Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1915-03-05

OQ Tue 8It0TuOOu OF inc IOllOWlH8
day, the company is detailed for bar
rack drill. We are lying on our stom.
achs In the barrack-yard, and are be-
ing drilled in taking aim and firing
lying down.
have just been sighting.
In front Of me on the barrack wall
over there they have painted targets.
Ring targets, head targets, chest tar
gets. Three hundred yards. take
pointblank aim, and press the trigger,
Square in the chest" That ought to
count as a bull's-eye.
Wonder how many clips Of car
tridges am going to get through?
Wonder II there will be bull's-eye
among them?
II every man Of those millions they
>are putting into the field against the
enemy fires about q hundred car
tridges. and there is one bulls-eye in
every hundred. that works out at
+. that amounts to and
I can't help smiling at this neat sum
In arithmetic -. then the answer
is no one at all. That is merry sum.
Snick!
The fifth cartridge tumbles out.
ram in another clip Of, dummy cart
ridges.
How quickly and smoothly that's
done. One-two seconds, and i've
cartridges are set in your magazine.
Every one Of them, If need be, can
penetrate six men; 1t can penetrate
palisades and trees; 1t can penetrate
earthworks and stone walls. There
Is practically no cover left against
this dainty little missile, against this
little pointed cone.
And what wonderful bit Of mech
anism this Mauser rifle is. How
wretchedly badly OF they were in
1901 with their rattletrap needle
guns. A single feeble bullet at time,
and after you had fred It came the
long, complicated business of reload
ing.
And yet the war accounted for we'll
over hundred thousand French and
German dead.
wonder how many dead this war
will account for! II only every fifth
man is left on the field, and II another
fifth comes home invaded {.
what Will its harvest amount to then?
The whole Of both countrysides are
at this moment covered with soldiers
lying fiat. and all Of them with their
rifles at the ready, and all Of them
pointing the death-bearing barrels at
one another are perfecting them
selves in the art Of hitting the heart.
But behind them the guns are
swinging up The gunners are jump
ing down and dragging the trail round.
They are already aligned, and thou
sand black mouths are gaping un-
cannily toward the heavens.
We were once standing-we were in
camp for musketry training at the
time--and watching battery bring
with live ammunition. They had un-
limbered and we're ready to IRE. The
ofncers were peering into the dis
lance through their field-glasses. The
targets were not as yet in sight. We
were all gazing intently toward the
firing zone, where 1t any moment
something might come into view.
B. There! Away over there. In
the distance. Something 10 moving!
"A shout Of command.
The subaltern points to the moving
target with his right hand. He shouts
out the range. The gunners take aim.
and:
Ready! No. 1 gun. Fire!''
The missile IL already awning, and
FOR the space Of moment we feel the
iron messenger fitting past. The air
is a-hum. Boom-and Z thousand
yards in front Of ss the shell has ex-
ploded above the cavalry riding to
the attack. and has spattered its rain
Of lead over the blue targets. And
then Nos. 2, 8, 4, s and 6.
The next target was about mile
away, and the new range quickly
found. Again the strange missile
sped away and covered it, measured
course. It was . thing to marvel at,
to see how it checked in the air Of
its OWE yolition and burst It seemed
as though each one Of these iron cyl.
;nders had . brainas II It were en-.
dowed with life and CONSEQUENCES so
certainly did It md It's billet.
And when the battery had ceased
.irinE end had limbered up. and the