The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-09-18
STAGE SOLDIERS ARE QUEER.
Military SOIccisms Are Particularly
Noticeable in War Dramas.

From the Chicago Chronicle.
There is military1arama on the boards
at a downtown playhouse which was writ
ten by a famous writer of military stories
an ex-o4icer OF the United States army
and one who should know all about the
game Local military men have been In
vited by the management of the theater
to lend the luster of their presence and
uniforms to the play on various evenings
and they have attended In numbers and
some of the things they saw on the stage
made them talk after they got out.
1T seems peculiar to me-" said one of
the national guard officers last Tuesday
night, "that when play representing life
in the United States army at the present
day is put on that the management does
not get some military man 10 stage II or
at least 10 watch a few rehearsals and cor
rect the military solecisms which are sure
TO creep in. A little while ago we had The
Girl l Left Behind Me, in which soldiers
wore privates' blouses and non-commis-
stoned officers trousers with great equa-
nimity. In Shenandoah a colonel on the
sick list forces the surgeon and major to
turn over his sword 10 private soldier.
But while this pay now running is re-
markedly correct in the main, II Is not
free from military errors. In the first
place the smiling complaisance with which
regular army officers listen TO the gable
of the garrulous old corporal al all stages
is perhaps the authors license, and Is
needed to help out the play. AS a matter
of fact, thar corporal would be cut short
a hundred times were he to attempt 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 pr.vate's overce@
above his corporars uniform. Again, IN
the second act the villain of the play is
discovered walking post industriously with
carbine on shoulder. He gets into quar-
rel 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 the guard" Four private soldiers
without carbines come running up in a
struggling sort Of way and seize the see
try.
Take that man to the guardhouse,
commands the officer, and they rush him
away by neck and crop as though he were
going to be put in patrol wagon. A
guard detail without arms is funny
enough but more startling still, after ar
resting the sentry, the officer does not see
that another man is detailed to cover the
post and while a few minutes before II
was vastly important that 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 duty.
Another thing which stage soldiers
seem 10 be unable to learn Is the system
of salutes. A private soldier never sa-
lutes when he is uncovered-that is, when
his cap is of. He Is always uncovered
indoor, especially In headquarters or
where an officer Is present. Therefore, he
never salutes an officer indoors. The reg
ulation for the salute is to bring the hand
smartly to the visor of the cap If a fell
low is holding his cap In his left hand
down by his. knees he cannot make much
Of job Of saluting with 1t. But the stage
soldiers go on bringing their hands up to
their foreheads when they are In head
quarters, not realizing that the removal of
the cap is sufficient Acknowledgement of
the officers, presence"