms complete ant
only touch the ground three times; they d,
all the loadings in a single somersault, spring
ing into the air at the word Cup" will
their muskets empty. and loading exactly to-
| gcthcr 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 l began t,
|
Our company has been all drafted into Ke
rigan's Contingents, and we must all be req
dy.
Tried a somersault first, as I thought i
looked very easy. All you have to do is, to
throw your heels UP and head down. and
then you bring your head up and your heels
down; it's the easiest thing ia the world. ap-
parently. When | came to try it, thought
the floor looked unusually hard, so | put a
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 all
my suspenders tightly around my waist, took
short run from the corner of the rosm, shut
my eyes and
When recovered, which | should Judge
was III about three quarters of an hour, had
a bump on my forehead as if I'd been hit
there by a base ball, which had stuck. 1t
took me fifteen minutes to get up on my feet
for fel; as if nay legs and arms had been
distributed over the neighboring county by
gun powder explosion; and it was some
time before my mind was disabused Of that
impression.
Judge that something interfered to pre-
vent the artistic execution of my contempla-
ted 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, Rlap Of some unknown country
done in red on my shirt, two vest pockets
full of blood; and my hair SO stuck together
with the same fluid that | had to get my head
cropped like a prize fighter Whether |
broke the window with my head when it
came up, is comparatively immaterial-cer-
tam It Is that there was a hole in the sash
big enough to threw bashel baske through
without touching the edges.
AS to the pillow, it didn't seem to ease my
feet after all; perhaps it is because neither of
them came within rod of it, for discover
ed that while broke my only water pitcher
with one heel, put the Other through my
picture of John G.. Heenan, in his favorite
character of Champion of the World.
| mustered up courage in three days to
try a handspring, but the results were not
satisfactory, being merely a new and extern
sve assortment Of bumps and bruises
Then | sent for Spinkey-Spinkey taught
me the art-I can do it now-I do it all the
time--I keep doing it; in fact, don't do any.
thing else. When come down to breakfast
| generally walk on my hands around the ta>
ble, and give each one of the boarders pat
ronizing shake of my slipper; then turn a