The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-10-09
ENGLISH SOLDIERS room.
Tommy Atkins Takes Whatever
Comes and Thrives.

London Mail.
vegetarians-vide their recent conference
claim that their diet is best for the SOL
They point to the toilsome marches by
the Niles swollen flood and the browning
victory of Orndurman. The British soldier
they say, ate little or no meat Look at his
logic sounds good, but the argument is
faulty. RObertS'S great march tkabul to
Kandahar) was done mostly on biscuit and
bad water. But this is not diet to be recon-
mended for its staying powers
Ond HfghlanderS, does sentry-go now in
commissionaire's uniform. at the bidding OF
the Bond streets-where the old meets the
new. Smart the name. smart the man He
wears four medals but seldom seen on one
breast-the Afghan, with many clasps, and
the Egyptian. and the two stars. Khanda-
har and the Khedive'S.
when a soldier is on active service, the
sergeant told Daily Mail representative.
who ventured TO discuss with him the ques-
ton of a vegetarian diet for Tommy, he
gets that fit that il doesn't matter much
what he does eat. And he doesn't care. He's
hungry and he takes whatever comes.
From the time we left Kabul till we
reached Khandahar we lived mostly on bis
cult; once or twice we had bully beef-that's
beef in tins. and there were Two nalts OF
day when the army bakers set up their ov-
ems and baked bread. We didn't feel the
We marched and we marched, and we were
happy We were all so well.
Water we drank. 1t was bad-very bad
sometimes. You don't drink ~ put Just
your thirst by swallowing water: you
would be as bloated as dead camel. And
still you'd be thirsty. At the end of the day
looked forward to that rum. 1t wasn't
much more than a .thmbleful, but 1t was
a treat and it did freshen man up bit
at the end of a long days march.
Ion battle days we wouldn't perhaps
touch a bite of food all day. At Peiwar
Kotal we started off long before ii was
light we climbed those steep. hills up
among the trees, and after the fighting was
over bivouacked on the top of the pass.
didn't eat anything all that day There were
rations in my haversack but never
thought of them Nor did seem to feel the
want of any grub. You are in such train
ing that you can go for hours without food.
1.-THE soldier really doesn't mind much
what he gets to eat when he's on active
service. Pea soup in tins is good stuff Fruit
which is not often. are fine diet. So is beef,
mutton and chicken. The fighting man Is
not particular about his food Nor has he
any craving for beer and spirits. But he
likes tot of rum when it's time to turn in.
It's just a treat"
Higher up Bond street stands a stalwart
gunner, also in COMMISSIONERS uniform.
He has the Afghan medal and the Hazara
medal Sergeant Major Rowse was for nine
years a sergeant major in a mountain bat
terry in India. He bore out all that Sergeant
Smart had said.
Sergeant Major Rowes said he would have
liked more vegeta bles than he got. Cabbages
ana green peas uOH DlOOfn Oh the OOTuer
hills. It's stiff work climbing them. In
places it is much like going up the dome
of st. PauPs on the outside. He has marched
with his battery from Quota TO Rawal
Pindi. seven hundred miles the crow
flies, over the toughest country in the world.
And he took his rations as they came and
didn't stop to analyze what they were
made of. Spirits he never touched in India.
He preferred water Tea, coffee, and cocoa
he of course drank when he could get them.
1t is absurd to argue the value of any
diet for soldiers on campaign. With them
it is the survival of the fittest. But the fit
test are fit. If only the water is good there
is no healthier occupation that marching
and lighting battles, bar bullets and bayo-
nets, swords and shell.