The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1898-10-21
AMATEURS IN WAR.
Volunteer Compared With the Real
Soldier in Matter Of Obedience.


A soldier is a product of slow
growth. Hammered out of thu
rough by the drill sergeant, shaped
by mis- company commander, pol
ished by his major, he at last, al
ter having passed through the
hands of the colonel, becomes the
finished article, according to o
writer in the Forum.
Even then he is only half SOL
der. He car march, he knows
what a command means and can
carry it out; he can use his riff,
and his bayonet; but he has still
more, much more, to learn. The
soldier must learn to take care OF
himself on the march and in the
field; and above all, he must learn
that most difficult Of all things
implicit obedience.
Herein lies the difference between
the soldier-and by the soldier J
mean the man in the ranks of In,
regular army-and the volunteer
The former, by obeying-he has
been taught from the first TO learn
that obedience to his superiors Ii
his first as well as last duty-and
by constant association with hi
officers, ecomes simply mac hine
to do what he is told to do. To
call a man a machine is no retiec
ton his intellect or his manhood
Like a machine, he is perfect in all
his parts, ready to respond to the
lightest touch of the controlling
power. The volunteer, on the 9TH
er hand, knows not the meaning OF
the word discipline. He has served
no long apprenticeship in the art OF
learning subordination; he has no,
been drilled and hammered and
pounded until compliance with a
command becomes a second nature
Out OF his uniform the volunteer
frequently ,mmands instead OF be
ing commanded. He cannot
change the rabits of lifetime with
his change of clothes. But per
haps more important eventhan this
and which makes the volunteer
force an extremely frail reed to rely
on in case of emergency, is the ina
bility Of volunteer officer to wivlc
that peculiar psychological powe
without which no man is the mas
ter of men. Nor is this surprising
Between the soldier and the Office
there is a wide gulf, even in re
public, and no attempt is made I
| bridge it. 1t is well that it shoul'
be so. The soldier is content to re
ly OF the wisdom of his officer
| The man in the ranks stands sentr
or faces battery, not because h
likes to do one better than the 9th
er-and soldiers, like all the rest {
. us. think their trade little bi
harder than any other-but bt
cause some one higher in rank hs
1 told him to do it, and he has enoug
9 confidence in that some one TO b'
lieve in him. BIT with the volur
!, teer it is different. His SUPER,
|. officer may be, frequently is. b
social inferior. As to his milital
9 knowledge there are often gray
y doubts. lie gives command, b'
it inspires no confidence. The me
Z. in the ranks unconsciously feel tn
i they are following blind leader.
y Miss Lola Beverly, young W
@ man Of Burlingame, Kan, disco
y cred car standing on the ma
m track Of the Sante Fe branch of Il
On A. T. & S. f. X. r., near her HON
m, the other day, and, knowing that
10 train was nearly due, she wake
4 up the track about half mile ar
"a tagged it. The engineer told h,
that the car had been left there pu
posely, and that he intended
= - pick it up as he went along. Whe
- the story leaked out, Miss Beverly
liz fellow-townsmen twitted her INC
y, numerically, but in few days Il
- young woman received LITTER fro
IN the Sante Fe superintendent than
H. ing her for her thoughtful act, al
Up inclosing an annual pass good an.
~ where on the system. The joke
= no longer regarded as one on Lol
Ind. Sun.