The Lakeland evening telegram., 1917-07-02
A Breach Of
Discipline
BY JAMES BRAlNARD

1t has been said that in the camps
for the drilling of officers for the
army for the great world war the
obsolete i'll military science has been
discarded and the men are drilled in
trench warfare. including grenade
throwing, the wearing Of gas masks
aud all such devices OF modern war
fare. There Is one fort where recruits
were drilled which can hardly be said
to have fulfilled these conditions. That
is Fort A., located in the west.
Fort A. had been turned over to
the army as a station for the drilling
Of recruits for the great world war.
The commandant, Colonel Whittlesey.
an officer of the regular army, who
had grown gray in the service and had
added with each year something to his
stock Of army discipline, treated new
comers and old comers alike, exacting
from each the same rigid observance
Of attention to the army regulations.
There must be guard mounting In
the morning, dress parade In the after
noon. tattoo In the evening and taps
at bedtime. The soldiers were drilled
to march, countermarch, load and fire,
In accordance with the manual of arms,
and otherwise conform to customs the
colonel had learned some flfty years
before at West Point.
What use the men were to make of
these observances in the trenches In
France probably the colonel had not
considered. Soldiers had been prepar
ed for war by being thus drilled from
time immemorial, and 1t had never Oc-
Cured to the colonel that any other
way Of drilling them would suffice
He forgot, il indeed he ever knew, that
General Braddock with his trained
British regulars had suffered defeat
from Indians and had only been saved
from annihilation by Virginia militia
that had never learned tue eyolutt0ns
laid down In the books on tactics. He
forgot that General Gibles at New Or
leans, commanding the best drilled
troops In the world, had been slaugh-
tered by General Jackson's squirrel
There was one ceremony of ancient
and honorable standing about the OBJ
servance of which Colonel Whittlesey
was very particular. The colors must
be daily raised and lowered ut the fir
ing Of the morning and evening gun.
There was no likelihood Of the men pay
ing attention to this ceremony In the
presence Of an enemy occupying par
allel zigzag trench to themselves, but
the colonel considered 1t one Of the
ways to prepare them for this warfare.
and IL tho gun was not fired twice Il
day on the minute OF sunrise and sun
set woe betide the culprit whose duty
it was to attend to the matter
Now. 1t so happened that Colonel
Whittlesey, who was widower, was
attentive to widow, Mrs. Eleanor
Andrews. whose son was being trained
at the fort. and the lady was staying
with the wife of one Of the officers on
duty there. Nevertheless his courtship
did not. prevent him from being watch
ful OF the neglect Of any OF his favor
lite observances.
Mrs. Andrews had tiny poodle no
bigger than large rat, and 1t was
questionable, should she be obliged to
give up either the poodle or her mar
tial lover, which she would surrender.
The colonel seemed to realize this, and
1t was generally adpitted that Zip, the
poodle was the only living thing at
the post who could violate the coloners
orders with impunity.
The only up to date arrangement on
the premises was the contrivance for
the firing of the morning and even,
ing gun. A wire had been stretched
from the gun to room which con
tanned an electrical battery, and key
had been introduced to make the cur
rent which fired the gun. No one was
admitted to the room except the officer
charged with the firing Of the piece al
the specified time morning and even
ing.
One day after luncheon Mrs. An
drews, having a headache and no
wishing to have her poodle. desired
some place In which to shut him up
She sent word to the colonel asking
permission to put Zip In the gun firms
room. The colonel would not have &C
ceded to the request had it come from
any one else, but dared not deny thu
lady Of his love- He ordered the Ike.
to the room to be sent to her, and Iii
was a prisoner In the gun room.
Evening gun1re was at o'clock ant
minutes on that day, sunset occur
ring at that hour and minute. Zip wa
placed In the gun room at o'clock, an
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