when, a second time, the drum beat for the
"Assembly." He then scurried out to the
parade, and took his appointed place in the
squad; a minute inspection followed, by that
awful inquisitor-general, the Sergeant-Major
(a functionary who, in a moment of relaxation,
permits the "non-commissioned" to call
him "Major" only); and if a single button
of his fatigue jacket were undone, if the
buttons themselves were not as bright as rotten-
stone could make them, if his forage cap were
not put on at precisely the proper angle, if the
clasp of his stock were dull or unfastened.
and if, moreover, he were not perfectly clean
from head to foot, adieu, for that day at least,
to all chance of recreation, unless he happened
to take delight in confinement to barracks,
with a few hours extra drill. But whether
the drill were extra or regular appeared much
the same sort of thing to Maurice Savage,
for except during the brief period allotted for
meals, his impression was that he was always
at it. A vision of Corporal Rattler, with his
sharp tones, and short flexible cane, was ever
present to his imagination; and, to say the
truth, it did not require any violent exercise
of the imagination to conjure him, at any
moment, before the unhappy recruits in all
the physical identity of six-feet-one.

At length the goose-step was abandoned,
the pacing-stick laid aside, and the time-keeping
bullet returned, with the string attached
to it, to Corporal Rattler's pocket. Maurice
Savage had achieved the difficult arts of
standing upright, of balancing himself—like
a crane—on one foot, of stepping out fairly
with a pointed toe and raised instep, of facing
to all the points of the compass, by whole, half
and quarter movements, of turning round
upon himself—like the late Lord Londonderry—
of keeping step without kicking his
front rank man; of doing all, in short, that a
soldier is made to do before arms are put
into his hands. When these feats were
accomplished, he was introduced to "Brown
Bess," and many a weary hour he passed in
that lady's society, acquiring a knowledge
of the various purposes, ornamental as well as
useful, to which the musket can be applied.
Occasionally, when there was a demand
elsewhere for Corporal Rattler's services, or when
perchance, that worthy was himself under a
cloud for "inebriation" (as the pompous
Sergeant-Major, who never used any but the
finest words, always called it), a Scottish
instructor, one Sergeant Mac File, would inculcate
the mysteries of the "Manual and
Platoon." This transfer was not very favourable
to the pupil's rapid progress; for whereas
the word of command or instruction from
Corporal Rattler, was always brief, clear and
intelligible, that which fell from the lips of
Sergeant Mac File, was shrouded by a dialect
which kept the listener perpetually on the
tenter-hooks, to understand him. Thus, in
order to "present arms," a movement, not
without grace or effect, when well executed,
Maurice was required to have his "Bally een,
cheest advanced, coke-heed appasite laft grine,
and lat the waght of the bodie rast upon the
taes," a passage of arms which, for want of
comprehending the language it was described
in, he was far from rendering either graceful
or effective. So, also, when he was told to
mind his "prymin' and loddin' peseetion,"
the instructions which were to render that
position valuable, might have attained that
object much sooner if there had been a dragoman
at his elbow to translate broad Scots
into honest Wilts. Under the auspices ot
Sergeant Mac File, a military education was
the pursuit of knowledge under very great
difficulties—under those of Corporal Rattler,
difficulties existed, but they arose from the
nature of the subject,—his system was
explicit enough, and was enforced by methods,
which needed no foreign interpretation.

The day, at last, came when the Mac File
clog was no longer a stumbling-block, and
Maurice Savage was reported fit for duty.
Six months had greatly changed him, not
only in his outward appearance, but in the
"moral" of that individual. It is true he had
still a red head, but it was clipped very close,
and, in a manner, absorbed by the blaze of his
regimentals; the number of freckles had not
diminished beneath the influence of out-door
exercise; but, while the hue of health was on
his cheek, their presence was of little
consequence, as the fac-simile of his countenance
was not wanted to adorn a hair-dresser's shop.
On the other hand, his features had begun to
express some of the intelligence which was
working within him, and the ungainliness,
which had been a reproach, was quite gone,
—thanks to the rough practice of Corporal
Rattler, who treated his recruits much in the
same way that Abernethy did his patients.

Maurice Savage, as we have already
intimated, had not reclined upon a bed of down
during the above-mentioned six months,
neither had his couch been rendered uneasy
by too many rose-leaves; but, if he slept hard,
fatigue made his sleep a sound one; and, if
he took more exercise than he had bargained
for in the outset, the result was an appetite
of the most enviable description—for it was
one that was always satisfied. And this
allusion brings us to a question of some
interest with regard to the mode of living of
thousands of our unmilitary countrymen,
who have an equal stimulus to hunger with
the soldier: equal—nay, better means of
gratifying it; but who—not acting in concert,
having, in short, no "mess"—eat their food
in an ill-prepared state, with little profit to
their health, and very little enjoyment.

"A shilling a-day"—says the old song—
      "Is very good pay;
      It's double a taster—
      The King's a good master," &c., &c.—
and out of the shilling a-day rather more than
two-thirds are deducted for the soldier's daily