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About The Hesperian / (Lincoln, Neb.) 1885-1899 | View Entire Issue (June 5, 1896)
6 THE HESPERIAN was expected from the amount of practice they had done. After slashing around for half an hour in a body they drilled down. 0. A. Rob bins of company D taking first .honors. But the greatest enthusiasm was evinced over the afternoon performance. When the inspection was over the batallion marched to the fair grounds, preceded, accompanied and followed by about a thousand enthusi asts who were so interested in their favorite company that they forgot that it was about three miles and trudged the whole distance with scarcely a grumble at the street car company. When the boys reached the grounds they wore cheered again and again from the crowded grand stand. After they had rested for a few minutes Company A prepared for business. They began with counting off, then with the manual and on through the various maneuvers. The same fault which had been noticed in them all year cropped out at the rery start a slow dragging step. In order to win the cup it is a settled fact that a company must crowd the regulation step pretty close, and after it is, bettor to speed up a little over the allowed time, since the increased energy thus gained to all the movements will more than offset the 'quick-step. The lagging step had a bad influence as was shown in the lack of decis ion in the manual. The platoon drill was a trifle ragged also. "A'1 finished her drill in short order, tuldng less time than any of the other companies. 'Company B came next with Captain PriliB. B marched off with that quick, Biiappy step which has done much to make hor popular this year. The manual was gone through with energy and precision. Captain Pulis misinterpreted one or two commands apparently., besides losing some good time. But it was in the slcirmish drill that the captain "fell all over himself'1 figuratively at least. He misjudged the amount of room required by six sets of fours in slcirmish lino and had about half his men slopping about in the mud and -water. His jnen tools it good-humoradly (a soldier isn't allowed to swear audibly in ranks) and would have "lain down in it" as one of them said afterwards, had they been ordered to do so. The captain had simply fallen down where each of the captains had prayed for strength the fact that the drill sheet was only handed to him as he marchnd off with his company. However, when B came marching in with dirty ducks and spattered guns the crowd cheered as though welcoming a ragged regiment home from a bloody battle. Company D, Captain Sedgwick in charge, then toolc the field. He had evidently noticed the loitering step of A and the slight trace of over-speed in B, and struck an ad mirable mean. The judges declared the step perfect. It was the steady, even tread of a company of 'regulars.1' D took plenty of ground for skirmish drill and carried her platoon drill well too, considering the fact that one platoon had only two sets of fonrs which was the cause of the unevenneBB aB . noticable in all the companies. D was the favorite, when she stacked arms and yielded the ground to 0. Company C is called the "tail-endersbut she surprises people occasionally. Captain Swartz has done more solid conscientious work this year than any one not directly acquainted with military affairs would know, and when he led his company out he knew he had the good will of every man with him. Company 0 has had a snappy step all year and has been encouraged in it bj' their cap tain because he saw that it had a marked effect on the whole drill. The pace in the competitive was over-fast but the men made up for it in other ways. They took the commands with quickness and intelligence, making a good impression on the audience and receiving hearty cheers ae payment. When she came in the cup plainly lay between C and D, with the audience slightly favoring D, wing to the fact that they had made not a Bingle bad break. The individual drill then came on. Most of the sixteen men fell out very quickly and it was not more than four minutes till all
