Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1894-10-22
JACK DISLIKES IT.
THE "MONNEY DRILL" is THE BANI
Or THE TAR'S EXISTENCE.
A Device by Which Uncle Sam Keeps Hi
Men on the Ships Limbered Up and In
Good Health Through Exercise - No
= "Soldiering" Is Allowed In the Drill.

Men on the Ships Limbered Up and Ii
Good Health Through Exercise - Nc
"Soldiering" Is Allowed In the Drill.
Good, kind Unclo Sam has provided
physical culture for Jack. Folks ashore
pay money for a course of physical culture
that isn't any better, if it is so good, and
yet Jack thinks he is hardly used in that
he has to go through it every day tina;
ism t rainy. He calls it the monkey drill.
The average Jack Tar is apt to be un
grateful, wherein he differs little from the
rest of mankind The point of the matter
is that human beings object very decided
: ly to having things that arc for theil
good thrust upon them willy nilly.
Jack is undeniably picturesque, but
never is he moro interesting to lock upol
than at this same monkey drill. He
looks well when he is swinging the big
guns: Extreme range, forward! Elk
treme range, aft. Extreme elevation! Elk
trcme dcpressionr' Then you see hin
putting his back to it and doing his best
to swing the long, glossy steel tube of a
gun in the best possible time, but the gun
itself and the mechanism and the rest OF
the drill distract the mind from tho con
temptation of Jack himself as IA well put
up man. The monkey drill' accentu
ates that.
1t comes right after evening quarters, al
8 o'clock. The marines and sailors have
ell lined up on deck. The skipper ha!
come out of his cabin and stands on the
starboard side little in front of the gang
way that goes down into tho wardroom
The executive officer stands little il
front of him and little to the right. Boil
men stand with a tautness and criml
in the muscles of the back and legs which
says, This is very important. ,
The ships writer is on the port side, n
stiff as wooden image and apparentl!
dead to tho world. The captain of marine!
comes and stands before the executive
officer salutes and conveys the important
information that all arc present or &C
counted for. Then he salutes rises OF
his toes, pivots around and departs il
great solemnity. The engineer comes VI
from the bowels of the ship and says the
boiler is all right, but there is rust on the
ashwhip. There is less style about tn,
engineer, because he has been doing this
for many years. His salute is merely e
"Reminiscences, not half SO prim as thu
young cadets, who was having collie wheI
the engineer had his commission. All tht
officers report, and then the executive
officer tells the captain as much as h,
thinks fit.
Immensely solemn function it is, al
Most pontifical in its ritual. The buglel
toots tune, and then begins the 'monke!
drill" The ranks separate and the space
between each man is increased, and squad
are formed, with corporal or a bosun's
mate in command.
There arc IL movements which have t.
be como through every evening. They al,
like those that used to be taught in tn
public schools, only better. The men dou
bic up their fists and shove out first on
arm and then the other with enough VIC
lcDce to get the good of it. They extcnt
the arms horizontally, then reach then
up, then drop them down. They reacl
tho arms out front and swing them baci
as far as possible They extend the arms.
horizontally and wabble them SO n
to describe small circles in the air.
They bend the body forward as fan
as possible, then bend back to the
same limit, stopping at straight up be
tween each motion, because jacks brain
cannot stand being sloshcd around vic
lently any more than anybody else's. They
lean over sidcwise SO as to look up to the
fighting tops with the right eye and then
with the left eye. This motion is almost
duplicated later on, when the same thing
is gone through with, but in the later mo
. ton the arms are extended. That opens
the upper part of the lungs
Then comes tho hardest movement of
all. The men stand stiff legged, heels to
gcther. and bend over till the knuckles of
, the closed fist touch the deck. 1t looks
easy. Try it. If you are not in training
you will find it isn't. Link your thumbs
i together and swing for it, and if it doesn't
stretch the muscles of your legs and back
then Joe S dead, and SAILS a widow.
There are other motions Of stepping out
wide with one foot and then the other that
show Off the muscles of the upper leg to
the best advantage, though the squatting
motion perhaps does that best of all.
The cadets are meanwhile watching the
men, and when they find some lazy lout
soldering" and showing out limp arms
and squatting down with bowed instead
of stiff back bone they tell him about 1t.
The skipper keeps an eye on such man,
and if he thinks Jack is trying to dodge a
little health giving exercise the chances
are that there will be little two hours
extra duty ready for him-not enough to
hurt him, but just to show that there is
balm in Gilead and physician there.
In the army these setting up drills are
the perquisite of new recruit. They linn
Der him up, and he is kept at it till he is
as sore as a boil all over. But in the navy
it is an everyday thing. 1t makes man
ashore wish there was somebody to make
him do the monkey drill every day. May
be then his stomach would behave better
and he wouldn't dream about falling off
roofs and things like that.--New York
WSrld.