Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1917-01-07
Interesting Address Delivered at
Meeting of College Ath-
lctic Association.
TRAINING VERY THOROUGH
Men Sent Home From Trenches
on Account of Wounds Act
as Instructors.
~ Assncinieh Dress

lirered ut the annual meeting Of the
National College Athletic Association
here. Il. TAFT Mex enzie. professor or
physical education nj the University Of
PENNSYLVANIA and late major r.. A.. NJ.
g.. England, said. III part:
You do not need a watch to tell
when IL is 8 o'clock at the headquarters
gymnasium at Aldershot. For fifteen
minutes or more groups of men in
black trousers and Jerseys. or officers
in tennis kit. have been accommodating,
and at . o'clock precisely a shrill
whistle petriies them In the position
OF attention. There is n dead silence,
and the sharp nd. Fail in!' Is
succeeded by n scramble. out OF which
emerge twenty classes Of officers and
men. each in proportion of about four
to one. neatly arranged on the floor,
each with a staff instructor in charge.
At the command. staff fall in" each
Instructor doubles 10 where the sero
geant-major stands. and there they
stand at attention to receive the days
orders. These given. they make Il
right turn. rise on the toes and scurry
off to their respective classes. Another
silence. and the sharp command Garry
on. is followed by a babel of orders
as the various groups march out of
49, k'"'N' ~ 'Ai'
twcnty-acre grounds that surround the
gymnasium. For the next hour and "A
half eac: class is put through the table
OF exercises for the day: each exercise
detailed. repeated and corrected until
offers and men have the proper speed
and accuracy for which they strive.
AT 1890 the whistle breaks the
classes up into groups for a brief rest.
After fifteen minutes the same pro-
ceedinS is gone through again. but
this time the men are paired off; No. |
teaching the last hours work to No. =
and back again from No. > To No. l..
under the fire Of the instructors crit
icism. Again a shor, rest. and the
on guard point and parry are ex-
planned. shown and demonstrated
There is an interval for lunch, and at
2:l5 the classes rcassemble. and now
they are marched out and combined
into one mass drill of exercises selected
from the eight tables Of the British
gymnastic law. After this display the
mass breaks up into It's component
classes, and the detailing of exercises,
bayonet lighting and gymnastic games
fills the time until 4 o'clock, when the
days work is over. Every month a
new class replaces those who have gone
oul III thc va
MEN BACK rom TRENCHES
ACT As IN Il IsUCTORS
when the war broke out i'm Au-
gust. 1914, the staff OF symnastic in
structors, up to the Inspector himself.
dissolved overnieh lit and rejoined their
regiments, and for ten days this depart
ment had no head. The new inspector
was confronted by an urgent demand
for instructors with none To send. but
he at once re-cnlistcd men who had
gone into civil life Ueachers in boa rd
and private schools). in fact. any one
who had had training. and recon
Structcd his STAFF from these veterans.
Soon. however, their numbers were
augmented in another way. Familiar
faces reappeared men from the
trenches). one with n bullet through
his shoulder blade. another with part
Of his foot gone from s%hrapnel. They
were not fit for active service, but
their experience as teacher was in
valuable.
The new armies had tapped every
stratum OF English society: the ill
disciplined lordlins. whose whim was
his only law. the STRIPPING just from
school and college. lawyers. doctors.
merchants. clerks Csoft from n seden-
tary iifeD. ~ircnworkcrs. navvics,
laborers (slow Of action and speech)-
all had to be welded into a ~honogene-
Gus body, quick and alert Of action.
sure of eye and hand. and, above all.
capable of endurance. able TO march
and take care of themselves. ready 10
oblitcrate themselves before a hostile
a%croplane by day or Il star shell at
night. able to dig like badgers even
after a hard days march. steady with
the rifle, quick. powerful and relent-
less with the bayonet.
The shooting and igging are
taught elsewhere. but the ~headouar-
terS gymnasium is the source OF all
knowledge on those fundamental ex-
ercises that train i'll accuracy, balance
and speed, without which the musketry
instructor inStructs in vain. and the
drill sergeant's shouts are futile. Ii
Is also the source from which has
come the new practical method OF
teaching the use OF the ba yonet.
There is no hesitation or sparring for
an opening or elaborate parrying: Just
a short jab. and on TO the next the two
simple parties taught being not for
defense so much az To clear the way
FOR attack. u subtle. but important.
mental difference. This is the gist or
the new bayonet lighting.
FREQ UENTLY RETURN
TO ACTIVE SERVICE
Physical training has. however, an
other function III the great armies that
have already tasted the hardships and
casualties Of life ut the front. The
wounded man. treated first at the
dressing station, then at the field sta
ton. sent back to the base hospital
and. finally, TO a hospital at home, is
frequently capable Of being returned
NJ for active service II time and care
can only he given to hi S treatment.
From the general hospital all such
cases are transferred to the conval-
escent camp or depot, and many arc
put under physical training at once
and return to their regiment within
ak weeks, but in the slower and more
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