Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1876-03-17
The ConscriptiOn Lottery 10 France

The COnscripttOn Lottery 10 France
London NswS.l
1t is really no joke to be a young
Frenchman of twenty, and to set out on
q bleak winter morRing rejecting that
before the day is over the caprice OF a
lottery bex will have decided whether
one is to spend FIVE years in barrack
slavery. You cannot visit any canton
at CONSUMPTION time without lighting
upon many companies which show the
oppressive working of Continental mill
tary institutions. Here is q bright young
Parisirn artisan, who is we'll through his
apprenticeship, and a already earn
his even or eight francs q day at cabinet
making. The future dawns most brightly
before him, but if he is forced to become
g soldier his start in life will be baked,
for in Eve years his hand will have lost
its cunning. ~Journeymen jewellers,
wAtchmakers, csrvers, silk embroider-
ers. painters on ivory, china, glass or
precious metals--all craftsmen in short,
the excellency Of whose work depends
on the long, assiduous, and patient prae-
tice which gives delicacy Of touch, must
not be snatched away frem their occu-
pations, and sent to handle rifles, room
horses, and timber cannon When they
return to their craft, they are often un.
ft to exercise it; or if by dint Of a sec
ond apprenticeship they manage to re-
cover their old skill, they have generally
attained their thirtieth year before they
find their prospects as bright again as
they we're at twenty. and consequently
the tax which they have paid to their
country amounts to ten years earnings,
savings, and chances Of becoming rich
or winning renown. Look. again, ct the
young man who has the offer of an ex-
cellent situation which, il accepted at
once, will inevitably offer him a brilliant
career, perhaps lead him to wealth.
Perhaps his parents have been unable
to afford paying the ESQ to make a one
year volunteer of him; perhaps he him
self, by laundering on q technical ques-
ton, has just missed passing his volun-
teer's examination flor these exsmina-
tons are very chancey affairs, and
therefore he, too, knows that the ticket
which be draws from the box. may mean
quasi ruin.
There is, again, the young peasant,
who is tilling and managing his fathers
small fields THE father being i'll and bed
ridden), and who knows thai If he be
taken the fields will have to be sold, since
the family cannot 60 to the expense Of
hiring a lsborer; and last, but not least
in point Of intere1t, & .nds the young
man who is in love, and whose marriage
the co%nscription may delay Eve years
il his intended will remain faithful to him
during that time. 1t is pitiful 20 watch
the wistful faces of all these categories
Of lads as they approach the polished
mahogany box revolving between two
uprights. Behind the table sit a plead
OF fun%ctionaries in uniform-General,
Project, Mayor, Recruiting Captain, etc
and at either end Of the table, stationed
IS seutries, q mustsched gendarme with
cooked hat, yellow baldric and jack
boots. all these csllous on-lookers con-
form to the fashion Of gripping at the
scared conscripts and turning the whole
affair into 8 joke. 1t is the Project who
calls the roll Of N and the General
who emits such s~easonable pleasantries
as the following: Nov, then, my lad,
you're too fat, and little soldering will
give you q much simmer waist to tempt
the girls With "Heigh there, you, what
are you blubberiDg for2 Are you afraid
you'll find no soup ia the service2' etc.
Some Of the boys thus spostrophized
humble incantations taught them by viii
lage crones, and fervently embrace anu
lets. Others recite prayers, and others,
again, come up escorted by their sweet
hearts, who braveiy draw in their stead,
hoping to propitiste luck that way.