New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1870-12-18
"A MILITARY STORY.

= marching regiment, and quartered in q
larQe garrison town in England. My duties
consisted Of the usual round Of morning and
afternoon parades, visiting the mems din
ners and teas, and other regular work. In
addition to this, we had occasionally to
mount guard, and to pass twenty-four hours
n sort of halfimprisonment.
h a one Of the regulations of the service
that when officers or men are on guard, they
should always be in state of readiness to
!" fall in - ON parade at q moments notice.
IF Won feel very sleepy, and desire rest, you
must take it while you are buttOned up to
to the throat, and strapped down at the
heels; : lounge in an armchair, or probably
: little horizontal reffeshment upon a sofa,
aso tho extent Of rest which an officer on
guard Is supposed to indulge in.
Among my brother-subalterns in garrison,
Il was our usual practice to infringe upon
this strict letter Of the law; and when the
principal part of my duty had been ac-
,cOmplished, we used to indulge ourselves
by dlvesting our limbs of their armOr, and
seeking reffcshment between the sheets of
q little campbell that was placed in the
inner guard room.
Il was part of the duties Of an officer on
guard to visit all the sentries during the
niekt, the time for visiting them being
usually an hour or 60 after the field-oficer
had visited the guard; the field officer be-
in9 colonel or major who was on duty for
thu day, and who came once by day and
sonoo .by night to visit the guards, and to see
thet an was as it should be. There was no
exact limit to the number Of times that the
field officer might visit the guards, but it
was the usual thing, and had become al
most custom, for him to come once by
Last visit the subaltern usually waited an
hour or 90, walked round the limits Of his
post, visited all his sentries, and then
turned into bed.
It was on hitter cold morning in Janu
sary that my turn for guard came on.
1 snarched my men to their post, relieved
sfh0 old kuard, and then having gone through
tho regular duty and dined, endeavOred to
pcs tho time until the field officer had Wis
He'd mo. The previous evening had been
1t shall ii the town, and in consequence
eonsidsrable longing to the period when 1
Nuld refresh myself by unrobing and en-
Toying good mO0xe.
9 At Iength heard the welcome challenge:
.ssWko comes there n which was answered
~ the response: Rounds r. sWhat rOunds9''
<s{2rand rOunds!v and "Guard, turn out r.
Wa : signal which I willingly obeycd, for
knew that in about one hour afterward l
should be in the arms Of the god Of sleep
04xVUkWX V4 NY C1UtaA 084 C0He 00O kA0oP-
ing mysword, Eplaccd myself in front Of
"a guard, and feceived the field officer,
Who briefly asked me il all was correct,
directed me TO dismiss my guard, and rode
0& without saying good night"-a pro
ceeding that thought rather formal. Civ
ing directions to the sergeant to call me in
IN hour, for the purpose of visiting the SEN
tries, threw myself into my armchair and
tried to read novel. The time passed very
quickly, as had nap Or two, and the ser
goant soon appeared with . lantern to con-
duct me round the sentries
It was q terrible night, the wind blowing
hard, while the snow and sleet were driving
along before it. The thermometer was sew
eral degrees below freezing, and felt that
1 deserved much from my country for per
forming 80 conscientiOusly my arduOus
duties. The antries were very much scat
tered, and / had to walk nearly two miles
to visit them ALL accomplished my task,
however, and returned to the guard-rOOm
.grog, and throwing off my regimentals
jumped into bed, feeling that / really de-
aerved the luxury.
In . few minutes l was fast asleep. moi
even dreaming of any of my fair partners
of the ball, but sound asleep. Suddenly !
became conscious of great noise, which
sounded like drum being beaten At first
did not realize my position, and could moi
remember where was, but at last it flashed
across me that was on guard. and thai
something was the matter. Jumping out O
bed, called to know who was there.
The sergeant answered in o great hurry
saying: aSir, the field officer Of the day i.
coming, and the guard is turning out"
rushed to my boots, pulled them on owe
my unst0ckinged feet thrust my sword-arn
into my regimental cloak, which pulle'