The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, April 13, 1902, Page 7

THE SUNDAY Forward March T. a saber signal, a trum- rd, march!” the clatter of gallop- rattle' and clang of and dangling scab- y rumble of wheels, and t artijlery dashes into ac- dio plain. ers, flamelike, high in nces on saber edges, glis- x and spur, and glosses es whose white hoofs h the ground as it on sentry duty, or starting off for towun. It seems to him that this is the most of be- ing a soldier—this and wearing a uniform, and living quite decently in barracks, and drzlswmg rations and $13 a month. And he enlists. First of all comes a suit of Uncle Sam’s livery. Feor artilleryman there is the dash of red with the blue. The recruit has but a cord of red about his hat, and red facing to his cape, but there is alway the sibili of a corporal's or ser- chevron with a narrow stripe for the trousers. These non-commissioned officers come from the ranks. And if war comes on and makes opportunity ned officer may earn Movin the Picce by Hawd & e A d. t straps and a commission. A sergeant has the saddles urge the JyCll oG K o a saber 10 his piscol which other blue-coated men, ;5 the recruit's only weapon. sit with folded arms od oy g little while the novelty of the and straight thing and the consclous pride a unifcrm part of the carriages. gives, alike to private and major general, s 2 chevrons and trouser Keep his interest alive. But before the s of color to creases are well out of his clothes the wishing himself anything k man. He has wakened from his id pageant of war, this ash of a battery. takes more cool nerve to be a | lleryman than to be any o me of ac*ion to lieu- there it must r how hot the e l'ght artillery has no use for a man who hasn't nerve in every e inch of him, and if a man has any feather about him it does not take to discover it. ring dr at the ull u o 1 the s men’s first lessons in horsem: . & is all as new to the it is he rhen, for they. too. me from 3 1 pursuits of town the arts of ; and there j ay when _the Presidio “bull 3 2 o 1d make Buffalo Bill tear his Wheeling \ ¢ of envy : - es for the horse nmteo y surpr 1l a gun as meekly arns to h - - : nd stock stiil po»jl'»’\ on iniform of blue a $13 a month— he men wish the get- 15 easy as the getting in. s ‘ rksome to the 1 a second primer 1s Inserted. For an hour every morning the Presillie As soon as the piece is fired, it is run plain is alive with horses and men, from forward to its former place, the gunner” one to three batterles working, each in- opens the breech to allow the plece to dependent of the other. Some of cool and inspects the gun before reload- older batteries take to the hills on the ing. To the man at the brakes falls the other side, whers thers is more freedom. nessed for double work, and there is all his head in time of danger. duty of sponging and unloading. Back and forth they gallop, now in one the noise of rattling harness and chains _Sentiment does not grow rank in army _As in the school of the cannoneer the rank. now in two, in colume of sections, to get used to. Day after day the horses posts. X recruit learns the manual of the piece, 80 i1 column of platoons; and again all st fire faken Into the fleld and driven about In the school of the cannonder the re- In the school of the driver he learns the .3 column of il S o in a gunless drill. The Presidio plain cruit takes his first steps in handling a care of the horse and harness. Barch firfight und I b with e or thoas bay, end not %o long 880 ‘&un. . & Eun detachment consists of two Ther s method in every movement. Diich ITFISHE and left ohiique. forms with a.team of these unbroken hor?]:s, fright- corporals and five privates, with thre= In the stable every inch of leather has its ‘“a g redie » - ened at the noise their trappihgs made, supernumerary cannoneers at the caisson. place. Each plece must be picked up in a " oS 282 “l i ek # it dashed across the fleld and plunged into Hach man has a place to stand, a certain prescribed manner, the blanket must be _ Back e B R e g ‘?““;‘ n the water, which closed over them almost. duty to perform for every maneuver. He folded by rule, and every strap of the poe Ay L . e T befare the driver could frée himself from must know this place and this duty. harness must be buckled precisely like SVim _fo look: tyin et A the madle; ) The moving of the plece by hand, the every other strap. 1 Tong. straight strnge. whod it Totied The day that the horses are first at- unlimbering of it, the taking and replac- =~ When ‘boots and saddles” sounds at § I 1 oy capld never do e = tached to the guns ig the day the surgeon ing of equipments in the limber chest— o'clock, the stables are a busy place. The 25 If t Comiia DRkt (he et T gXpects an inning. There is the strange these are preliminary to the maln com- horses have already been fed and groomed 2lways co Uie Tadvanant (el mamaa e new rumble of the carriage and now there mand, ‘‘Commence firing!"” at the first stable call, and the stables Datiery » us are six horses to work together instead At this every man is alert. The gunner, cleaned by the cannoneers and prisoners, DesS- of two. who is the senfor corporai, repeats the Each driver grooms his own horses, and At 11 o’'clock the drill s over and the This is a test of the coolness and nerve command: ‘“Load, ready, fire!" He opens not until a man earns a sergeant’s three Officers go to school. m’ii too, have les- of the drivers; and If the wheel horses the breech, inspects the bore, breech stripes does he escape this duty. sons to learn and must qualify in a course show their dislike of the new order of mechanism and gas check, while two of As If it was done by a pendulum and covering drill regulations, manual of things and lift up their heels in protest the cannoneers step between the plece mainspring horses are harnessed and Suard duty, small arms firing, minor tac- the cannoneer on the chest behind them and the wheels and apply the brakes on hitched to the carriages. Then in a long, tics, Camvlin}lln!. military !:‘w, fleld en- might by a civilian be excused for un- each side. Two more men run to the lim- thin line the battery files away to the gineering, military toposraphy. Interna- folding his arms and making ready to ber chest, receiving from the fifth or the plain, and wheeling about like figures in tional lav, Mippology and encugh mare to Jjump, but by officers and comrades never. caisson corporal a round of ammunition, a grand march the drill begins. m?ke the list look like a college curri- A driver showed the white feather once alternately supplying the gunner with _ Six guns, six caissons, a captain, four culum. and it ended his career as a soldier. The projectiles. The gunner shoves the lieutenants, one first sergeant, who acts Besides guard and police duty in the lead horses attached to a piece became projectile into the bore, pushing it in by as the captain’s assistant, one quarter- afternoon there is sometimes fatigue duty frightened and made straight for a telc- hand until it is beyond the ‘seat of the master sergeant, one stable and veteri- for the light artilleryman, digging of post graph pole. Only the firm, united action gas check. Then one of the men at the nary sergeant, six sergeants who are holes for the picket line, or work on the Wb AN SRR SRR RN i 2 3 e 3 e it - B A RN et R ot recruited through about the same course ‘as the balk for all he is worth. When the horse of the three drivers could have checked brakes rams the projectile smartly for- chiefs of sections, six gun detachments, roads or about the grounds 1 he Pre= iheyorld. The free raw recruit.. By degrees he is made ac: is plunging about the “bull-ring” in his them. But true to the instinet of self- ward, while the other makes ready the one ariver to ooh pair of horses, two sidio. This is per v the vod e for Uncle customed to bridle, taught to walk and tantrums the driver gets a chance to preservation, the wheel driver dropped primer. The gunner inserts the cartridge, trumpeters, one guidon—160 men in all, soldier m for, as a son rast- for men. trot and answer to the movements of the prove his mastery, and it is often neces- the lines and clung to his saddle, and the pushes it home with his hand, closes the with cooks, saddlers and blacksmiths, ald Isle puts it, in a brogue like mush: ' nothing to do wan- reins. Then come saddling and mounting. sary to throw the animal before he knows result was a general smash-up. Not long breech and points the piece. At the word coustitute a battery of maneuver. “I didn’t see anny pick and schuvel m Yresidio of a sunny afternoon, - Thig is where the horse shows his tem- that bucking, rearing and kicking are not afterward he was missing &t rollcall ‘Firel the cannoneer having inserted —TPhoroted few days, however, when th’ picthur on Uncle Sam's car-rd. Th® sees the men in blue or khaki loungmg per, and the rider his—only the rider is good form in military horse society. To-day he Is serving a term at Alcatraz the primer, fires the gun with a quick, every man answers to his name at roll- lad luk’d like he dida’t have annything ¢ lazily on the steps of the quartermasier's supposed to be always patient and gentle, _He has no sooner learned the hard les- for desertion, and his captain is counting hard blow. If the charge does not ex- call, and the gun detachments are seldom do but luk foine.” warebouse, pacing up and down the walk let the horse rear and kick and shy and son of having a master than he is har- himself well rid of a man who could lose plode there is the order, “Reprime,” and complete at the daily drill. BERTHA H. SMITH.