Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 42, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 February 1912 — Customs From Crusade Days. [ARTICLE]

Customs From Crusade Days.

The army has many survivals besides the “flash.” When an officer draws his sword or returns it to the scabbard he always brings the crossbar .of the hilt io a level with his lips. The custom is a reminder from the time when the hilt represented the cross and the owner of a sword kissed it as a Crusader. The sergeants of one regiment wear their sashes on the same shoulder that their officers did, because they brought the remnant of it out of action, all the officers being killed. Nowadays officers wear the sash round the waist Rifle officers do not “hook up" their swords, for the reason that they were once cavalry. That omnipotent person, the battalion sergeant major, lets his sWord rest in the scabbard. An old catch question was: “When does the sergeant major draw his" sword?” The answer is: “At the trooping of the color.”—London Chronicle.