Daily new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1897-1906, 1902-06-10

Flower of British Army and Navy
An Interesting Letter.
We publish below an extract from
very interesting letter written by
Mrs. James G. Frazer to her hus-
band under date of May 10Th, 1902,
describing the great Military Tourn-
ament which is one of the ante coro-
nation celebrations now taking place
in London.
LONDON, England.
May %, 1902.
On Friday we went to the Militia
ry Tournament at the Royal Agri,
cultural Hall. 1t was the finest
spectacle of the kind have ever
seen.
The first thing on the program
was the Trooping of the Colors by
the boys of the Duke of York's Mil
itary School. They were little chaps
none more than Il or IA, fancy,
but they had their own band, good
one too, and they drilled like veter-
ans.
Then came the Marine Artillery
with five inch gun brought in by
the aid of spars, which were then
set up as kind of crane for mount,
ing the gun. They had it down and
remounted in less time than it takes
to write, and | felt as If. after firing
it, the, ought to have sung, "We're
the Jollies, Err Majesties Jollies,
Soldiers an Sailors too
One of the best things was the
Musical Drive of the Royal Horse
Artillery. BY the way, the "Blues''
the Horse Guards, played all through
the entertainment with Charles God
frey conducting; 1t was jolly to hear
them again, and greatly to my joy
they gave Lies tudiantina,' the old
waltz | used to hear so often while
riding on the Row near the Bar.
racks Well, to return, six artillery
teams of six horses and gun each
drove in, and appeared to fill up
most of the arena, large though you
remember it is, and | must confess
that | did not expect anything very
thrilling, for it did not appear as If
they could do anything but drive
around one after the other. But
they started full gallop for the far
ther end and then suddenly broke
and parted; then followed the most
expert driving | have ever seen,
round and across the arena in beau
tifully snaky curves wheeled those
SIX great teams without scratch or
a false turn, though it sometimes
looked as though a small dog cart
would have hard work toget through;
it was simply magnificent, especially
when you understand that it WIS at
full gallop and continued at least
ten minutes.
Then followed Sword vs.. Sword
competitions, in which splendid
Craftsmanship was displayed and la
ter on, Sword VS. Lance. In the lat
ter the lance apparently had great
advantage, but the honors were about
evenly divided.
The Tent Pegging by some native
Indian Troops aroused lot of in
terest There were seven contest
ants, first they came in singly at full
gallop, then all seven at once, three
from one and four from the other
end of the arena. Each of them got
his peg and it was most exciting.
The Naval display by the seamen of
the excellent" agreed with the
name Of their vessel. Four IL pound
ers were brought in, cleared for action
fred, dismounted, remounted, ma
noeuyered, dismounted again, thegear
being taken to the rear, remounted
and taken over four foot brick wall.
Then the battery wheeled into the
middle and saluted the Prince Of
Wales, who had come in. They gave
another display with the Rocket Life
Saving apparatus, with which you are
familiar, so | will not describe it, but
there was real live rocket, and all
the concomitants of wreck, except,
of course, the sea.
don't think have told you about
the Historical Ride which was very
interesting from that point OF view,
tesides being splendid exhibition OF
Workmanship. Detaehments of cav
airy rode in representing mounted
archers Of Edward IT'S reign and va
rious cavalry OF other succeeding
reigus down to George III, preceded
by mounted band OF the latter Pc
Rod. They rode around the arena
several times affording most instruc.
tive comparative view OF armor, and
then performed kind OF intricate
lanciers or quadrille, very quaint and
picturesque.
| have seen a good many acrobatlc
feats, but | never saw anything so ex-
actly like India rubber as a couple of
hundred n. G. O's (non commissioned
otficers) from the Headquarters Gym
nasium at Aldershot. They drilled
first 10 the usual manner, then half oil
them standing on the shoulders Of the
other half; after that there was lot
OF work over horses-gym horses, aot
the live article--in which they seemed
equally at home on their heads OF
heels, and everything was done in per.
feet time. Then at signal they ran
over the arena and stood seemingly
scattered, when, at another whistle,
all suddenly Topped fiat, and on the
stand 10 broad white lines was e
r. VII, edward Rex VIIth). II