. Kitchener's army and the territorial forces, the full story of a great achievement ;. bly changed, and only at Aldershot, wherethe large gymnasium offered facilities notso much for the recruit as for future in-structors of gymnasia, was the old Armycourse maintained. The work or drill de-signed to improve the physique of thesoldier was carried out in the open air. The gymnasium work of a regiment islargely in the hands of the gymnasiumsergeant (crossed swords over his threestripes indicates his calling). There were ing public. Here were admirable ready-made substitutes for the usual parallel
. Kitchener's army and the territorial forces, the full story of a great achievement ;. bly changed, and only at Aldershot, wherethe large gymnasium offered facilities notso much for the recruit as for future in-structors of gymnasia, was the old Armycourse maintained. The work or drill de-signed to improve the physique of thesoldier was carried out in the open air. The gymnasium work of a regiment islargely in the hands of the gymnasiumsergeant (crossed swords over his threestripes indicates his calling). There were ing public. Here were admirable ready-made substitutes for the usual parallel bars !Here Kitcheners men became ,here they discovered what musculardevelopment entailed. A man with suffi-cient courage to walk up to the mouth of acannon would retire balifled and discouragedby reason of flabby muscles and stiff jointsbecause of inability to perform balancingfeats on a bar. He would flounder igno-miniously on mother earth like an over-turned fowl on the roadway; he would pickhimself up, try again, and probably landon the crown of his head, to the delight. RECRUnS AT lllEIK EARLY MORNING TOILET. hardly enough of these to goround the 390 odd new battalions whichcame into existence in the first months ofthe war. Something less grand, therefore, than thepalatial gymnasium at ?\ldershot had toserve, and something more ready-made thanthe expensive apparatus and contrivanceswith which that and other institutions arefurnished had to be found. And it wasquickly done. A visitor to Blackheath,drawing near to Greenwich Park inthose days, would witness a startling andentertaining spectacle. A new use hadbeen found for the bars which, in peacefultimes, protect the lawns from the encroach- G of the interested spectators. When he hadhad as much as the instructor felt was goodfor him for the time being, he would bemoved along elsewhere to undergo moregruelling. No apparatus this time; he was now- topractise bodily contortions. He was in-vited to bend forward
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Keywords: ., boo, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectgreatbritainarmy
