The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1874-05-08
WHY l EXCHANGED.

Some five years ago l was subaltern
IN marching regiment and quartered
in large garrison town in England.
My duties consisted of the usual round
of morning and afternoon parades, Wis
iting the mems dinners and teas, and
other regular work In addition TO this
we had occasionally to mount guard and
to pass twenty-four hours in a sort of
half imprisonment.
1t is one of the regulations of the serv-
ice that when officers or men are on
guard they should always be in state
OF readiness to " fall in on parade at a
moments notice. If you feel very
slvsi'y and desire rest you must take it
while you are buttoned up to the
throat and strapped down at the heels.
A lounge in an armchair, or proba-
blr n little horizontal refreshment
u,On sofa, is the extent of rest which
avn officer on guard is supposed to in
dulge in.
Among my brother subaiterns in gar
rison it was our usual practice to in
fringe upon the strict letter OF the law,
and when the principal part Of our duty
had been accomplished, we used to in
dulge ourselves by divesting our limbs
of their armor and seeking retrench-
Eueot between the sheets of a little camp
bed that was placed in the inner guard
room.
Ii was part of the duties of an officer
on guard to visit all the sentries during
the night, the time for Wis iting them
being usually an hour or so after the
field-officer had visited the guard the
field-officer being Colonel or Major who
I,,tx 10 hn wi
once by day and once by night to see
the guards and to see that all was as it
should be. There was no exact limit to
the number of times that the field Off
Ger might visit the guards but it was
the usual thing, and had become almost
q custom, for him to come once by day
and once by night, so that after the last
visit the subaltern usually waited an
hour or so, walked round the limits OF
his post, visited all his sentries, and
then turned into bed.
1t was bitter cold morning in Janu-
airy that my turn for guard came on.
marched my men to the post, relieved
the old quad, and then, having gone
through the regular duty and dlned
endeavored to pass the time until the
field-officer had visited me. The pre-
vious evening / had been at ball IL
town, and in consequence was very
tired and sleepy, and looked witt
considerable longing to the period
when / could refresh myself b.
unrobing and enjoying good snooze.
At length / heard the welcome chal
lenge, "Who comes there ?" which wa
answered by the response, Crane
rounds" and "Guard, turn out !
was signal which L willingly obeyed
for / knew that in an hour afterwart
! should be in the arms of the god o
sleep.
Slipping on my cloak and cap, an'
grasping my sword, placed myself il
front of the guard and received the field
officer, who briefly asked me if every
thing was correct, directed me to dis
miss my guard, and rode off withou
saying " Goodnight, a proceeding tina
/ thought very formal.
Giving directions to the Sergeant t
call me in an hour, ror the purpose O
visiting the sentries, 1 threw mysel
into my armchair and tried to read
novel. The time passed very quickly
as had nap or two, and the Sci
geant soon appeared with lantern I
conduct me round the sentries.
1t was n terrible night, the win