The Sun.
London, England, 1857-09-09 00:00:00

TRE MILITIA. AND Tflg LINE.

. The following letter has been addressed to a con-
temporary by "A Practical Recruiter" :—Sir,—
Will. you permit me through year columns to call
the attention of the authorities to a circumstance
which tends very materially to paralyse the efforts
of the recruiting parties dispersed throughout the
country—viz., the condition upon which men be-
longing to militia regiments are permitted to enlist
into the regular army ? Under existing regulations,
before a militiaman can be enlisted, it is necessary
that the sanction of the Secretary for War shall in
each case be obtained by his commanding officer, a
proce3s which usually occupies some three weeks;
added to which, if he has not be-_ln embodied, he is
compelled to pay the sum of 18s. 61. for his dis-
charge.'
I need not point out that this has practically the
effect of preventing the very class of men who are
not only the most eligible, but the most likely to
offer themselves, from joining the ranks of our army.
Common sense, surely, demands that every facility
should be-afforded the-:.e men to embrace a service
for which their previous career may be fairly pre-
sumed to have given them a taste, and in some mea-
sure to have qualified them. indeed, one would
have thought that an additional inducement in the
way of bounty ought to be hold out to them, instead
of their being obliged, in some cases, to forfeit
nearly one-half of the ordinary bounty, simply be-
cause they had during the late war served their
country.
It haS been decided that all the militia are not to
ho called out, because, as Lord Palmerston justly
remarks, it would be paying a heavy price to em-
bodythe militia of theUnited.Kingdom for 56 days
on the chance of obtaiainga few volunteers.

Let an order be issued ireeting a free discharge
to be at once granted to every militiaman desirous
to enlist on his being found "lit" for the service,
and offer a double bounty (41. instead of 21.) to such
men as have been embodied 12 months, and I have
no fear that a sufficient number of volunteers wiil
be obtained to meet the present emergency.

PIOUS G.A.A.IBLERS.--,On of the most amus7ng in
stances of external piety we rommber to have wit-
nessed was in a Madrid club, where every night,
towards . 12, o'clock, a rouge-et-noir table opens.
Occasionally it has happened that when the game
as at the 11)ttest, the table strewn with gold and
notes, eagerness to be real on the flushed counte-
nances that craned over the green cloth, there was
heard in the street without tho tinkle of
the bell that. a,nriouiLios the passage of the Host.
Instantly the game was 'suspended-, the gamblers
knelt upon their-chairs or on the floor, acid crossed
themselves and mumbled prayers while the conse-
crated wafer passed 9u its ‘77a37 to some dying
man's bedside. The sound of the bell and of the
steps of the prieSts grow faint Jr, and as it died away
the gamblers resumed their seats, again grasped
their gold, and stretched their necks, and once
more it was "Rouge yagne et la couleur."—Blaelz-
wood's Magazine fur Sept.
THE SIC& CURATE.- 44 Ah," said Mrs. Pettifer, " it's
a thousand pities his father and sister can't come and
live with him, if he isn't to marry. But I wish with all
my heart he could have taken to some nice woman as
would have made a comfortable home for him. I used
to think he might take to Etizs Pratt ; she's a good girl,
and very pretty; but I see no likelihood of it now."
" He'd need have somebody, yoling or old," cbserved
Aire. Linnet. " to see as ho wears a flannel wahcoat, an'
changes his stocking When he comes in. It's my opinion
ho's got that. cough wi' sitting i' wet shoes an' stocking,
an' that Mrs. Wagstatl's a poor addle-headed thing—she
doesn't half tek c:We on him." " Oh, mother," said Re-
becca, " she's a very pious woman. And I'm sure she
thinks it too great a privilege to have Mr. Tryan with
her not to do the best she can to make- him comfortable.
She can't help her rooms toeing shabby. " I've nothing
to say again' her piety,. My dear ; but I know very well
I shouldn't iiko her to cook my victual. When a man
comes in hungry an' tired pity won't feed him, [ reckon.
[lard carrots 'till lie heavy err his stomach, piety or no
P=iety. I called m one day when she was dishin' up Mr.
Tryan's dinner, an' I could see the potatoes was as wa-
tery as watery. It's right enough to be speritial —l'm
no enemy to that ; but I like my potatoes mealy. I
don't see as anybody 'all go to heaven the sooner for not
digestin' their dinner—providin' they don't die sooner,
as mayhap Mr. Tryan, will, poor dead man."—Biack-
good's Ilfrig=ine.