St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1910-11-12

A clings stubornly to his boy
hoods dream of being soldier. Per-
haps you have pointed out to him that
he hasn't sufficient education to get
him into West Point. Perhaps he has
the education and you admit it, and
then try to discourage him by telling
him of the many difficulties that lie
before the young man who dreams of
gaining shoulder straps through the
Point. In either event, the boy, with
the dream in his mind, replies that
he'll join the army as a private, and
then, perhaps, you ''go up into the air"
at once at the mere thought of your
son being high private in the rear
ranks of Uncle Sans land fighting
force.
But why? Among all vocations
there is none that offers such certain
advancement and reward for honest
energy, and there is none that has
such slight requirements or prepare
ton in the beginning. All that the
war department will require of your
boy is that he must be between the
ages of 18 and IS years, of good char
acter and temperate habits, able bod
led, free from disease, and must be
able to speak, read and write the Eng
Nsh language" That is all; for the re-
auirements as to height, weight, etc.,
are sufficiently elastic to admit any
young man that is not abnormal In
these physical respects.
If there is no recruiting office In
your vicinity, letter, addressed to the
war department at Washington, D. c.,
will bring information about the near
est place at which your boy can apply
for entrance into the army. It is re-
quirement that applicants must pay
! their own expenses to the recruiting
Office; but after being enlisted every
necessary expense in the life OF the
soldier, including food, clothing, bed
ding, medicine and medical attendance
is borne by the government.
I It will be necessary for the cand1-
date to choose the branch OF the serv-
ice he desires to enter, whether IN
/ the infantry, cavalry, artillery, signal
corps, hospital corps, etc., but as the
infantry is the most numerous, and
/ conditions in all branches are general
" the same, for the purposes OF this
article it will be assumed that your
how takes to the infantry, with the In
tention to work up straight IN that
line.
Passing his physical and mental ex-
aminations before the recruiting OH
Ger, your boy, beginning his career as
2 nriyate, will first receive SIS month
in addition to his keep as outlined
His duties will be to police and clean
and take care of the barracks, squad
room. and grounds, keep his clothing
and equipment in order, and stano
guard duty. He must rise at 5:5o to
6 in the morning, according to season
and in Is minutes respond to roll call
then clean up his bunk before break
fast. The forenoon is devoted large
ly to calisthenics and other drills. Ther
comes dinner at noon, with more drill
in the afternoon, and parade for nall
an hour just before supper at six He
is generally free in the evenings
- must report for check rOl
call at II o'clock, unless he has
al saL ater The barracks
are fitted with library, pool and care
tables, ETC., for the use OF the men
Before he has been doing all these
things very long he will discover, O
course, that his company commando
conducts regularly school for IN
structton in the rudiments Of ordinar!
) land military education, and, though
Attendance at this school is compui
ory only for noncommissioned officers
bur boy, with his eye on advance
hent, will attend every meeting OF tn
lgschool. By so improving his oppcr
tunities, and studying at night on nj
own hook, an ordinarily bright private
may be promoted to corporal within
wear from his enlistment, and thi
; first of promotions will gain him al
increase in salary of six dollars
month.
AS corporal your boy will hold Al
important place in the army organize
ton. as he is the direct officer in CON
mand of seven privates, the eight be
ing known as "the SQUAD" which Is tn
basis of our entire military system. H
viii be relieved of the manual labor {
taking care of the barracks an
grounds, and in parades and compan
drills will always take his place a
1oodnr of his SQUAD. He posts and r,