Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1886-04-17
THE GOOSE STEP.
How German Army Recruits Are Drilled
and Disciplined.
fCor. New York Post. /

How German Army Recruits Are Drilled
and Disciplined.
tCor New York Postl
II 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 enemy's 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 apprehonding is the difficult,
and, to the outsider, the entertaining,
part of the system.
For instance, every recruit must jump
over good-si ed cask, the cask lying
on its side. When first put in front OF
the cask, he looks as II 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 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-
tion 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 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 apprehendea, he will
pop over the cask, or anything else, like
a deer. In the same way no is taught
to shoot. With given number Of car
tridges he must put a given number of
bullets into 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 q reasonable time.
The eyolutions 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 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 seyerest 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 tC
project the right or left foot--it is i'm
material with which he begins-sC
far in front of him as he can while
keeping the sole of the foot parable
with the surface of the ground and tn,
knee stiff. The tired recruit will be surG
70 lose his balance, and topple over.
But, in accordance with the principle
of obedience, no will be kept at top
pling till he ceases to topple, and car
stand in this extremely dihcult and un
comfortable position just as long as tn,
German government may desire He il
} then instructed to elevate himself OF
the toe of the foot on which he is stand
) ing, and to incline the body forward til
the sole of the projected foot reaches tn,
| ground. He is now in another position
where perpendieularity and preservation
of balance are difficult, and where still
further appeal may be necessary to tn
. German principle of obedience. III
third motion is to bring the foot whicl
has remained stationary up alongside O
the pro ected foot, and to reassame tn
original strict military position. Thel
t the foot not first pre-. ected is in its turf
v thrust forward, and so ON and on. TIL
points of the step are the length of tn
g stride-at least three and half feet
' the preserved parallelism of the pro
: jected foot with the ground, and tn
preserved stiffness of the knee
: Let any novice try dozen steps of it
The muscles of his legs will ache wit
: all the aches of dentistry. AS the re
( cruit becomes more proficient there
/ less pause at the military position; tn
+ foot from behind sweeps by the station
n airy one into the next step, but there
q always pause when the advancing foo
E reaches the ground, that the full strid
4 of the step may be felt and marked
: When the recruit is further accom-
:, pl'shed, he takes the step with his arm
. thrown out from the sides, and tn
:, palms of his hands in front. In thi
y way, in long lines, recruits are exercises
q Eour after hour, day after day, mont
y after month, till their legs are as toug
: as steel, and the fatigues of the longeS
y march can be torne with comparativ
/ ease. The German soldier, of course
G does not use the goose-step when he
. marching into battle, for it is a gym
o nastic exercise; still, when on parade b
v is passing the saluting point, he uses
/ modification of it, so as to let the il
!, specting officer know that it has bee
k properly acquired. 1t is not too muc
!, to say that the German empire rests o
d the goose-step.