by Judi McWilliams
Chris Robins - Part Five
"Practice Continued"
The students were extremely intent on listening to Mr. Robins and learning. A few of the seasoned students, in their fourth year of re-enacting, hammed it up a bit. But, when it became time to be serious, they were! As they practiced, Chris tossed in a scenario about being in battle, saying that if you see people in different uniforms, we kill them! The kids laughed and cheered! Chris explains to the students that the chance of getting wounded and not killed were better while marching in close line. A very interesting part of the lesson was teaching them to walk “right oblique”. As he explained the process to the kids, it looked to me like a bunch of kids walking in a drunken disorderly way, putting a left foot down and swinging the right foot forward and off to the side! Chris was so funny, even the students laughed, when he said “you try this now, me, I’m getting the heck out of the way. We will be over here laughing … or we will be amazed.”! The students marched in the "oblique way" and we were amazed! No one tripped over anyone else. As Chris told them … “not too shabby at all!” I had a chance to ask Chris why the soldiers would march this way in battle. He said that it was a great way to get from here to there, at a 45 degree angle, while the soldier kept facing forward to the enemy. I guess, too, they are less likely to be hit, as they zig zag with no definite pattern. Our time in drill practice seemed to fly by, the school bell rang out again and Chris invited me back to his homeroom for a grade ten history class.
(To be continued)
No comments:
Post a Comment