The Republican journal., 1871-09-28
A Military Story.

some 1--WE years ago | was subalteln
III marching regiment, and quartered in
large garrison town in England. My
duties consisted Of the usual round of
morning and afternoon parades, visiting
the mems dinners and teas, and other
regular work. In addition to this we
had occasionally to mount guard, and to
pass twentyfour hours in Il sort of halt
imprisonment
1t is one of the regulations of the ser
vice that when the officers or men are on
guard they should always be in a state of
readiness TO ''fall i'm on parade at mo-
ment's notice. you feel sleepy and de-
sire rest, You must take it whilst you are
buttoned up to the throat, and strapped
down to the heels; lounge in an arm
chair, or probably a little horizontal re-
treatment upon q sofa, are the extent of
rest which an officer on guard is supposed
to indulge in.
Among my brother subalterns in garli-
son, it was our usual practice to infringe
upon this strict letter of the law; and
when the principal part Of our duty had
been accomplished we used to indulge
ourselves by divesting Cur limbs of then
almor and seeking retrcshment between
the sheets OF q little camp bed that wa,
placed in the inner guard-room
1t was part of the duties of an officer on
guard TO visit all the sentries during the
night, the time for visiting them being
usually an hour or 50 after the field off
GERS had visited the guard the field Off
Ger being colonel or major who was on
duty for the day, and who came once by
day and once by night to visit the guards.
and see that all 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 almost custom, tC
come once by day and once by night, SC
that after the last visit the subaltern u.s.
ually waited an hour or so, walked round
the limits OF his post, visited iall his sen.
tries, and then turned into bed.
1t was on a bitter cold morning in Jan
uary that my turn for guard came on. |
marched my men to their post, relieved
the old guard, and then having gone
through the regular duty and dined, en-.
dcavored to pass the time until the field
officer had visited me- The previous
evening | had been to ball in the town
and in consequence was very tired and
longing to the period when could re-
fresh myself by unrobing and enjoying a
good snooze.
At length ] heard the welcome chal
lenge: "Who comes there ?" which was
answered by the response; Grounds y
WHAT rounds?' seGrand rounds" and
Guard, turn out y was a signal which
willingly obeyed, for | knew that in about
one hour afterwards | should be in the
arms of the god of sleep.
Slipping on my cloak and cap, and
grasping my sword, placed myself in
front Of the guard, and received the field
officer, who briefly asked me it all was
correct, directed me to dismiss my guard,
and rode Off without Goodnight" pro-
ceeding that | thought rather formal.
Giving direction to the sergeant to call
me in an hour, for the purpose of visiting
the sentries, threw myself into nv arm,
chair, and tried to read a novel. The
time passed very quickly. as had nap
OF two, and the sergeant soon appeared
with lantern to conduct me round the
sentries.
1t was a terrible night, the wind was
blowing hard, whilst the snow and sleet
were driving along before it, The Their
mometer was several degrees below freez-
ing, and ! felt that | deserved much from
my country for performing so conscien-
tiously my arduous duties. The sentries
were very much scattered, and had to
walk nearly two miles to visit them all
L accomplished my task, however, and
returned to the guard-room, where l
treated myself to a stiff glass of grog,
and, throwing off my regimentals, jump
ed into bed, feeling that really deserved
the luxury.
In few moments | was fast asleep,
not even dreaming of any of my fair
partners of the ball, but sound asleep.
Suddenly became conscious of great