The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1899-02-23

There is q subdue,i AIR about these Eeyp'
1heir faces a. not iniIesss sny burning
desire for, military slory. Yet, though
they len their homes, there IL . striking
contrast between them and the the group
IN the long blue galsbsahs Of the psasant,
formed up on their right ripts Of
youths In uniform hold their sheAds Up,
thrust their chests forward, and generally
vomporr themselves ~ recrntts whotsre
beginning TO grow accustomed 70 their
drill; their brethren In gsIbenhs look like
martyrs about - BE- pot to:death to the
word o(.rommand they shuttle on, with
dow ncas6 Eyes and rueful face to another
part OF the square, and dolefuiiy watch
tho movements Of their uniformed kins-
men. To tbs Hard lipesi" OF synpa-
thetic onlooker comes the quick retort.
"a Jolly sight harder lines u would have
cousins and their sunts, IL Grenfell hadn't
hel ped their fathers to interview Mad Fl
Mejumi that morning at Toski. Finest
thing In the world for them to be able to
take their own part"
And as the memory goes back to the
desperate and mad sttempt OF the mandPs
bravest emir TO force his way into Egypt
I'D m lifted that but for the spirited defense
OF the frontier ty Greenfell with bis AD.
glo .Egy ptian force, II might have gone III
with the mild.eyed eliahin. As Col.
winaats truly says. Msjumi had annihi.
lated Hicks and his army and captured
Khar toum. Why should he fear to ad-
vance into Egypt and to fight against
Egyptian troops whom be had learned TO
regard with CONTENT? Yet, though the
gallant emir harangued his fanatical
followers Oh the eve Of the fight. offering
paradise 10 those who feel In the holy
cause, and rOusing sthe widest enthusi.
and discipline created BY British officers
enabled the Egyptians not merely to
face the deryishes. bat to rush positions
hid by the ODcs-dreaded enemy,
The "Gippy" recruit, doleful though
he be in the early days Of his military
career, soon becomes reconoiled to his lot
Look st the IN en- who are running out as
markers for the conscripts TO form up on
sturdy well-fed, chesrful fellows;
soldering certainly seems to agree with
them, but when they first put oil the gala
bean and put on the uniform. they we're,
no doubt, as doleful as any Of the recruits
who are being mustered today.
Though the fellah, unlike the Sudani,
is not a born fighter. he soon develops an
interest In his work. Recruitsj not con-
tented with their instructions on parade
will drill each other In the barrack room
for hsnrs at time. IL Is rare for
"Gippy" to desert after the first few
weeks of service and when his term has
to his martial career II been at Omdur-
man with battery artillery; he ped to
smash mahdi's tomb, was the informa-
ton proudly impaired to me the other day
by one of the hotel servants. and whatever
the Egyptian army may have done besides
ae asw,1. - s.f 30
ening up fair proportion OF the male
p opulation o. Egpys.
The recruits formed up In the barrack
square are stalwnrt fellows. They average
ahout five feetleight inches n.height, and
after a couple of months drill their OVID
mothers Will scarcely know them. so
marvellous will he the transformation In
their appearance A colloquy takes place
between the staff and his subordinate.
the word IL given for the men to face In
ward, and in n lot d and sonornas voice
the subsltern proceeds TO address the con
scripts In their native tongue. Never had
orator more attentive audience; his
words are eagerly drunk in by he parade,
ard this is the substance of what be
says:-
"Oh, men. you are now soldiers; so do
your duty as soldiers ] warn you that
you refrain from attempting to desert,
for II you. do you will assuredly be taken
and then the prison VIII be your LOT But
II you are content to do your duty you
will be well clothed, well fed and paid
with money, and you will be entitled to
furlough every year so thatiyou may visit
your friends. Besides, there will be PRO
motion for those who deserve it-you may
become lance corporal, corporal sergeant,
and even rise to the rank Of commissioned
officer. Remember these words and he
faithful to your country and your
khedlve
Thls:oratiou at an end, the business of
the parade is done. Tomorrow the re-
cruits will start for the Soudan, and with
a parting injunction to his subordate not
to entrain the men at an unnecessarily
early hour, es the omorniDgs are chilly,
the staff officer takes his leave.
There was IA time when the fellah went
whooping into action. but that day has
gone forever. 1he crude methods of re-
oruiting that obtained before the british
occupation are also done with, and the
Egyptian receives at the hands of the
Christian consideration that was never
shown to him by men OF his own creed.
When burton, disguised as pilgrim,
passed through Cairo on his way to Mecca
there were Iumors OF coming war. and
the government armories and arsenals
were crowded with kidnapped workmen
while. wherever men gathered together,
either in the cafes or In the mosqu.s, the
police swooped down and captured the
able. bodied among them. These proceed
ings filled the streets with "detachments
of squalid looking wretches marching to
bs made soldiers, with collars round their
necks and irons on their wrists. -
The present lot of the fellah soldier is
az paradise compared with that OF his
predecessors, when they were dragged OH,
by command of their rulers. to the wars.
to be.slauahtered like sheep or discharged
hungry and penniless when incapacitatsd
by sickness or wounds. ii was not until
the days of sir Evelyn Wood, by the way,
that any one thought Of offering leave TO
the rank and file. The suggestion was
ridiculed by superior rsons. who pre-
dicted that once among. their people THE
men would never return sir Evelyn
brushed aside the objections, gave some
1000 soldiers ..return tickets 10 their native
villages, anu on the day appointed every
man of them was back AT his post.
The Egg ptian army at Omdurman
uum bered con siderAbly less than 20, 600
men, including the soudanese battalions.
so that compared with the days when
Mehemet A II thought of Genroliing $1,000