The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1894-07-31
Military Instruction in Schools and
Colleges.

Colleges.
You ask my opinion of the suggestion OF La
fayette Post, q. A. r., OF New York city, that
military instruction and drill be used in all
schools for boys. 1t is good in every aspect OF
good tor the country. A free erect, graceful
carriage of the body is an acquisition and de-
light. IL has value in commerce as well as
in war Arms and legs are distressing appen-
dages to "A boy under observation, until he has
been taught the use of them in repose The
chin is TOO neighborly with the chest, and the
eyes ind the floor too soon they need to have
the fifteen PAGES marked OH. The sluggish
need to be quickened, and the quick taught TO
stand, the witul to have no will, and all to OBJ
serve fast. The disputatous need to learn
that there are conditions where debate is mad
missable; the power and beauty there is in a
company-moved by one man and as one man.
/ Athletic sports have their due perhaps undue,
attention in most of the colleges ana his h
4 schools: but in the graded schools, within my
1 observation. exercise is casual and undirected
/ None of these exercises or sports Is, however,
/ a substitute for military drill; and some of
/ them create IL new need for It. A good oars
| man need not be erect or graceful; good arm
4 and plenty of wind meet his needs. The cham
pion ''cyclist" is not apt to have square shout
ders The football captain is so padded that
/ n safe Judgment can hardly be formed as to his
natural "lines''i but q good leg and momen-
/ tum seem to me--a non eXpert-to be his dis
| tinctive marks In bnse ball the pitcherseems,
! to an occasional observer, 30 have parted with
all his natural grace to endow the curved ball.
A military drill develops the whole man,
head, chest, arms, and legs, proportonately
ana so promotes symmetry, and correets The
| excuses of other forms of exercise. II
I teaches quic<ness of eye and ear, hand ana
! foot; qualities men to step and act in unison;
teaches subordination; and, best of all, quail
ifles a man to serve his country The nag now
generally floats over the school house; ana
what more appropriate than that the boys
should be instructed in the defense of itf Ii
will not lower their grade-marks in their
book Rotations. am sure. IL rightly used, IL
Will wake them up make them more healthy,
devotion their pride and promote school order.
In the Centennial parAdes in New York, In
April 1850, the best marching | saw was that
fNH alfatftl 81 h lll man
company front was better than that of the
regulars or of the Seventh Regiment
II all the school boys OF the North had, from
/ 1880 on, been instructed in the schools OF the
/ soldier and OF the company, and in the manual
of arms, how much precious time would have
been saved in organizing the Union army in
1861. We were in very low state, people,
in military knowledge and training when the
great civil war broke out. Volunteers in
/ plenty, but few soldiers 1 very wen remem-
4 Der how hard IL was for me to learn which was
4 the right of the company. ana TO understand
why II continued to be the right when the
/ right about had made II the left; and how we
had, in 1862, to send to q distant city 10 find y
dril-master competent To instruct the com
/ pany officers, not one Of whom could so
/ through the manual of arms AID how the reg
/ iment after a few hal t-learned lessons in the
/ company drill, was sent to the seat Of war
/ with guns which they had never loaded or
1 fred. Fortunately the men md the Ameri-
/ can adaptabiiity and quickness, ana our ad-
vefsary only little better preparation, IL
1 will not be safe TO allow war to come upon us
again in that state, for wars pace has greatly
quickened, and the arms of precision now in
use call for a trained soldier. Under our sys-
/ tenn we viii never have large standing army,
and our strength and safety are In "A general
dissemination of military knowledge aud
training among the people. What the man
and citizen ought to know in order to the full
4 discharge of his duty to his country should be
! impaired TO the hoy. Nothing win SO much
aid TO enlarge our state militia, aud 70 give II
/ efficiency and character, as the plan proposed.
! The military taste and training acquired in
the school VIII carry our best young men into
the militia organization ana make those or
ganizations reliable conservators of public
| order ana ready and competent defenders OF
/ the national hOnor-BENJAMlN HARRISON, In
| Century Magazine.