Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1885-08-01
TIE GOOSE STEP.
How German Army Recruits Are Drilled
and Disciplined.
LCor. NeM Nnrk pnst

ICor. New York POST
If you leave the old Pin with sad
heart, you may have your good nature
restored if the recruits are being drilled
in the EXercien-Platz opposite. The
Exercien-Platz is large space backed
by barracks; while in 'front.' along the
street, are gymnastic apparatus and
simulations of such obstacles as may be
expected in an enemys country. The
fundamental principle of German
drilling is obedience. Orders are not
propounded for discussion, french
fashion, but are given, and obedience
must follow Immediately. When this
principle has been apprehended and ac-
cepted by a recruit, it is wonderful
what he will accomplish, and wonderful
are the changes that take place in his
physical and mental organization. The
process of experimenting is the difficult,
and, to the outsider, the entertaining,
part of the system.
For instance, every recruit must Jump
over a good-sized cask, the cask lying
on its side. When first put in front of
the cask, he looks as if he had been
asked to jump over house. From his
point of view he knows the thing is
utterly impossible But that is
exactly where the German drill
differs from the French; his point
of view is not a factor Over
that cask he has got to 60, 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 rib, he would
be put to bed till his rib was mended,
when his military education would be
resumed exactly where it left of. 1t
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 given number of car
tridges he must put given number of
bullets into a target. He must do it, if
he even were to be kept blazing away
all his life But there will be found
plenty of ways for insuring success
within reasonable time.
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
step so valuable in strengthening the
muscles of the legs that it should be
practiced by all pedestrians think |
can make it so clear to every reader that
he may start it off in his own room.
The recruit first takes the severest mill
tary position. That needs no explana-
ton. He stands very stiff and straight
head slightly thrown back, chin in.
chest out, and the fingers stretched out
along seams of his trousers. Having
been kept in the military position till he
is ready to faint, he is then ordered to
project the right or left 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 stiff. 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
pling till he ceases to topple, and can
stand in this extremely difficult and I'M
comfortable position just as long rs the
German government may desire. lie 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. He is now in another position,
where perpendicularity and preservation
, of balance are difficult, and where still
further appeal may be necessary to the
German principle of obedience. The
, third motion is to bring the foot which
has remained stationary up alongside oil
the projected foot, and to reassume the
, original strict military position. Then
! the foot not first projected 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 half feet
| the preserved parallelism of the pro
J jected foot with the ground and the
preserved stiffness of the knee.
Let any novice try dozen steps of it,
The muscles of his legs will ache will
all the aches of dentistry. AS the re
. cruit becomes more proficient there il
4 less pause at the military position; thu
9 foot from behind sweeps by the station
s AIRY one into the next step, but there j!
, always pause when the advancing foo
s reaches the ground, that the full strid,
{ of the step may be felt and marked
When the recruit is further accom-
plished, he takes the step with his arm
thrown out from the sides, and tn,
palms of his hands in front In thi'
4 way, in long lines, recruits are exercised
hour after hour, day after day, month
y after month, till their legs are as tough
q as steel, and the fatigues of the longes
j march can be borne with comparativ,
!, ease. The German soldier, of course
j, does not use the goose step when he i
! marching into battle, for it is a gym
:, nastic exercise; still, when on parade b.
{ is passing the saluting point, he uses
e modification of it, so as to let the in
:. specting officer know that it has beef
d properly acquired 1t is not too mucl
j to say that the German empire rests Of
= the goose-step. .....
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