London at the End of the Century:A Book of Gossip
a Beckett, Arthur William
1900
THE HONESTY OF THE OLD CONSTITUTIONAL FORCE.
As a matter of fact, this slur upon the conscientiousness of the regiment, and, I may say the force, was | |
167 | entirely undeserved. Our fellows were exceedingly good fellows, and as honest as the day. It was only when their devotion to their officers was tested that their fidelity to their superiors outweighed their appreciation of the exact value of the words and . For instance, on one occasion, after a weary march of over twenty miles, we were ordered to pitch our tents for the night. We had on either side of us line regiments. As a zealous officer I saw that the tents of my company were pitched before I looked after my own. When the time came for the erection of my modest marquee I found that we had exhausted our tent pegs-there was not one to be found. |
said one of my men; | |
And it was. When I returned after mess to my tent I found it held down with an absolute plethora of pegs. How they got there I do not know, but as I heard shrieks in the course of the night from the lines of the two service battalions (where the tents were falling like displaced ninepins) I suspect that after I left them that my men must have gone foraging. But, as I asked no questions subsequently, I had no opportunity of hearing any statement, true or otherwise. | |
And I am reminded by this experience that things are not so comfortable nowadays as in the past. A man was allowed to dig a trench round his tent a | |
168 | quarter of a century ago. This permission is now withdrawn, a bad regulation in rainy weather. |
