St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1896-09-19

MILITARY MARCHING.
Pace In Different Armies Eject Of Music
On the March.

Pace In Dinsren, rm,cs Effect Of masie
ON the March.
4 curious report of the marching ca
pabilities cf the different European
armies, drawn up at the German min
istry of war. has at the moment special
interest. The figures are those of the
established regulations" Of the several
services. and it appears that the length,
0! the Russian soldiers pace is Il cen.i-
meters: of the German. SO. while tho
French, Austrian, Belgian, Swedish and
Swiss soldiers all tread pace Of IS
centimeters. The Italian soldier takes
10 steps in a minute, the French from
lis and the Belgian 40 steps. An Ital-
ian regiment marches at the rate of
DO meters in the minute, German
regiment at 50. an English ut SIS and IA
French regiment Mt Sc meters per min-
ute. The meter is equal to about 80 Is
inches. and in English measure. there
fore. the rate of progression Of the four
aforementioned regiments would be
(about) as follows: The Italians, 9s
yards per minute; the Germans. 96; tn.
English, 95; the French. % yards per
minute. II may he mentioned here
that. by the regulations OF the British
service, our slow march consists of Is
3O-irch PAGES to the minute, this meas
ure being used only on parade and far
occasions of solemn pageantry. The
quick march. i'm which all evolutions
are performed. increases to 10 PAGES.
while the double" rises to $50 PAGES in
the minute.
1t is now generally agreed that rs
athletes the moderns are stronger and
"able to obtain more results from their
exertions than the ancients." Wheth-
er this may be justly said in reference
to military prowess is perhaps not quite
so clear. The standard pace of tn.
Roman soldier was the same as our own
go inches). the length Of feet being
really the measurement of two steps,
or the pace from where efther foot was
lifted up to that on which the same foot
was again set down. The Roman mile
of loco PAGES was equal to rather more
than nine-tcnths of our oxn statute
mile. and the legions usually marched
of ours) in five hours. But this was
often exceeded on emergency. and ID
estimate the true quality of this per-
formance it must be remembered that
the Roman foot soldier carried n load
Of some 60 pounds weight besides his
hn4 hsp y,
he was but very little different from u
beast Of burden" Lord Wolseley tells
us that division can march 81, miles
an hour il very well managed. but that.
as a rule. time should be calculated 1T
. miles an hour, including ordinary
halts.
The rationale OF cadenced marching
is too obvious to require analysis. AMI
all modern marches are, as far as pos
sible, made to some kind of music.
Sounds" said a great master of mill
tary science. "have secret power over
us. disposing our organs TO bodily ex-
ercises. and ut the same time, deiudinr.
as it were, the toll of them" If the
band is broken up Lord Wolseley coun-
sells officers to call upon the drums AMI
bugles. The troops "march leo per
cent. better than in silence" and, this
resource also failing, the men should
be got to sing by companies. All this
Plutarch describes the Lacedacmoni-
ans, when advancing to the attack. a:
keeping pace to the time of their
flutes. their music leading them into
danger cheerfully and unconcerned."
Most of their actual marches, however.
were performed in silence.
With such widespread experience oi
its advantages, it is remarkable that
cadenced marching should have fallen
into almost total disvse during the
middle ages. To remove this defect in
the French military system was one of
the chief labors of Marshal SAKE. In tho
middle of the last century the musical
instruments Of the French army were
as poor as some of the sO-callcd
marches" of their composers. They
might. indeed, have turned their flies
and drums to better account; for the
nature of their discipline is Sufficient
ly indicated by the following observa-
,ion by Marshal SAKE: "As every man
is suffered to consult his own ease AMI
inclination. some march slow and 9TH
ers fast: but what is to be expected
from troops that cannot be brought to
keep one certain regular pace?' On
the contrary. their well-ordered march,
ing was the glory of the Prussias,
troops. and the victories of Frederick
the Great at Rosba. Leuthen and Zorn-
dorf were greatly due to this superior
ity. at this time the Germans had
marches of great merit as musical COM
positions. and the French poverty ii
this particular was. in fact. relieved
from German source. They also
adopted many of the German instru-
ments. as well as others in use amon:,
the Walloon regiments. At this date
Handel had given TO our own troops
;he stately measure of the march IN
"Scipio" and many another compost
tion of a similar marked character.
But the time was not yet for such
strains as the march i'm "Die Zaube--
flote," or for the solemni:y Of Beethov-
ems funeral dirges.-St. James Gazette.
MiraEes on the Lakes
Lake Ontario is becoming famous for
the mirages which it causes or helps to
cause. At least once year for quite 4
few years back the phenomenon has
been observed. Recently i'm Oswego
L.
beautiful mirage of Kingston. so or &C
miles away across the lake. The Duck
and Galloup islands. the entrance to the
harbor. the masts Of the shipping and
the outlines of buildings were distinc.-