The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-04-27
STORY OF HOW
 AFFECTS FOUGHT Military Education of Mexico's
 Ancient Warriors
YOUTHS TAUGHT EARLY
In the Art of Handling Arms and Shot at Targets With Arrows and Hand Darts-Consecrnted
 to Heaven
From the Mexican Herald.

From the Mexican Herald.
 Among the curious institutions which enjoyed prestige in the ancient Mexican empire the military will most bear in spection and interested investigation.
 The Aztecs owed tn cir great profni- hence in this country to two things: Their extreme fanaticsm and their war like spirit. Huitzilopoxtli, the god of war and titular deity of the tribe, was the personifed union of both of these traits.
 At the age of days, male. whether of the privileged or the lower class, has placed in his hands a bow,arrows and buckler of tiny dimensions, symbol iZing his warlike destiny. At the age of IS he was placed, if he was of the upper class, in the caimecac. or college
 of the nobles and if of the lower class in the telpuchcali, or military sch ool. The young nobles received a civil, re- |llgious and military education. They might aspire to the highest offices of the empire and even to the throne 1t they were of royal blood (Montezuma II was educated in the calmecac).
 The military education which these youths received was similar to that given the plebians in the telpuchcali. Therefore, let us examine only that of the latter.
 When a youth entered one of the
 20 military schools of the city his head was completely shaved, with the exception of a single lock of hair in the back The system of instruction was
 very rigd. During the day pupils served in the temple, cleaning the altars and rooms and aiding in the worship of the priests and titled the fields of the school. At midnight they offered incense to the gods, pricked themselves
 with the spnes of the maguey and danced through religious rituals.
 They were taught to handle arms, shooting at targets with arrows and hand darts and striking with the mace on wooden dummies In time of war they went out with the experienced war
 riors, who looked after them and showed them the art of combat When the novice captured his first prisoner he was feasted and the lock of hair
 which he had worn since his entrance into the school was cut off. Honorary insignia were given him with each new capture.
 However, they were never able to as- pire to the great civil and military of fees which belonged to the nobles of the "calmecac" When these last had captured four of five enemies they were given the herarchical rank of knight of the head of an eagle, between whose jaws was the face of the warrior. On his shoulder glistened rich mantle of feathers and he had the right of using "cactlis," leather sandals, and Q shield with insignia of gold The latter adorned themselves with the skin and head Of a tiger and wore insignia and honorary plumes. This military class was dedi- cated to the sun and it's barracks, which were next to the great "teocalli'' and were called houses of the eagles, were consecrated to a special worship in honor of tn heavens.
 Having noted the system of the edu- ca tion of the youths in warlike affairs, we can turn to the study of the army proper
 Huitzilopoztli was bloody deity who demanded more and more victims for the conduct of his worship. It was this lneed of the god which kept the Aztecs in a constant state of war. On one oc- ca sian, in which peace had been pro- longed, the allied kings of Mexico. Tex coco and Tlapopan agreed to institute | the sinister sacred war" In cer- tain place and on determined day the warriors of the three kingdoms met and engaged in a bloody battle with no other object than the securing ol
 prisoners for sacrifice to the god ol