Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-09-21
OLD TINE TRAININGS.
BILL ARP'S DESCRIPTION OF AN
OLD FASHIONED MUSTER"

The Colonel with His Cockade Hat and
Dazzling Notwithstanding the MI
litia-Kettle Drum and squeaky Fife.
A Fist and Skull Fight.
Bill Arp thus discusses old times in Georgia |
and the old fashioned training day scenes:
An old fashioned muster was equal to a |
modern "Mardi Gras" The governor was |
the commander in chief, but as he could not |
be personally present the militia were re-
viewed by proxy. Every county had an aide |
ecamp with the rank Of colonel He held
his rank and title as long as the governor
held his office, and he was expected to holler
for him and talk for him and boom him, and,
if necessary, he must fight for him on a suit
able occasion If the governor failed of re-
election, these colonies had to retire too and
new set were appointed, but the old set
never lost their title, and so the state in
course of time got pretty full of colonels.
On muster day the colonel wore a cockade
hat and a red plume and epaulets and
long brass sword and big brass spurs, and
he and 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 none
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 We're 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 a
central position and faced the long audience
and waved his glttering 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 WIS the chief musician in my day,
| and would not have exchanged this office
| with the king of England. He always played
| Brooks 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 trotting and pacing and fox trotting
by turns
Old father Brooks played his part well in
the drama or farce or whatever it was He
| t,,l l. I
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
ver5ed 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: Il wish that l could play you one
more 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 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: Pm the best man
in Pinkneyvile district" About that time
big Jim Robinson jumped up in the center
of another crowd and yelled: "l'm the best
| i,,R Rar Sr1,i+ "A nd
lins screamed like panther from another
crowd, and gritted his teeth and shook hi,
hair and Yelled Gentlemen, my Betsy Jant
says I'm the best man in Rockbridge dees
trict, and reckon she ought for to know"
1t was just like gamecocks growing in tn,
barnyard and, like the cocks two of then
soon got together and went to fighting, anC
everybody stood around and shouted, Hand
off, gentlemen; stand back, gentlemen
Hands off; let 'em fight fair and square
And they fought hard and fought long, ant
when one of them got to be the bottom dOl
In the fight and hollered enough the shov
was over, unless the victor dared to crov
again, and had to tackle another rooster.
have known Nick Rawlins to whip thre
brag men in one evening, and Nick was n,
bad man either. Everybody liked Nick. H
had fit and fout and fought until he had los
. a finger and 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 di
love to fight, but when be courted Bets
Jane she lowed that when she married
man he had to be man all over. inside an
out, and so he got to fighting on her account
But these old times are gone-gone neve
to return. Even the preachers who used
. take off their coats in the pulpit have col
formed to more polite customs. Their sing
song sermons are heard no more-nor tn
nasal attachments that were something b,
tween shuttle and snort Old Fathe
Dannelly and his wooden leg are dead and S
is old Barny Pace, who said to the Rom
girl who went out to hear him just for tt
fun of the thing: eff that town gal with tt
green bonnet on her head and the devil
martingales around her neck and his sti
rups in her ears, don't quit her gigglin,'
will pint her out to the congregation" "
have more manners now, though our mora
may be at discount.-Bill Arp in Atlani
Constitution.