, 1885-08-01
III 8 sr1p.



LOO New YORK Prs
If You leave the old Pin with n sad
heart. you may have your good nature
restored If the recruits aro being drilled
IN the LYcrcien Plat opposite. The
ESercicn / latz is a largo space backed
By barracks. while in front, along the
street, are gymnastic apparatus and
s~imulations OF such obstacles as may be
expected in an enemy's country. he
fundamental priRipIe OF German
drilling is obedience. Orders are not
propouuded for discussion. i rench
fashion, hut arc given, and ob dienee
must follow Immediately. When this
principle has been unprecedented and &C
cepted by n recruit. ii is wonderful
what hc will accomplish, and wonderful
arr the changes that take place in his
physical and mental organi alton. The
process Of apprenending is the difficult,
and, to the outsider, the entertaining,
part of the system
For instance, every recruit must Jump
over n good.si ed cask. tho cask lying
on its side. When l.rst put in front Of
the cask, he looks a. il he had been
asked to Jump over a house. From his
point Of view he knows the thing Is
utterly impossible. hut that is
exactly where the German driil
differs from the French; his point
of view is not a factor. Over
that cask he has got to go, if bayonets
have to drive him up TO it and soldiers
have to fling him over. If his neck
should be broken, his military educa-
ton would of course cease If he should
happen only to break a rib, he would
be put to bed till his rib was mended.
when his military education would be
resumed exactly where il left OF. IL
may require several fractures to thor
oughly indoctrinate the German notion
of obedience to orders; but when the
recruit has once apprehended, he will
pop over the cask, or anything else, like
a deer. In the same way he is taught
to shoot. With a given number OF car
tridges he must put a given number of
bullets into a target. lie must do il, il
he even were to be kept blazing away
all his life. But there will be found
plenty of ways for insuring success
within a reasonable time. M
The evolutions of the recruit are very
entertaining when you have learned to
cease fearing for his bones. Especially
entertaining is the goose step, so called
a step so valuable in strengthening the
muscles of the legs that it should be
practiced by all redestrians. think |
a make it so clear to every reader that
he may start it of in his own ROOM.
The recruit first takes the severest mill
tary position. That needs no explana-
ton. lie stands very stiff and straight,
head slightly thrown back, chin in,
chest out, and the fingers stretched out
along seams OF his trousers. Having
bapp kapf In tho militia vi ,,1aftto, tflI ho
Is ready TO faint, he is then ordered TO
project the right or loft foot-it is i'm
material with which he begins-so
far in front of him as he can while
keeping the sole OF the foot parallel
with the surface of the ground and the
knee stir. The tired recruit will be sure
TO lose his balance, and topple over.
But, in accordance with the principle
of obedience, he will be kept at top
ping till he ceases TO topple, and can
stand in this extremely di llcult and UNI
comfortable position Just as long as the
German government may desire. I.e is
then instructed to elevate himself on
the Toe of the foot on which he is stand
ing, and TO incline the body forward till
the sole Of the projected foot reaches the
ground. lie is now in another position,
where perpendicularity and preservation
OF ba 'ance are difficult, and where still
further appeal may be necessary to the
German principle of obedience. he
third motion is to bring the foot which
has remained stationary up alongside of
the pro ected foot. and to reassame the
original strict military position. Then
the foot not first pro ected is in its turn
thrust forward, and so on and on. The
points of the step are the length Of the
stride-at least three and q half feet
the preserved parallehsm of the pro-
jected foot with the ground, and the
preserved stiffness of the knee.
Let any novice try a dozen steps of it.
The muscles Of his legs will ache with
all the aches of dentistry. "A the re-
cruit becomes more pro cient there is
less pause at the military position; tho
foot from behind sweeps by the station
airy n into the next step, but there is
always n pause when the advancing foot
reaches the ground, that the full stride
of the step may be felt and marked.
When the recruit is further accom-
plshed, he takes the step with his arms
thrown out from the sides, and the
palms of his hands in front. In this
way, in long lines, recruits are exercised
Lour after hour. day after day, month
after month. till their legs are as tough
as steel, and the fatigues of the longest
march can be Lorne with comparative
ease. The German soldier, OF course.
does not use the goose step when he is
marching into battle, for 1t is a gym
nastic exercise; still, when on parade he
is passing the saluting point, he uses a
modification of it, so as to let the in
speeding officer know that it has been
to say that the German empire rests on
the goose-step.