The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1898-12-16
ENGLISH ARMY LIFE.
HOW TOMMY ATKINS FARES IN THE
MATTER OF FOOD.

The orderly man clatters in at the
door with steaming can Of tea, from
which he rapidly fills the basins, the
milk and sugar having been already
added before the tea left the cookhouse
No allowance is made in barracks for
men of fastidIous tastes. If a man pre-
fers his tea unsweetened, he can go
elsewhere; the taste of the majority is
alone consulted. The tea having been
served out, the orderly man now pro-
ceeds to divide the bread into chunks
one for each man, and announces that
the 'textra" that morning is butter.
This announcement is a welcome one,
and the butter, being produced in it's
wrapper of blue canteen paper, is speed
lily divided into equal portions, one for
each member of the mess.
Should any comrade be go unfortunate
as to be languishing in the guardroom,
awaiting disposal by the commanding
officer, the orderly man has now to take
his allowance to him, the tea being
poured into tin canteen and the bread
and butter wrapped in paper and slowed
in haversack.
But it may be asked: "Surely we
have been told that soldiers enjoy more
variety than plain bread and butter at
their breakfasts. Have we not heard of
savory kippers, of porridge-yes. even
of eggs and bacon?"
True, such are the dishes encouraged
by generals and colonies who like to
earn reputation for looking after the
welfare of their men, but these fancy
relishes are not much encouraged by
Tommy Atkins, for the simple reason
that his funds will not allow of his re-
ceiving more than an infnitesimal por-
tion of tbs kipper or whatever may be
the favorite breakfast dainty of his
commanding ott1cer. All that the cor
poral in charge of the grocery book has
to spend daily is threepence per man in
mess or under 81 for a company with
the average strength of 60 men in mess
When it is realized that with this
money tea, salt, pepper, vegetables for
dinner, -four, if duff" is to ornament
the dinner table, and all the groceries
which the soldier needs to exc out the
rations of bread and meat already de-
scribed have to be provided, it will be
understood that the question of provid-
ing extras for breakfast and tea is
difficult one to solve, and that the cor.
poral naturally prefers something like
butter, which all appreciate, to some
other dainty which may not appeal to
the tastes of his constituency.
The question of permission to marry
is a burning one in the barrack room.
Only limited number of men are al
lowed to marry, the strength of the roll
varying with the establishment of the
corps. Sergeants are given permission
to marry as matter CT course, if there
is a vacancy in the establishment, but
no soldier is allowed to enter the blessed
state unless he has seven years service.
So in the savings bank and two go0G
conduct badges have heard it said
that there is such thing as borrowing
the e5 till the necessary permission has
been obtained, but there is no getting
over the other two conditions
The married quarters seem comforta-
BILE enough. What strikes us most is the
enormous number of babies and quite
young children who swarm round the
door of every quarter, occasional yells
leading to the hasty arrival of flushed
and heated looking matron to restore
order in summary fashion. The allow
ance of space does not strike one as par
ticularly liberal, soldiers with small
families being given only one room, with
the minutest possible scullery, the IA
theirs of larger families rejoicing in an
extra room. Sergeants, as rule, have
two rooms, but otherwise have no pull
over their comrades of lower rank.
The wives of the private soldiers add
largely to the scanty pay of their hus-
bands by doing washing for the men Of
their husbands company, and twice
blessed is the woman whose good man
belongs to company having few mar
ried soldiers. In this case she will be
able to get more to do than her less for
tunate sisters. Some of the women who
have reputation as washerwomen earn
plenty of money by washing for the Of
fcers of the regiment. The soldiers
wife seems to drift naturally into being
a washerwoman
A little conversation with the ladies
is a liberal education in esprit de corps;
each woman thoroughly identifies her
self with the regiment to which her hus-
band belongs, and even in these days of
short service it is not difficult to find
women whose fathers and grandfathers
have soldiered in bygone days under the
tattered colors now hanging in the sa-
cred precincts of the officers mess.
The ladies of the regiment, as rule,
take great interest in the welfare of
their humber sisters, frequently visit
ing them in their quarters and giving
more than their sympathy at one of
those crises which occur so frequently
in the married block and generally lead
ultimately to the object of their solicit
tude applying for extra accommodation
owing to an unauthorized addition to
the strength of the battalion. -" Social
Life In the British Army" by Brit
ish Officer, in Harper's Magazine.
Burton and Tobacco.
Tobacco, divine, rare, superexcellent
tobacco, which goes far beyond all the