Well-Regulated Militia

For a short while, I worked at the Riley Farm as a living historian. This farm is owned by Jim Riley and is located in Oak Glen, which is in Yucaipa, CA. You can visit his website at http://www.rileysfarm.com/. There are many activities available at the farm from barbeques, to picking your own fruit in season, to historical reenactments, etc. For example, I took my parents to a fine Mother’s Day barbeque feast this past May, and I will be taking them again this month for a Father’s Day barbeque and activity.

As a living historian at the Riley Farm, I would dress up in a costume representing the mid-to-late 1700’s. I was then part of a Revolutionary War era program in which I had one of several stations where information was presented to school groups that come to the farm on field trips. For the Revolutionary War program, the school groups typically consist of fifth-graders who are learning about the Revolutionary War. There are also home school groups that come to the farm, as well as an occasional adult group. For example, we had a DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) group come one day. The DAR group participated in our daily Revolutionary War program, and then they had a luncheon specifically tailored to their group.

When the groups come to the farm for the Revolutionary War program, they are divided into what we call “Townships”. Each township is made up of no more than 35 students and has a name such as Lexington, Concord, or Norfolk. The townships also have their own flag, with someone selected from their group to be the flag-bearer; the flag is then carried with the township throughout the day.

As I mentioned, there are several stations where information is presented. As the townships rotate through the stations, they are lined up front-to-back so that each person is facing the back of the person in front of them (versus shoulder-to-shoulder). We also have the townships lined up in this formation whenever Jim Riley is presenting information to the entire group as a whole at the beginning of the day, the end of the day and at lunchtime.

There now. I believe the previous paragraphs should have enough pre-information for me to continue with this particular entry.

One of the stations that the kids rotate through is the “Well Regulated Militia”, in which the kids learn a few soldiering skills such as marching, turning commands, and musket handling. After teaching the turning commands: Left Face, Right Face and About Face, the instructors of the Well Regulated Militia often like to have fun with the flag-bearer. While the township is lined up front-to-back, with the flag-bearer in front of the line, the command is given to About Face. The students all remain in line and turn about, which puts the flag-bearer at the end of the line rather than at the front. This effectively labels the township as cowards, so the flag-bearer must quickly run to the front of the line. At this point, the instructor then repeatedly gives the same command to About Face, causing the flag-bearer to run back and forth up and down the line. If done corretly, this process is humorous and the flag-bearer does not become discouraged.

Jon Harmon is one of the redcoats during the Revolutionary War program and he will occasionally teach the Well Regulated Militia station. He learned a valuable lesson one day about which direction to have the township oriented when the command to About Face is repeatedly given. One of his townships was lined up north-south on the green (meaning the lawn) in front of the tavern while the About Face command was given. This particular green has a north-south slope, rising in elevation in a northerly direction away from the tavern.

So there’s Jon, standing authoritatively in his redcoat uniform and repeatedly giving the command to About Face. The students are standing in line, turning about, while the young female flag-bearer runs up and down the slope in an attempt to remain at the head of the line. At one point the students had been turned to face the tavern and so the flag-bearer had to run down the slope – but she tripped on the colonial dress she was wearing as a costume. Down to the ground she went head first, sliding down the slope on her belly with arms outstretched. If there had been a home-plate, she would have been safe; however in this particular moment she was just simply embarrassed. Jon was horrified!

The young flag-bearer sat up and smiled as she brushed herself off. The rest of the class laughed at the incident, but I’m told that the laughter was with their classmate and not at her. Jon immediately ran to the girl to see if she was alright and fortunately she was. Apparently the girl took it all in stride as a good sport would. When this township finished with the Well Regulated Militia training, their next rotation brought them to me and my Vice-Admiralty Court. I had no idea what had just happened to the flag-bearer of this township and was therefore clueless when Jon approached the girl during my presentation with a large cup of hot cocoa. All I knew was that on this cold, overcast and blustery day, the girl really appreciated the cocoa.

Getting a Haircut

Let me start this entry with a question: In the situation that follows, does a bystander get involved or do they just sit back quietly and observe?

I walked into a Great Clips hair cutting salon, in the town of La Mesa, with the intent of having a few of my hairs cut. I gave my name to the gal at the front desk and then took a seat, adding my mass to the silent assemblage that had already gathered to await their turns. In time, one of the stylists approached and called out the name of her next client. A man stood up and as he stood he commanded to a young boy, “Come”, whereupon a boy of about four years old stood to follow the man who appeared to be the boy’s father.

The stylist led the boy to a chair where he sat to have his haircut. While the stylist went to work, the father stood almost directly behind the boy watching her. As the cut progressed, the man critiqued the manner in which she worked. He spoke with an accent from the New York area and he had an abrupt attitude to go with it. The stylist politely informed the man that she understood the points he was making, and what he was referring to, but she was not finished with the cut yet. And then it happened…

The boy moved his head while the stylist was trimming his right side, causing her to cut more than she intended. She stylist tried to explain to the boy’s father that because the boy had moved his head, she was going to have to modify the style of cut in order to blend everything in. The man continued his badgering, and with all of this happening in the first chair next to the lobby, everyone waiting for their own cuts could hear the conversation. The stylist appeared to be keeping her nerve but in exasperation, she finally turned to the man and asked him if he were a barber. With this confrontation, the man turned to sit back down but as he did he told the stylist disgustedly that if he were a barber he wouldn’t be there in the salon.

Grrr…..

Sitting in my seat waiting for my cut, I looked over at the man who had returned to his seat and I asked him why he couldn’t let the stylist do her job. He told me that if I had any children I wouldn’t be making comments like I just did. I informed him that I had four children, which effectively shut that line of conversation down. He then asked, however, if this was any of my business. I told him that he was out of line, and that really opened him up with comments about how I shouldn’t be butting into other people’s business. He kept at this so at one point I told him, “Look, it’s over”, and he replied, “Just so you know that”, as if to inform me that it was over; yet he still went on and on and on.

When it was finally my turn to have my haircut, I had the fortune of sitting in the chair next to the rude man’s boy. The father remained in the lobby until his boy was done and then he approached to view his boy’s cut, but he didn’t say anything more to me. After the man had left the salon, the boy’s stylist touched my arm and quietly thanked me for sticking up for her. I had to laugh at the man’s stupidity.