The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1917-11-05
and he tells this story. which

ana ne Tells tNio stohJ,
printed in the New York Times.
asked an English drill-sergeant,
who had just given bunch OF six
teen American subalterns a breathing
spell after some particularly strenu-
Gus exercises, what he thought Of his
charges
What do think of these ere
young gentlemen, sir?' Why, sir,
we've just had EN- in six days, and
look at EN-! They're training on
beautiful
THE best thing about 'em, sir" he
went on with professional pride, lis
that they're as keen as mustard. "
1t up. At it eight hours day and
ask for more, and you could see your
self, sir. 'ow we made EN- 'ustle
Just lettin 'em see, sir ow we do 1t
in our little army.
After luncheon with the division
commander, simple but ample meal,
with a water washdown--as | am told
1t is in every mess--he invited me to
come with him ito see how your Eng
fish sergeantmajor takes my aid
over there and the rest of the school
of officers and makes them run
around
Yes" said an alert young officer.
come see me sweat The drill we
get has baseball skinned at the post
as an exercise, but ii is great stuff"
We stood later on smiling hill
side while the general pointed out
where there had been constructed in
dip three more short lines of trench
es. ending at a rise some hundred
yards of.
Those points you see in the sun
ON the opposite slope" he said, ARE
IEin cans on sticks You will know
their use in minute or two"
Ready, gentlemen" said the drill
sergeant. Prepare for trench bayon-
ct practise by half sections. You're
to take these three lines of trenches,
lay out every Boche in the lot, and
then get to cover and fire six rounds
at them ere tin ats. Don't waste Il
shot, gentlemen. every bullet a
Boche. Now, then. ready Over the
top and give 'em ell right in the sto-
mach. Fritz likes yictuals, but not
that sort. Get at 'em!"
Over the top they went with what
yell. They ran some ten yards and
dug their bayonets savagely into
dummy Germans made of sacks that
swung in the wind TO meet them, and
disappeared in the first trench. We
could see the rihe-butts lift and fall
as they lunged desperately at the i'm
aginarv foe Then UP they came ard
on again until We could see the
spread-eagie behind shallow ratified
down. Then, as they marched back,
the second section got ready to begin
it's stunt.
ITO ease em up a bit between
real work. the sergeant explained,
1--WE give 'em games. but each of
these ere games is meant to teach
'em something. We let EN- laugh
and joke, but they must keep their
minds on the game or we tell em
thing.
SO they played game designed to
teach concentration of thought on the
exact words of command The ser
geant began;
when begin command with
the words OGrady says, you obey
it, When don't you stand stiff
Now, ready O'Grady says eyes
right! o'Grady says left turn.
Front
There you are. four OF you goNe
to sleep! Get back and touch the
post in that wire fencing behind you
and then keep your ears skinned for
O'Grady"
1t was a merry game, but behind
all its fun and laughter one could see
its serious purpose, and the fine
young fellows who played it knew It
better than we
The rehearsal OF the trench Clean
up" with bayonets in the hands of
the rushing troops was next staged, |
The Times account says;
A section Of communicating
trench had been prepared with side
pockets, SO to speak, at intervals of |
five yards or So In each OF these |
was supposed to be one or more Ger |
mans, represented by sack. The |
object.lesson was to teach these |
young officers, so that they might |
afterward teach their men the best