The French Officer.

Evening Post, Issue 70, 1 May 1865, Page 3

The French Officer.

-The French officer is ever on the move ; he is attached to nothing • no silken or Dfhw bimrl9 fetter him ; like a priest of the Catholic Church he stands aoove all civil and social ties ; he lives in a modest room near the barracks ; his library consists of bis regulations, his wardrobe of his uniform, and he has rarely a suit of mufti ; he has two shirts for change, and six are regarded as evidence of luxurious habits. He has no wife, or betrothed, merely a chere amie, who changes with the garrison. He receives marching orders ; in half-an-hour his small trunk is on the baggage-waggon, and he carries off with him parish, country, and relationship — friendship, love, and family. He whistles eheerfuliy, for all his cares are buried, all his liubts wiped out ; he will pay them if he returns as a captain or a colonel ; if he does not come back, he has a full discharge. Up to the colonel the pay is small, and why may not a man become a general, for are there not 526 generals in France ?—? — Military Sketches, by Sir C. F. Lascelles Wraxall, Bart. Tlie following from a Scotch paper shows to what a pi tali of perfection etiquette has attained in the North :— " A lady who was a strict observer of etiquette, unable to go to Church one Sunday, sent her card." Never use a gold snuff-box. Gold is not to be sneezed at. If a lady can't weep for her lost husband, she can at least wear watered iilka.