Bid him beside, his daily pains employ
To form the tender manners of the boy,
And work him like a waxen babe with art,
To perfect symmetry in every part.
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Story-telling is a very favourite method of passing away spare time on
guard, or after the lights are extinguished in the evenings when we
retire to rest, and as these chapters proceed I shall from time to time
relate such as I can remember, always giving preference to those which I
fancy will be most interesting to my readers.
Meanwhile, I may be allowed to offer some details of the interior
economy of a regiment in barracks.
In reference to the regimental school for the instruction of the
children of non-commissioned officers and soldiers, I may state that
their object is to instil into the minds of the children the duties of
religion; to implant in them early habits of morality, obedience, and
industry; to give the boys that amount of instruction which--may qualify
them for non-commissioned officers, or enable them to become useful
members of civil society. It entirely rests with the children
themselves, when they arrive at a proper age, to adopt any line of life
to which they give the preference, but it is considered by the proper
authorities to be extremely essential that competent persons be selected
from the ranks or roll of non-commissioned officers for the duties of
schoolmasters and superintendents of the regimental schools. The boys
are all dressed in regimentals corresponding with the stable-dress of
the men, and very proud the little fellows are of it too, especially on
a Sunday, when they march to church in rear of the regiment and band.
The schools are conducted on military principles, and, as far as
circumstances permit, their establishment is assimilated to that of the
regiment, being formed, I believe, on a system recommended by a Rev
Dr Bell. In addition to their daily lessons in reading, writing, and
arithmetic, the boys are instructed in various ways of making themselves
useful, and of gaining a respectable subsistence when they grow to
maturity; the trades of armourers, tailors, saddlers, and boot and shoe
makers being the most popular with them, because of their being carried
on in barracks. The prevalent idea among civilians, that a soldier's
son, born in the regiment, _must_ be a soldier, or that he is claimed by
the Government when he arrives at the proper age, is entirely
fallacious: no such system is tolerated in the British army. The
education and care of a soldier's child is as much the object of the
sovereign's and the Government's solicitude, as the soldier himself.
The female children of the soldiers also equally partake of the benefits
of this system of education, whenever accommodation and other
circumstances permit, and a liberal allowance for eligible
schoolmistresses is granted by the Government. The girls are taught
reading, writing, arithmetic, plain needlework, and knitting, so that
they are not only useful to the regiment while at school, but qualified
to earn their own livelihood in after life.
In reference to the particular trades in which the children are to be
instructed, the wishes of the parents are, as far as possible, to be
consulted. Many of the boys born in the regiment become so attached to
their parents and other individuals serving in the corps, and, moreover,
so accustomed to military routine, that they seldom leave it to become
civilians. They chiefly enter the band, and many of them attain the
position of trumpeters, in which case they are, for the most part, as
well off as if they had chosen the life of a tradesman; for I am bound
to say that whatever position a man may hold in the army, and however
much he may dislike that position and yearn for his liberty, he is,
after he attains his freedom, either by purchase or desertion, more or
less unsettled by being separated from his comrades. Numbers who have
purchased their discharge, having a good home and livelihood in civil
life, enlist again, and remain soldiers for the full period of their
service.
I may here state, that whatever time a soldier has served prior to
purchasing his discharge, that time does not count in his favour on
second enlistment: he has still twenty-four years to serve in the
cavalry and twenty-one years in the infantry, from the date of his
second or any subsequent enlistment.
In reference to the bands of music in either cavalry or infantry, they
are supported out of the private purses of the commissioned officers.
Every officer on entering a regiment is required to contribute towards
the support of a band, twenty days' pay on appointment, and an annual
subscription, at the discretion of the commanding officer. In cases of
promotion, the officer has to give the difference between twenty days'
pay of the rank attained and of that previously held.
The bandsmen are all regularly enlisted and drilled, so as to be
effective as soldiers, and they are liable to serve in the ranks on any
emergency. They are generally attired in a more gaudy and expensive
uniform than the privates in the ranks. The number of a band depends
much upon the caprice of the commanding officer, and although the limit
is prescribed by Government to a sergeant as master, and fourteen
privates as musicians, yet the majority of regimental bands are composed
of a band-master, a band-sergeant, a band-corporal, and frequently
upwards of thirty privates as performers. The band invariably
accompanies the regiment to church. I remember an attempt being made by
the officiating minister of a church attended by the 16th Lancers, to
prevent that regiment from being accompanied by its band to Divine
worship, but Colonel Smyth, who had led the corps with great distinction
through the Sikh war, was inexorable. He said, "the band had many times
played his regiment in and out of battle, and so long as he remained its
commander, it should play him and his men to and from church." It is
only right, however, to observe that the minister did not object to it
in a religious point of view, only that the regiment having but recently
returned from India covered with honours, it attracted such a concourse
of people as to greatly impede the comfort of the regular _habitues_ of
his church, and it was suggested that the withdrawal of the band would,
to a great extent, check the assemblage of such vast crowds, that not
only choked up the thoroughfares and approaches to the church, but
filled the sacred edifice itself. The men and officers all attend
Divine service in full dress, with swords; and where they have to attend
a church out of barracks, a portion of the sitting accommodation is
especially set apart for their use. In some barracks, however, a
chaplain is appointed, who preaches a sermon in the riding-school, the
children of the soldiers being seated on forms carried from the schools,
the men and officers standing around them and the pulpit.
In almost every regiment there are a number of Roman Catholics, who are,
of course, free to attend their own place of worship, but the band at
all times accompanies the Protestants to the service of the Church of
England.