Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1897-01-13

the buckle su,u.-s -
cleaning that they labor over, for the
adjutant. in mounting the new guard,
selects the "cleanest" man.-that is,
the soldier whose uniform fits him
best, and whose accoutermenfs are OF
the most dazzling glisten-to act as
orderly tor the commanding officer.
The orderly for the commanding Of
ficcr simply follows that dignifed gen.
tleman around during Office hours,
and does not, like the other men of
the guard, have to walk his 1.-TWO hours
on and four of" post during the weary
length of twenty.four hours. he gets
the night in his bunk. The struggle
for the prize of orderly is fierce con-
test between the men known as "or-
derly buckers," on account OF the
frantic desperation with which they
begin days in advance of going on
guard to clean up in order to capture
the plum. Each battery has one or
two conspicuously successful orderly
buckers," and when one of these goes
upon guard, pitted against the ;'buck-
crs" of the other batteries, all han ds
take tremendous interest in the out
come OF the battle of cleanliness, and,
around pay days, bets are often made
as to who is to be the winner.
The whole battery will often help
to "work up" the kit-helt, cartridge
box and rihe-of the "orderly buck
er" in whom it takes the most pride,
and when, after all these voluntary
efforts, their man loses, the adiutant
is pronounced "partial" and "unfair. "
The adjutant is himself often at loss
as to which man o. the guard to pick
for orderly, for it occasionally hap
pens that several men are equally well
gotten up. In such cases, these few
best men are drilled for the prize. ii
this manner of selection only narrows
tho thing down to two men, who de-
cline to obey wrong "trick" COM
mands given by the adjutant in drill.
ing them, and are both equally prof.
cient in the manual OF arms, then the
two draw straws for the orderly's
billet.
Meanwhile, by the time the guard
has been mounted, recall from fatigue
is sounded, in order to give tho men
of the working parties time to shift
their uniforms for drill with their re-
spective batteries.
It is laborious drill that calls for
the donning of the brown canvas
fatigue uniforms. There are also
separate days for Instrumentation"
learning the uses of the numerous in
strumentz employed in range.fnding,
"charting," gauging the strength OF
the wind and the density of the ct.
mosphere, etc. A soldier must possess
well-developed scientific tempera.
meut, in order to enter understand
ingly into instrument drill.
"Cordage drill" is another bette noir
of artillerymen. Here is where the
soldier who has been to sea either as q
marine or bluejacket gets in his
strong work.
"Cordage drill" is for the purpose
of teaching the men proficiency in the
tieing of the innumerable knots used
in the moving of pieces of heavy and
siege ordnance. 1t looks simple
enough to see another man tie a "tim-
Der hitch,"a "igure.of-eight knot, "a
"sheep's shank" or "granny," butt
is not easy by a whole lot. The SOL
dier who has had experience rs &
"deep- water man," however, regards
it as child's play. All of the soldiers
of the heavy batteries are given on ex-
animation every year rs to their
mastery of these various drills, and,
for respective degrees of pro6cieneys