The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-04-29
SOLDIERS EYES SHOULD SEE.
But ENGLISH SOLDIERS HAVE
EYES WHICH SEE NOT.
The Blindness is Mental, Not Phy-
sicaI-How Vision Can be Trained
for Military or other Uses.
From The London Spectator,

Gen. Sir Frederick Maurice, command
ing at Woolwch, has issued a general
order TO the officers of his district urg-
ing them to teach their men to use their
eyes. Though not too long for the sub
ject, it is too long to quote in full, but
the following are the main points in
this sensible warning:
The attention of the general officer
commanding Is almost daily directed to
cases in which men of all branches of
the service have failed to use their eyes.
Buckets are hanging up all round q
room, and the non-commissioned officer
in charge. at the moment when they are
required, has never observed that they
We're there. a policeman is asked why
he is allowing some irregularity, and re-
piles, with evident candor i beg YOU
pardon, Sir did not see The variety
OF similar incidents that occur constantly
is so great and represents a blindness
so universal and alarming that the gene
raj officer commanding feels it necessary
TO impress upon every officer in the gar
rlson the TACT that, by the wording of
his commission and by the custom OF
the service, it is his duty to train men
under him in whatsoever is necessary
to their efficiency in war. Subaltern Of
f1cers in their lectures to the men will
select Illustrations from war showing its
Importance. They will find plenty in the
last war; even If they are not as familiar
as they ought to make themselves with
the past history of war, which is full
or them. i did not see it is habitualy to
be regarded as a confession of incapacity
for soldering, no matter how common
place and trivial the Incident to which 1t
applies
The pessimism is quite misplaced, which
says, "Oh, it is hopeless to teach this
kind of thing. 1t is no good going in for
abstract training with no object in sight,
and quite useless to think that our Tom
mics can learn to see like the Beers. who
are always out shooting game, or like
the bushmen. who spend their lives track
ing cattle and finding their way through
painless scrub" To learn to see and OBJ
serve naturally, and with the pleasant
lnducement of sport, is one way, and
perhaps as good as any other But it IS
not the only way. In this country It near
ly always begins by a taste for field
sports, even of the humblest kind. The
late Sir w. Flower once told the writer
that he considered that "bir6nestng was
just as good a. form of sport as any
| other." meaning that it needed the same
quick eye and ready inference. Lord
WHloughby d Eresby's Advice to Whip
pers-ln," in the February number of The
Badminton Magazine is a good example
of the training learned and required by
| those who amuse themselves with field
| sports seriously enough to make them a
business. But in the best of surroundings
| it is not a habit which comes of it
| self" 1t is always the result of prac-
| tice, whether the object for which it is
employed be pleasure or profit, or as in
| the case of animals, the avoidance of
| danger. Like virtue as defined by Aristo-
| tie, it is a state of mind in which the
| body acts as a servant, ruled by per-
nSaneHt disposition to make the best Use
| of the faculties. AS in the virtue of in
| dustry, there comes a period when it is
harder to be idle than to work, so in the
virtue of habtual vigilance there comes
a state when it is harder not to see than
| to see. .4a,
man who has acquired this kind of
| vigilance never loses it, neither in suita-
Bile surroundings does anything induce
him to forego it. He sees, with effortless
precision, the inaminate objects around
him; he knows by quick analogy their
nature, their distance, the probab course
of streams were partly hidden from
sight, the nights of hills, the hardness
or softness of the ground, and the like.
| Reason aids sight, doubtless. But it is
| the actual use of the eye which presents
| the essential factors. If the whole list
| of tribes or classes famous for quick
and long sight be tabled, it will be found
| that in nearly every case the training
has come in the pursuit either of sport
| or of wild animals hunted for food or
profit The practical inference is that If
| our soldiers are to be trained to see, and
| to use their common sense as to what
the objects seen may mean, the process
by which these hunting races or hunters
have learned the art must be reproduced
in some way, with the sport and its in
| terest left out. This does not sound at
tractive, or very promising. Gen. Ian
Hamilton lately wrote that Lord Low
| ats Scouts, almost entirely recruit ed
from the Highland staIkers and gilIies,
were a match for the Beers at their own
business, both in scouting and shooting.
| That is evidence that the people of these
islands, when brought up in suitable sur
| roundings are the equals of any other
race in the natural faculty of sight. No
| sensible person could doubt it. They are
on the whole, the strongest, best fed,
| and healthiest race in the world. But
| their usual surroundings, which often do
develop their other bodily faculties, are.
1t must be admitted. very much against
| the development of eyes. 1t is difficult to
name many trades or crafts in which
| quickness of vision is needed or distant
| objects are habitually watched The men
who Judge distance most constantly and
narrowly all day long are the cabmen
and carmen in the large towns. Their
| sight and judgment are astonishing, and
quick differences as to which way another
vehicle is going to turn, or where It will
| draw up, are made by them all day. Men
who enlist from such employments are
| said often to make the best gunners in
the Artillery. But what chance has an
artisan working indoors, or a mill hand,
or a mason, or plumber, of learning
to use his eyes? Very little. it must be
admitted.
In the rural districts there is one great
advantage for the natural training of
eyesight. The distances are far greater
than in towns, and the eye can be- and
sometimes is, focused on distant points
during great part OF the day. People liv-
ing among mountains. as in Wales, Scot
land an even on Dartmoor. habltually
carry the bead at a slightly different
angle from townsmen. See. for instance,
how Scotch Highland girls ar Albanian
Arnauts carry their heads. But nothing
ever gets the urban persons head up.
Ouickness OF sight. even for what II
around him. may be a positive draw
back 10 urban success. The objects around
are alike too numerous and too insign-
iGcant 20 the seer II he takes In the
bearings, actions. approach. and depart
ure OF the utterly detached crowds OF
people and horses IN the streets. he is
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