Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1888-09-14
OLD TIME TRAININGS.
BILL ARP's DESCRIPTION OF AN
OLD FASHIONED MUSTER"

BILL ARP'S DESCRIPTION OF AN
OLD FASHIONED MUSTER"
The Colonel with His Cockade Hat md
Dazzling MISUNDERSTANDING the LII
iitia-Kettle Drum and Squeaky Fife.
A Fist and Skull Fight.
Bill Arp thus discusses old times In Georgia
and the old fashioned training day sceness
An old fashioned muster was equal to
the commander-in-chief,b but as he could not
be personally present the militia were re-
viewed by proxy. Every county had an aide
de-camp with the rank Of colonel. He held
his rank and title as long as the governor
held his Office, and he was expected to boiler
for him and talk for him and boom him, end,
if necessary, he must fight for him on suit
able occasion. If the governor failed of re-
election, these colonies had TO retire too, and
a new set were appointed, but the old set
never lost their title, and SO the state in
course Of time got pretty full Of colonies
On muster day the colonel wore a cockads
u
long brass sword and big brass spurs, and
horse pistols in the holsters Of his saddle, and
he aud his personal staff rode up and down
the lines reviewing the militia, who were
drawn up in double crooked straight line
in great big field that was full Of gullies
and broom sage. Some wore coats and some
didn't; some wore shoes and some didn't; but
none wore boards, for in those days mono
wore boards but gamblers. Some were
armed with shotguns and some with rifles or
muskets, but most of them carried sticks and
cornstalks and umbrellas, and they stood up
or squatted down at pleasure, and about half
the time were hollering for water.
THE COLONEL AND HIS STAFF.
The colonel and his staff rode up and down
the lines on fine horses that danced and
pranced like there were tacks under the sad
dies. The roll Of each company was called
and every man answered to his name whether
he was there or not. Then the colonel took
central position and faced the long audience
and waved his glittering sword and ex-
claimed: Attention, battalion! Shoulder
arms, right face, march" Then the kettle
drum ratified and the fife squeaked and some
guns went off half cooked, and the militia
gave three cheers for the colonel and were
disbanded until the next muster. Old man
Brooks was the chief musician in my day,
and would not have exchanged this Office
with the king of England. He always played
Crooks March, for the militia to locomote
by. They never marched or kept step by the
music, but they got along somehow by walk
ing and trctting and pacing and fox trotting
by turns.
Old father Brooks played his part well in
the drama or farce, or whatever it was He
magniied his office. He loved music. He
said his fife was his life and his fiddle
was his riddle. On his last bed he sent for
my father to come and see him. Old and
wrinkled and cadaverous, he motioned to be
propped up In his bed, and then, with an in
veroed chair behind his pillow, he pointed to
his fiddle that lay upon the shelf near by,
and it was handed to him. Hugging it to his
old bosom he smiled amid his tears and whis-
pered: II wish that I could play you one
moro tune" That night the old man died,
with his left hand closed hard and rigid
around the neck Of his violin
After the muster was over then came the
horse racing on quarter nags and horse swap
ping, and Of course some pugilistic exercises
in front of the groceries.
FISTS, SKULLS AND FINGERS.
Jim Bowles was the center Of a crowd
from his beat, and stripped to the waist he
pranced around and popped his fist in the
palm Of his hand, and jumped up and
cracked his heels together three times before
they struck the ground, and gave a wild In
jun whoop and exclaimed: "Im the best man
in Pinkneyville district" About that time
big Jim Robinson jumped up in the center
of another crowd and yelled: "I'm the best
man in Ben Smith ss:deestrict, /" and Nick Raw
Inns screamed like a panther from another
crowd, and gritted his teeth and shook his
hair and yelled: "Gentlemen, my Betsy Jane
says I'm the best man in Rockbridge dees-
trict, and reckon she ought for to know"
1t was just like gamecocks Growing In the
barnyard, and, like the cocks two Of them
soon got together and went to fighting, and
everybody stood around and shouted, GLANDS
of, gentlemen; stand back, gentlemen.
Hands off; let 'em fight fair and square"
And they fought hard and fought long, and
when one Of them got to be the bottom dog
in the fight and hollered enough" the show
was over. unless the victor dared to crow
again, and had to tackle another rooster.
have known Nick Rawlins to whip three
brag men in one evening, and Nick was no
bad man eithsr. Everybody liked Nick. He
had fit and fout and fought until he had lost
a finger and q snip out OF his nose and
piece Of his left ear, but he was never mad.
Nick told me not along ago that he never did
love to fght, but when he courted Betsy
Jane she lowed that when she married
man he had to be man ali over. inside and
out, and so be got to fighting on her account.
But these old times are gore-gone never
to return. Even the preachers who used to
take of their coats In the pulpit have con-
formed to more polite customs. Their sing
song sermons are heard no more-not the
nasal attachments that were something be-
tween shuttle and a snort. Old Father
Dannely and his wooden leg are dead and 80
is old Barry Pace, who said to the Rome
girl who went out to hear him just for the
fun of the thing: "If that town gal with the
green bonnet on her head and the DEVILS
martingales around her neck and his stir
rups in her ears, don't quit her glgglin,'
will pint her out to the congregation" We
have more manners now, though our morals
may be at a discount.-Biu Arp in Atlanta
Constitution.
The cost of public education in Prussia
l. cents per head
Mana Nfnfhnde