Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-09-22

is a connection pronounced by those VINO
have taken part in it to be of such an
exactine nature that the leaders must
show a longer and more arduous train
ing greater powers of command and
higher mentality than are required OF
the captains of any other athleuc sport
and the participants VINO represent the
Drawn and stamina of every organization
contending must likewise prove. If their
team is to be successful, that they pos
sess unselfshnes a susceptibility to dis
cipline of both moral and physical ma
ture concentration onda bodily strength,
grace and agility which far exceed the
average.
On competitive drill day thousands of
spectators yearly witness the complicated
and beautiful maneuvers of the Capital
city's trained High School Cadets. as they
march in company or squad formation
across the great diamond at the American
League Ball Park, breaking into symmetri-
cal lengths. which reunite fundamentally
at a given point, wheeling, facing about
and. realignng. with a lightning response
TO orders and eXactneSS or execution
which would appear possible only TO
delicate scientific instrument.
But very few members of the great
crowds which watch these perfectly CO.
Ordinated evolutions realize. apparently.
that in order to attain the perfection
shown the boys have had to start their
prepare lions on the very opening school
day of the year and thereafter have Will
ingly denied themselves many hours OF
recreation in order to find time for the
weariSome practice which finally makes
perfect.
For this training is the hardest kind of
work, and much of ii is disagreeabie
work as well. The initial step Ill prep
aration for the great contest which is to
eliminate on the far-of competitive drill
day late next spring will be taken toInor-
row, the first school day after the vaca-
ton speriod. when recruiters viii begin to
move about among their felloW-students
in the effort to enlist their support.
The recruiters will admit that the
training for this competitive drill is frk-
some: that it contains little nothing
of the play-element which the boys find
who go in for foot ball, basket ball, base
ball or track. They will admit. also.
that. while the training period for the
outdoor sports is only three or four
months, the training for the competitive
drill must extend over all fall and win
ter and practically through spring.
They will likewise concede that there
il no chance for any such display OF
brilliant individual work as the boys find
in other branches of athletics: that the
boys opportunity of rising to leadership
in the cadet company is smaller than
that in other sports. for these drill teams
are four to ten times larger than are the
ball or track teams.
And finally they will grant that the dis
tinction of a captaincy in the cadet COM
pany is less than that following the cleo
ton to leadership of other teams which
bear the name of the school on the grid
iron, the diamond or the field this cir
cumstance arising from the fact that.
while there is only one foot ball. base ball
or track captain to a school, there may
be as many as four boys in the same
high school and even in the same class
who are captains of cadet companies.
Nevertheless, the recruits come in, and