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Show to Si SOLI I01S IN FAST DRILL English Sergeant Intensely Proud of His Bunch of American Subalterns. . ALL MADE TO HUSTLE Boys "Keen as Mustard" and Dash Into Work With Surprising Sur-prising Vim. " AMERICAN TRAINING CAMP IN FRANCE, Sept. 27. The Paris corre- spondent of Reuter's limited, writes the following account of his recent visit to the training camp of the American Amer-ican expeditionary force: "I asked an English, drill sergeant who had just given a bunch of sixteen American subalterns a breathing spell after some particularly strenuous ex- ercises, what hp thought of his charges. charg-es. "What do 1 think of these 'ere young , gentlemen, sir, why sir, we've had 'em 1 six days and look at 'em. They's training train-ing on beautiful." Boys "Keen as Plustard." "The best thing about 'em. sir," he went on with professional pride, "is that they're as keen as mustard. We can't give 'em too much. They eat it up. At it eight hours a day and ask for more and you could see for yourself, sir. 'ow Ave made 'em 'ustle?' Just lettin' 'em see, sir, 'ow we do it in our little army." I wason a visit to one of the camps in France where the American army is training. After lunch with the division di-vision commander a simple but ample meal with a water wash down" as I am told it is in every mess he invited invit-ed me to come with him 'tp see how your English major-sergoant takes my aide over there and the rest of the school of officers and makes them run around. Drill Beats Baseball. "Yes," said an alert officer, "come I see me sweat. The drill we get has baseball skinned at the post as an cx- erclso, but it is great stuff." I We stood lator on a smiling hillside while the general pointed out where there had been construed in a dip three j short lines of trenches ending at a rise some hundred yards off. "Those points you see in ,the sun on the opposite slope," he said, "are tin cans of sticks You will know their use in a minute or two." Fighting German Dummies. Ready, gentlemen," said the drill sergeant. "Prepare for trench bayonet bay-onet practice by half sections. You're to take those three lines of trenches, lay out Bocho in the line and then get to cover and fire six roundsat them 'ere tin hats. Don't waste a shot, gentlemen, gen-tlemen, every bullet a Boche. Now then ready! Over tho top and $lve 'em '11 right in the stomach. Fritz likes this victuals, but not that sort. Get at 'em'" Over the top they went with what must have been wild college yells.' They ran some ten yards and dug their bayonets' savagely into dummy Germans Ger-mans made of sacks who swung in the wind to meet them, and disappeared In the first trench. We could see their rifle butts lift and fall as they lunged desperately at the supposed foe. Then up they came nnd on they came until we could see. them spread-eagled behind be-hind a shallow trench blazing away at tho cans which rattled down. Then as they marched back the second section sec-tion got ready to begin its stunt. "To ease 'em up a bit between real work," the sorgeant explained, ,"wc glvo 'em games, but each of these 'ere games is meant to teach 'em something. some-thing. We let 'cm laugh and Jyke, but they must keep their minds on-the game or we tell 'em a thing." So they placed a game designed to teach keen concentration of thought on the exact words of command. Sergeant Begins Game. Sergeant began: "When I begin a command with the words, 'O'Grady says,' you obey iL When I don't, you stand stiff. Now ready: O'Grady says eyes right! O'Grady says loft 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." It was a merry game but behind all Its fun and laughter one could see its serious purpose and the fine young follows fol-lows wjic played it know it better than we. Communicating Trench War. Afterwards we watched what was an extromoly interesting bit of training, A section of a- communicating trench had boen prepared with side pockets, so to speak, at Intervals of flvo yards or so. In each of these was supposed to bo one or more Germans, represented repre-sented by a sack.. The object lesson was to teach these young officers so that they might afterwards teach their men, tho best manner in which to take 'the occupants of such a. trench by sur-prise sur-prise with bayonet in hand and to IH clean it up. IH Drill Master Busy. "Now, remember, gentlemen." said jH tho drill master-, "there's a Fritz in IH each one of these 'ere cubby holes and IH 'e's no dude, is Fritz. 'E's got ears all jH down his back. We taught 'em that trick, so see that your feet arc pneu-matic pneu-matic and for 'eaven's sake don't sneeze or his nibs wil sling you a j bomb like winking and there'll be a ' narsty mess. I "Ready, No. 1. 'Ead down, bayonet up. It's no use sticking out your neck H to try .to get a sight of Fritz in his i 'H i 'ole. ' Why if old Fritz was there 'e'd 1 JM just down your point and where'd you be? Why a blinkin' casualty, and don't you forget It. Ready again. Bayonet up. Now you see 'em. Quick, down with the point and at 'em. Tickle 'is gizzard. Not so bad, but I bet you wakened 'IsIbs in the next 'ole. You jH see when-yo'u pulled your bayonet out of his little 'Mary, you 'it the butt of your gun against the opposite side of the trench. That's fatal. Keep in your mind you're fighting for your life. Clean and quiet killin' is the word." It was good to see the earnest way In which these young Americans go down to their work. They are all j right, these lads, and when they get 5 their chance they will show it. I Good Progress In a Week. I "Good progress for a week, sir, ain't it?" asked the sergeant with prido be- foro he left. "They've come from a , fightin stock, these young gentlemen, ' nnd God help the Bodies when they JM get goin'." " ft Americans Serious and modest. -The last supreme impress the visit made, upon me was thai of tho im-menso im-menso seriousness and modesty of of-fleers of-fleers and men in tho face of their task. We heard In Franco, as you i doubtless have heard in England, that the Americans had confe over boasting thoy had como to finish a job too big for us. I have still to come across such an American. 1 am convinced that the tales aro a myth. The Americans had left their homes, 1 their business nnd their amusements and como somo 3000 miles what for not for. some silly boy bravado and bragado. They are not fools and tio Boches will back us whon they get to work. When all the gory fighting is over and done it will bo that the two Anglo-Saxon races will become sword and blood brothers lor all time. IH |