Guarding

“ I was once upon this guard, it was in the spring, after the snow had gone off the ground; myself and another young man took for our tour of duty to patrol upon a certain road during the night. About midnight or a little after, our guard being then at the farmer's house, which was the farthest back from the water's side of any of the houses we occupied; this distance caused some of our sentinels to be three miles from the guard. We patroled from the guard to the farthest sentries which, were two, (or in military phrase, a double sentinel,) who were standing upon a bridge. ”

“ When we hurried home, and took the general to task for making us face the solemn orderly, he only replied by asking if we had intended to stay forever, pointing to his open watch, and speaking of the terrors of solitary confinement!
It was the custom at guard mount every morning to select the cleanest, most soldierly-looking man for duty as orderly for the post-commander. ”

“ As for myself, on the next day, I ordered two of the guards of my body, whom I esteemed the most courageous and most faithful, to hide daggers under their garments, and to go along with me, that we might defend ourselves, if any attack should be made upon us by our enemies. ”

“ In all that crowd there was not a man or a woman who had not seen or heard of him, for the power of the guard that was at his back had radiated through that wild region like ripples of water from a dropped stone and, unarmed even, he had a personal power that belonged to no other man in all those hills, though armed to the teeth. ”

“ Remember that you are not now a sentry at the gate of a home-barrack, which no one thinks of attacking, but that you are an advanced vidette, on whose vigilance and acuteness depend the safety of the picket, the honour of the army, and hence, perhaps, of the nation itself. ”

“ The guards of whom I have written are of this type; they are men who have been in the guard for years, and are standing by it because they are full of grit and courage.
The men whom the service needs are to be had. ”

“ The authorities in their wisdom have established a guard—the off-duty members of which select the most inviting spots amidst the ruins whereon to slumber and dream; and as you pause in thought at the Propylæa, or strive to erect in imagination the Parthenon or Erechtheum, as they once were, you are startled out of your very self by a series of apoplectic snores gobbled in on one inhalation and sent forth again on a prolonged whistling hist. ”

“ Some times the whole detail for guard—first, second and third relief—would make it a point of honor to sit up the entire night, and watch and listen as though the enemy might pounce on them at any moment, and hurry them off to prison. ”

“ I happened to be Corporal of the Guard the other evening—a delightful position. For the first time I had a little authority. True I sometimes give the man next to me a prod in the wind and whisper, "Form fours, idiot," but it is an unofficial prod, designed to save him from the official fury. Now for the first time I was in power, with the whole strength of military law behind me. So of course I got busy. As soon as the first guard had been set, and the rest of them, with their distinguished corporal and commonplace sergeant, were in the guard tent, I let meself go. ”

“ They make a fellow do guard duty on a frosty night, to catch guard-runners, and then some one kicks when he does it. No, I'm in earnest, and if some of the other fellows who do sentry-go would be the same, they'd stop this. I don't care enough about war tactics to be a sentry, but as long as I am here no one can run the guard on me. ”

“ Here the man begins to talk in so wild a strain, and to make so many demands of his imaginary enemy, that they called a passing guardsman, who, seeing his strange condition, replaced his hat, and assisted them in getting him to a place of safety for the night, when sleep and time would restore him to a sound state of mind. ”

“ It is the common lot from which no one can escape. Now place yourself ‘On guard’; the words explain themselves:—to be on guard, to protect yourself, that is to say to hold yourself equally ready for attack or defence. ”

“ When the king goes to war, I understand that every man capable of bearing arms must [150] follow his chief; for which purpose they are all trained from their youth to the use of arms. I saw nothing like a regular armed force, except a guard of about fifty men, who constantly did duty at the king’s residence. There were about twenty of them on guard daily, but the only sentry which they posted was at the powder magazine. ”

“ On occasion, when the guards are cruel and vindictive or when the command has come down from above, in order to ensure the severity of the lacing the guards press with their feet into the man's back as they draw the lacing tight. ”

“ We stand on guard for thee!
Ruler Supreme, Who hearest humble prayer,
Hold our dominion in Thy loving care.
Help us to find, O God, in Thee,
A lasting, rich reward,
As waiting for the Better Day
We ever stand on guard. ”

“ I here allude to the royal signature, 'Nasr-ed-Din, Shah, Kajar.' These superior guardsmen have all the rank of gentleman, and may be called the mounted 'gentlemen at arms' of the guard. They have the customary right of appointment to Court and palace posts, such as door-keeper, usher, messenger, etc. Their service is for life, and is hereditary, a son succeeding his father, and taking his place in the guard when promotion, age, illness, or death creates a vacancy. ”

“ As guardsman, volunteer, magistrate, lord-lieutenant, member—for the sake of his name and his acres—of various important commissions, as military attaché even, for a short space, to an important embassy, he had acquired, by mere living, that for which his intellectual betters had often envied him—a certain shrewdness, a certain instinct, as to both men and affairs, which were often of more service to him than finer brains to other persons. ”

“ Vigilance, readiness and promptness must be our watchwords. Might I ask you to remember my family motto, 'He who guards never sleeps.' Even to-morrow may bring surprises—such stormy weather as we are having seems strangely suitable for covering an attack. ”

“ Our guard is relieved, the service of the day is over, and the hour come to rest. We resign into thy hands our sleeping bodies, our cold hearths, and open doors. Give us to awake with smiles, give us to labour smiling. ”

“ These places are guarded in the day by women, in the night by men. And lest the guard should become weary of watching, and in case of a surprise, they change them every three hours, as is the custom with our soldiers. At sunset, when the drum and symphonia sound, the armed guards are distributed. Cavalry and infantry make use of hunting as the symbol of war and practise games and hold festivities in the plains. ”

“ Never off his guard, he knew when and where to strike, and when to reserve the blow that opportunity only served to encourage; for it is hard for the brave in battle to retain the gauntlet of defiance, and so armed, "out of the nettle danger pluck the flower safety." ”

“ Who holds man's spirit in his own high keeping,
And now supports my soul, and will support it,
Till my appointed task is done. In secret
The hearts by Jesus taught were bid to pray,
And, if it be permitted, so will I.
(To the Guards, who advance as he speaks to them.)
My guards, and, some time past, my fellow-soldiers,
Let me remain alone a little while,
And fear not my escape. If ye distrust me,
Watch well the door, and bind my hands with chains.
FIRST OFFICER.
Yes, brave Cordenius, to another chamber
Thou may'st retire, and we will watch without. ”

“ It would oblige us to keep a Guard Duty at least as Severe as when we expected a daily Invasion: And if that was the Case, how miserable would it be to us, and our Wives and Families, to have one Enemy without, and a more dangerous one in our Bosoms! ”

“ Guard duty is one of the soldier's most important duties, and in all armies of the world the manner in which it is performed is an index to the discipline of the command and the manner in which other duties are performed. ”

“ Military, on duty, abound at the doors and in the passage-ways. The men to-night are of the regiment of Guards, dressed in white. There are enough of them to put down a small insurrection, on the spot. ”

“ The ALL-WISE CREATOR then, in supplying you with the sense of taste, has been pleased to appoint a guard at the door of your earthly tabernacle—the body, to watch what would gain admission there, by examining minutely whether it be a friend or a foe, and by receiving' or rejecting it accordingly,—since without this guard you would be exposed continually to the incursion of the most mischievous and deadly intruders. ”

“ When thus considered, we see that it consists of an extremely small advance guard in front, formed of persons with a limited freedom of moral action and able to act as patrols in various directions, of a larger body in the rear, in ancient military language called the blackguard and not without its uses, and in the main of a great compact majority with which we must always be chiefly concerned since they really are the army; they are the community. ”

“ They often triumph by the very excess of the precautions taken against them. Thus, my dear young lady, and you, brave and worthy soldier, in the name of all that is dear to you, be on your guard, and do not lightly impart your confidence. Be on your guard, for you have nearly fallen the victims of those people. ”

“ Simply because there stands as a guard a file of United States soldiers—not themselves sufficient in numbers to be formidable, but representing the National Government, and to touch them is to touch it. ”

“ Guard of Honor, Fatigue Guard, and the General’s Guard. That was called a guard of honor in which the officers and men were most exposed to danger; for the quintessence of military honor is to be often in peril, and either to fall courageously in the discharge of duty, or to return from the field after having exhibited proofs of valor, prudence and perseverance. A fatigue guard belonging to a garrison or to a camp. A general’s guard was mounted before the door or gate of the house in which the commanding officer resided. ”

“ Put out the guards yourselves, and lie down to sleep only after you have placed the guards all around the army, and rise early. Do not take off your armour in haste, without examination, for man perishes suddenly through his negligence. ”

“ Guard, on the other hand, against that spirit of continual fretting and moping over fancied ills; that temptation to exaggerate the real or supposed disadvantages of our condition, magnifying the trifling inconveniences of every-day life into enormous evils. ”

“ Particularly I remember one bronzed guardsman, a handsome, well-set-up fellow, who went a little out of the line to make room betwixt himself and his khakied neighbour for a fatherly, grey-bearded civilian who had shouldered the guardsman's rifle so as to leave him free to carry his little girl, a child of two, whilst his wife, with a tremulous smile about her lips, kept pace with him, linked to his arm. ”

“ Our picturesque protectors pause every now and then, peering anxiously toward the south, suspicious of every dot on the horizon, of every patch that seems to move in the distance upon that sea of heat-waves that rolls above the plain. Most of our guards are young men under twenty-five, one only is older. ”

“ The ordinary guards are distinguished into grand guards, standard, and quarter guards; rear guards, picket guards, and guards for the general officers; train of artillery, bread waggons, pay-master general, quarter-master general, majors of brigade, judge advocate, and provost marshal.
The number and strength of the grand guards and out-posts, whether of cavalry or infantry, depend on the situation of the camp, nature of the country, and the position of the enemy. The strength of general officers guards is limited. ”

“ the guard sang out, as loud as he could roar. ”

“ You take the sense of the army from the conduct of the guards, with the same justice with which you collect the sense of the people from the representation of the Ministry. Your marching regiments, Sir, will not make the guards their example either as soldiers or subjects. ”

“ That the extraordinary guards and military forces now attending your Majesty, may be removed and discharged; and that for the future you will raise no such guards or extraordinary forces, but according to the law, in case of actual rebellion or invasion. ”

“ By Guard, is meant such a Situation of all the Parts of the Body as enables them to give their mutual Assistance to defend or attack. A Guard cannot be perfect without a good and graceful Disposition, proceeding from a natural Proportion of the Parts of the Body, and an easy and vigorous Motion, which is to be acquired by Practice, and the Instruction of a good Master. ”

“ For guards composed of foreign soldiers, and who speak languages which differ from theirs, are set over them, so that no one is able by association or any kindly intercourse to corrupt any one of the warders. ”

“ And the guard was officered by women who were philosophers, and who cared for nothing in this world beyond that which is strictly scientific and matter of fact, so that they were above all the temptations of this world. ”

“ As soon as the enemy approaches, the whole body must be halted, and the proper dispositions be made for battle. The guard that is entrusted with the care of the prisoners, must instantly strip them of their swords, bayonets, and of every offensive weapon, (supposing them to have had permission to wear them) and must order them to sit down, threatening to shoot or cut down the first man that should presume to stir. ”

“ A nightly guard surrounds and protects their place of residence, while the house of the King is cynically left without the pickets. Secure from interference, one utters the voice of the law, the other moves the hands of authority ”

“ The men slept on their arms, the guards were strengthened, and nothing was neglected that could prevent surprise. Every officer and private knew just what to do, in the event of an attack, and it maybe doubted whether there was a soldier in the army who did not feel sure such an attack would soon be made. ”