Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-09-06
TOMMY ATKINS.
Some Of the Peculiarities of the Men
Who Accept the Queens shilling.

From the New York Star.
The typical Tommy Atkins" 10 the lower.
class Englishman turned soldier The princi-
pal recruiting ground for him Is in the MANN
featuring towns OF the midland ana northern
counties Of England There is in such places
always pressure Of unemployed population.
which tends to force into the army q mass Of
youths, who take to ID 90 20 Q refuge. OF
course the alleged pleasures OF military life
and the desire Of seeing the world act to some
extent as an inducement OF course the az
rieuitural laborer class supplies . certain num-
Der OF recruits, with now and then q broken
down man Of better social position and
sprinkling OF youths OF good origin. who. par.
ticularly since the purchase system was sbol-
ished, pluckily undertake TO win their commits
sions by way OF the ranks. But. as q rule the
recruit Is a representative Of the English peas
ant class, or rather of the peasant deteriorsted
by couple OF generations of life a mill opera
tive. he Is a somewhat undersized, narrow
chested, haxen-haired lad with q fully de-
yeloped appetite for beer and tobacco. an edu-
cation that rarely extends beyond reading and
writing, and deeply rooted and truly insular
prejudice against any and every one who is not
OF his own race and language. Among his own
companions his speech is habitually pro-
Zane and otherwise unrecordable.
In spite of the efforts of the authorities to
raise the physical standard of the English
armys recruits, there has been a marked and
steady falling off both in the size and age Of
the lads who accept the queens shilling. In
fact 1t has been found necessary TO reduce the
minimum height of recruits several times since
the Crmean war. The age limit remains un-
changed at from eighteen TO twenty five wears
But year by year the average age of recruits
becomes lower. In fact the mass of them are
little, if anything. over the minimum age limi-
tatlon. SO, too. with the requisite chest meas
urement, now fixed at "a inches.
Such is Tommy Atkins in the rough. Morally
and physically he is a rather unpromising sub
ject. But. on the whole, more ~ made Of him
than could be expected. In the first place he is
well but not extravagantly fed, he is fairly
lodged and rs obliged to submit TO certain
regulations in regard TO personal clean iness
which, though novel TO him. are decidedly for
his good Then, too, he leads an open-sir life
and in addition to the exercise afforded by
his strictly military duties is encouraged
In all ways to fill in his leisure hours
with various athletic sports Every regiment
has its schoolmaster. and the ''Tommies" who
so desire may suppl the deficiencies OF their
early education. But unless his heart is set on
becoming non-commissionedo officer Tommy
rarely avails himself of this privilege. Never
theless at the end of a couple of years, particu-
larry IL his regiment has been sent out to some
OF the colonies or to India. the Quondam re-
cTuit, provided he has not deserted in the in
terval, becomes a different man. He has filed
out on the rough and hearty army fare and reg
ular hours and drill and cricket have hardened
his muscles and expanded his chest His faculties
have become sharper, he has acquired any
number of tricks and ruses for the purpose of
deceiying and otherwise annoying his nom
commissioned officers. He grumbles at every
thing and everybody with truly British dis
satisfaction and he has nothing but ill words
for his officers. Yet the most promising thing
about him is that, despite his own asseverations
TO the contrary, he possesses to a full degree
the ingrained English reverence for those in
a social station above him. Provided his COM
pany and regimental officers answer to his def
milton Of gentleman, he would follow them
anywhere. Consequently, though he may
grumble, he makes a smart and bidable SOL
der, while the bulldog in his composition has
been sufficiently aroused TO make him the eff
Gent man-atarms described by his French
admirer.