68
TilK BATTALION
deaf to the voices of their officers, till the captain happened
to seize the bugler and ordered him to sound “Assembly.”
At the first sound of the well known call, the soldiers, from
sheer force of habit, stopped, gathered and formed in line
ready for orders.
After breakfast comes “Guard Mounting,” followed im
mediately by “Sick Call,” the signal for all those who are
ill—or ill prepared on the day’s lessons—to repair to the
“gin-shop,” as the hospital is generally called.
Guard mounting over, the bugle sounds for the first pe
riod of recitation, the call known as “School.” which, ac
cording to a certain rather lazy First Classman of my ac
quaintance, who always says with great distinctness: “Get
your books out! Get your books out! Come and make a
zero, zero, zero! Come and make a zero, and fail to pass!”
This call is sounded at the beginning of each period of
fifty minutes during the morning, and also after dinner to
call the students to practice in the shops, barns, fields, or
drawing rooms. Practice lasts two hours and there is no
more welcome bugle call than the one that releases them
at four o’clock, hot and dirty, to rest for awhile before sup
per. “Drill,” which sounds before or after supper, accord
ing to the season of the year, is a spirited call, which is sup
posed to mean:
“Polished accoutrements, rifles and bayonets, cartridges,
belts and swords!
“These are the articles! Privates and officers use them
in capturing birds.” N
Instead of “Mess” the call to supper is “First Call,” be
cause the cadets must attend “Retreat” before marching to
supper. The call “Retreat,” sounded in the middle of that
ceremony, is a very beautiful call. It is said to have come
from the Saracens, and to have been first introduced into
Europe during the Crusades.
“Study Call” brings the boys again into barracks, and
they are supposed to keep their rooms till released by
“Tattoo,” a long and very pretty call. Cadets are free to
visit each other for fifteen minutes, when the bugle sends
them all to bed with “Taps,” as the lights go out all over the
campus.
“Fades the light, and afar
“Goeth day, cometh night, and a star
“Leadeth all, speedeth all, to their rest.”
E. H.