Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1905-11-24
NIGHT AT OLD
GIBRALTAR
MUCH CEREMONY IN LOCKING
THE GATES OF THE
FORTRESS.

There is always a keen sense Of
theratical effect underlying military
customs and ceremonies. Probably
this is so of set purposes, for in the
days when battles were decided at
handgrips anything calculated to i'm
press one side with the others might
before they came to close quarters
lowered the morale OF the men and
rendered them easier to defeat.
Nowhere, perhaps, is this cardinal
military principle more up held than
at Gibraltar, that fortified fragment
of British empire thousand miles
away from other British soil. Here
nothing is left undone to impress all
and sundry with the tremendous pow
er symbilized by the union jack.
Gibraltar is above all things a fort.
ress and the fact is at times some
what disagreeably brought home to
the unwilling visitor. Sentries meet
the eye at every turn, everything Is
ordered under military rule, sketching
and photographing are tabooed and
passes, only to be obtained under
stringent conditions, are necessary
before one may ascend the rock itself.
Above all, the gates are locked at
nightfall with as much circumspection
as ever prevailed in medieval castle.
ernOr no one may leave or enter Glib
until morning.
st. Peters March.
The ceremony of conveying the
h. NJ octI k~
the gates and back is known as St.
Peters march, in allusiOn to the apOs-
tie who mas charge of the keys of
heaven.
Shortly before shutdown the serge
ant in charge of the gate calls at the
convent (the name still retained by
government house, which was the
home of religious order before the
British occupation) for the keys and.
escorted by the full band one of the
regiments in garrison and a guard of
soldiers with fixed bayonets and load
ed rifles, marches through the town
to the Classmates square.
Here a halt is called till the gun
announces the hour of sunset, and
then the band plays while sentries are
posted and inspection made that all
is ready to guard against a possible
night attack. Twenty minutes grace
is allowed for all strangers who wish
to leave Or enter and when that peri
cd is ended the gates are sOlemnly
locked and the keys, escorted as be-
fore, are returned to the governor.
For half an hour before sunset Wa
terpOrt street, the long, narrow main
thoroughfare of Gibraltar, is thronged
with a steady stream of humanity
making it's way to Spanish soil, for
thousands of Spanish workmen come
in every morning to their employment
in the town and docks. but are not
allowed to pass the night within the
gates.
Like Banquet Halls Deserted.
All but the few privileged to remain
ir the town-and none but those born
in Gibraltar or in government service
may reside there without permit
are Fastening TO the neutral ground
to the north, and the contrast between
the busy throng in waterproof street
just before gunfire and its deserted
air half and hour later is most strik-
ing.
The gun announcing the beginning
and ending of each day Is fired from
the signal station on the very sum
nit of the rock and on still evening
can be heard at Tangier, &c miles
away. westward, across the straights
So nigh is il above the town that on
| the Alameda parade, just below, the
| fash lights ND the twilight some sec
ends before the report is heard, like
a flash of lightning preceding the
thunder clap.
| AS IFS echoes reverberate across to
the African shore the bugles ring out
answering one another from Case
mates 10 Rosia. from Buena Vista to
Europe fats, the union Jack hutters
down from every Flagstaff and night
has come with semitropical sudden
ness.
The performance Of the band during
|. the period of grace at the Classmates
is a cherished institution with the
scorpions. as the natives Of Gibral