The age-herald., 1897-09-18
STAGE SOLDIERS ARE QUEER
Military SoIecisms Are Particularly Noticeable in
 War Drama.
From the Chicago Chron ole.

From the Chicago Chron' cle. There is a military drama on Enc boards at a downtown playhouse which was written by a famous writer of mili- tary stories, an ex-officer of the United | States army, and enc who sholld know all about the game. Local military men
 have been invited by the management of the ti1eater to lend the quster of their
 presence and uniforms to the play cn
 various evenings, and they have attend
 ed in numbers and some of the things
 they saw on the stage made them talk
 after they got out.
 "It seems peculiar to me," said one of
 the national guard officers last Tuesday night, "that when a play representing
 life in i,he United States army at the
 present day Is put on that the manage
 meHt does not get some military man
 to stage 1t or at least ito watch a few
 rohearsals and correct che military sole
 c.sms which are sure to creep in. A lit
 tie while ago we had 4Ihe Girl I Left
 Behind Me- in which soldiers wore pr.- vates' blouses and non-commis=ioned | officers trousers with great equanimity.
 In Shenandoah a colonel on ehe sick list | forces the surgeon and major to turn
 
 while this play now running is remarka-
 bly correct in the main, it is net free from military errors In the first pace
 the smiling ccmplaisanee with which
 regular army officers listen TO the gabble of tho garrulous old corporal at all
 sJ.ages is perhaps the authors license, and is needed to help out the play. As a ma tier of fact, that corporal would be out sl b1hr 1re5 ti,ooo Ina [ n
 atempt to talk as freely as that in the service.
 'But while he is correctly uniformed
 while in the post, when he appears in the wintry scene he wears a private s overcoa. above his corporals uniform. Again, in the second act the villain of the play is discovered walking post in- dustriously with carb ne on shoulder. He gets into quarrel with his wife, who is living at the post under cover, and
 seizes her by the throat. An officer
 rushes up and calls Sergeant of <he guard.' Four private soldiers without
 carbines come running up in s.raggiing
 sort elf way and seize the sentry. r. 'aTake that man to the guaIdhouse, !"
 commIanlls the officer, and they rush
 him away by neck and crop as though ne were gong to De put Tn a pa.rOl | wagon. A guard detail without arlns is funny enough, but more startling still after arresting the sentry, the officer does not see that another man Is detailed to | cover the post, and while a few minutes | before it was vastly important that a
 sentry should be tramping up and down | in the rear of the stage after the arrest | the play goes on, with no one to relieve | the prisoner and do his turn of guard l duty.
 Another 'thfng which stage soldiers | seem to be unable to learn is the system of salutes. A priva;e soldier never sa- l lutes when he is uncovered-that is | when his cap is off: He is always un- covered indoors, especially in headquar l ters or where an officer is present. There. | fore, he never salutes an officer indoors l The regrula ton for the salute is to bring | the hand smartly 'to the visitor of the cap.' If fellow Is holding his cap 1T l his Jeff. hand down by his knees he can l not make much of a job of saluting witt it. But the stage soldiers go on bringing | their hands up to their foreheads wheI | they are in headquarters, not realizing that the removal of che cap is sufficient
 acknowledgement of the officers pres