WORK IN THE ARMY.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 1930, 4 March 1885, Page 2

WORK IN THE ARMY.

We live in an age of work. Doctors tell us that we are overdoing it; that men in all professions and walks of life work as their ancestors'never did, and, in fact, work too hard, yet the place Beema to increase rather than diminish, Another marked feature in the work of the present day is its tendency—in this country at, any rate—to become intellectual rather than physical, Athletics, no doubt, hold as high a place asjever in popular favour, but athletics be it observed, are play, not work, When we gpeak pf wprk beopming intellectual (says the "Admirality and Hcrse Guards Gazette") we mean the work of the labouring classes. Little by little it is passing away, and even that which is left is daily changing its naturo find character; The trqfch js'|h.aj; h.ei'B jn England op real hard physical work is done and completed, Our roads and railways are made; our canals, docks, harbors, and piers are finished; we have spanned every ohannel and every river with bridges; we have drained our fens and marshes, and, we might almost add, have felled and cleared'all'our woods. Occasionally some large works, like the Manchester Ship Canal are proposed, but they are now quite exceptional, and in many eases owe tl)P!f yjjry existence to the unfortunate and growing neoessjty for jpyiding what was known ii|" reiJQi'wqrkß, 1 ' Evef such physic'lal labour ai is,' aii<}' always must be, necessary'for t|e' annual course of husbandry and agriculture lias completely changed its character. Steam engines and hand machines have supersedes} mere'manual labour,' arid the hand; ling and uinpgement' pj these dejnapd a certain amount of intelligence and' mental culture. A's ip'cjyallife,spin the army', whjch is' njerejy a''jefle? of civil Iffe". Here live see trje same increase in the amount of wgrk done, and'tqesame change pgsiijg yygr |))j nature of that worK Tlje notary man, {{kg tjiejjvjj; ian, work§ as hjs ancestors in the prpfessiqn never wqrked,*and the tqols where: with. l)e labours jjaye undergone fts great top, in "the intellectual the tpflls and appliances, qf the qivilian have, formerly the weapons of the soldier were of the rudest and clumsiest kind. No speoial training was requisite to enable him to use them; it was a matter of sheer physical strength and exertion. Brown Bess was heavy to cany ■ the task of. loading her was slow and tedious, and when at length fired, she was apt to leave her mark upon her friends in the shape of a violent recoil with fan. rrjqrg gqrtainjy than upon her foes,' Jn'fact, njj ijarad to know, whore'''tyo h'ullep yety; jt'was sufficient for the m'arkßmari that ho had got rid of his ammunition Bomehow. Having unco mastered his drill, the soldier had nothing else to learn aridnothing else to do, for tlio military life was indoed an idle life in those days. We have in.qre ian/qqje. jjeard. olej officers' §xp| a §trqng lippg that''pip: clay wqulq noWbe because, jf it were, the men Vpuld have literally nptlung t,q' keep them out of "lisshJQ.f. Bfli 1)9 fffit there was much force jn. tj|e myffti fie #si f)f #> regime on the British sqldier was to make him dull, heavy, and stupid tq tjjp )ast degree. Many of qur readers, will remember the sergeant who figured so conspicuously In 11m oppei tftmpus play, " Ours," Was over suoh a pictyro seen ? Stiff as a ramrod, hopelessly unintelligent, his only idea being, apparently, to stare straight to his front in a vacuous, semiidiotic manner; he was the laughingstock of the piece from first to last, It may be that the ploture was a little overdrawn then, but it is oerfcainthat it would be wholly inapplicable now. The rank and file of our army are no longer the children that they once were. They no longer require to be watohed and tended at every hour of the day. They are begirding tp cultivate tlw intellects )ikq the ciyiljan, aiid }(ke. hjm, tliey are beginning' to' handle new and wonderful too)s, each demanding a cortain amount of'education and Intelligence. His rifle alone requires more study than the whole range of his profession formerly did, and when we consider the numerous other subjects with which he has now to familiarise himself we almost wonder how lie finds time to learn them. Equally foot, greater—is the change that has'cnnje oyer the officer. His duty f» past. Ijine 'con'Bjplcii of tljo" monotonous drudgery of eternally tramping round the barracks to inquire whether there' were any Cflmplajnts, q'r fqr some equally impqrtant and, ujefi|l pppqae, Jfow foe has subjects for study enqugh and tq Bpare, and it may safely be said tljat the army is fully sharjng in tho intellectual development whjo]) in so marked a feature of modern ljfe, ,Wo are, as a nation, singularlyreaotionary,andithasoftenbeen urged against us that, when we do mount a fresh hobby, wo ride it to death, Here, again, the army follows tho bent of civil life. We heard the cry of "over pressure" arising from our Board schools, and now we hear it from Woolwich. Tomorrow it may be Sandhurst, and finally, it may some day be heard from Thomas* Atkins himself.

Thoro if a story told of a Scone man who went to London on some business, which being finished, he resolved on seeing some of the sights of the city. Among other places visited • was Westminster Abbey, whero was pointed out to him tho Stone of Destiny or Coronation Chair. After standing in deep meditation for about a minute, he : accosted an Englishman standing close by rather abruptly with—" Ye've nae richt tae that stane?" "Whatdo you mean sir?" replied the astonished Englishman, " I mean what I Bay, an' that s that ye've nae richt to that stane, becauso it was stolon frae my native toon!" thundered forth the Scot, " My dear sir, I cannot comprehend you," replied the still more astonished Englishman. "Weel Bir, if ye dinna ken, I'll tell ye. Ane o' your thievish, kings, Edward, took that stane awa' frao Scomi, an 1 ye've never had' as muckle honesty about ye as tae return it." The Scot then turned on his heel and walked off, leaving hia companion to solve the problem as best he could.