Morning journal and courier., 1881-04-25
The German Private Soldier.
His Training-Lessonsi in SeIf-Restrnfn fn
 -Punishments.
From the London News

-Pun1Shmenfss
 From the London News
 The soldiers education commences from the moment when he sets foot in barracks. As he is mere boy, and might feel cock-a- whoop about his uniform, he is not allowed to go and swagger about the town alone. Dur ing six weeks he remains in charge of getrei- te who acts as his monitor. The getreite is either corporal or an old soldier-that is one who has served at least two years and is known for his steadiness. Four recruits are put under him, and he is required to in- struct them in reg mental customs, etiquette. rules; to show them how the1r cots are to be made up, to point out and name the officers to then-in fact to do them all the friendly offices possible. When the days duties are over the gefreite generally takes his pupils out for a walk in the town, warns them of what places they must avoid, tells them where they may go, teaches them how to walk whom to salute, &c., and prevents them from squan- dering their money. His services given quite gratuitously. They are token of the confidence which his superiors place in him, and he must not accept so much as glass of beer in remuneration for them. All these provisions are most wise, and the necessity for them will be readily understood. Ger many is poor country, and 1t Is hard enough for persons of the lower classes to see their sons compelled to serve in tine army without their having to feel that these boys will learn extravagant and vicious habits in the regi- ment. On the contrary, German parents have the great comfort of knowing that their sons will learn nothing but what is good in the army. Anyone who has seen German soldiers walking about the street must have been struck with their invariably good con- duct, their gentleness, civility and sobriety. Such thing as drunken soldier is no more to be met with than drunken clergyman. Night crawling, riots in houses of il-fame, rutfianly impertinences to women-thlngs common enough in some armies-meet with no indulgence at all at the hands of German officers and sergeants. The French officer fancies he has no business to supervise the morals of his men; he would, indeed, be laughed at by his brother officers if he at tempted to do so, and improper intimacies with the other are regarded by him as the most venial of peccadilloes. The consequence is that in the streets round every French bar racks teem whole population of loose wo- men, who are the soldiers ruin, driving him to drink, extort money from his friends on false pretenses, break rules, and sometimes steal. There is nothing of this kind in con nection with German barracks. A German soldier who is known to have contracted blam- able intimacies is pulled up short by his ser geant before the mischief can go very far. If the lad is not to be cured of his folly very strong measures will be taken with him. and perhaps he will be sent off to garrison hun dreds of miles away. In sum, the object of
 
 their men in loco pGreaatis in order that when the soldier returns to his home his friends may be able to say that he has vastly improved in every respect. The veneration for theu ni- form is inculcated with such care that re- cruit becomes penetrated with 1t almost at once and dismissal from the army is account ed a mortal disgrace which leaves the delin- quent option but to go away from his country. Thieves, deserters, mutineers in- corrigible drunkards are sentenced to stiff terms of imprisonment, but are never per mitted to serve again when their terms of punishment have expired nor is any lad who has been sentenced to imprisonment by the civil courts before the age of F allowed to enter the army. The recruit who joins must have blameless record, besides being sound of wind and limb. As to this, it must be re- marked that the medical examination of in tended recruits takes place before the con- scription, not after it, as in France; and the doctors are very particular in passing none who, from physical infrmities, would be like ly to make poor soldiers. This may serve to explain why lads who have not gone into the army are held in somewhat undeserved con- | tempt. Although there are plenty who have escaped military service simply by drawing exemption numbers at the conscription, it is too readily taken for granted by the people that a man who has | not served must have done something wrong or have some blemish in his body: Young men of good education and social position never escape service, as they lnvarlablo volunteer at IT. In 1879 there was l not single soldier of superior education who had been enrolled in the service by consrcip- ! ton,