The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1895-02-11
BREAKING INA cAvALRYMAN.
How the Work is Carried On at Western
Cavalry Post.

One of the first facts that dawn upon
the brain of the new man is that there
is very wide gulf between an officer
and an enlisted man. He is educated
and is shown how properly to salute an
officer when necessary. This is lesson
he never forgets for it is put into daily
use as long as he is.sa soldier.
After marching, and facing, and wheel
ing, and walking over the rough parade
ground until he is tired and stiff and
sore, the recruit is given his arms. He
is taught the saber and carbine drill
dismounted and later the manual of the
pistol is added, Days elapse before he
progresses to this point, however, and
they are days of the hardest sort of work,
which seem never to have an end.
He eats ravenously at the big mess hall
during this time, for he has not culti-
waited that adherence for steamed beef
that will come to him later. He will
see the day when he will hate the sight
of a cow alive or dead, and will not be
on speaking terms with butcher for
he hasn't attained that point yet. He
has an appetite entirely out of proportion
to government rations, and would eat
three times his portion of every thing il
he could get it. The easy marching and
slow drills he has seen and which he
thought were nothing allied to work are
beginning TO have weight. The tedium
is becoming oppressive and he longs for
the time to come when he will be able
to look out of his barracks and see some
other poor recruit pounding sand" on
that terrible parade ground as he has
been doing.
But there comes day when he is told
that he is to have a horse. He nails it
with delight. He has never been on a
horse's back in his life, but he knows
all about it, nevertheless. He will be
veritable centaur when he gets that
horse. He draws his saddle and horse
equipments and is told how to use them
and to care for them as we'll as to groom
his horse properly. That is one of the
things he didn't think of, but he finds
that half an hour every day, from 4.30
to o'clock in the afternoon, has to be
spent at the stables, and that if his horse
is not groomed to the satisfaction of
the inspecting officer, the half hour may
lengthen remarkably, but he learns to
do this work satisfactorily, and after
few months practice does it speedily as
well as thoroughly.
But togo backEto the morning of his
first tried. He enters the great riding
hall, which is the largest in the world,
except one, and there, in the middle of
the hail, sees an officer on horse. How
gracefully he rides. He never imagined
a man looked SO we'll on a horse before.
OF course heiwill be rider, too, in day
or two. The column of recruits, mount
ed now upon regular cavalry horses,
move forward at a walk. Isn't it deligh-
full Covering more distance than they
used to cover on the parade ground
pounding sand and without effort.
The horses are wheeled into single file,
and then comes the command "troti
The illusion of luxury is dispelled
That horse seems to come down stiff
legged, all four at one Time and the re-
cruit's anatomy receives such a success
ion of jars that his teeth clatter and he
grabs the tree of the saddle for support.
The sharp eye of the officer is upon him,
however, and he has to let go of that
dear saddle instantly. Bumpety, bump
he goes around the big hall, time and
again. Will the com mand "haItin never
come? Two hours of torture and his
forenoon's work is finishe9. when he