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THE REGULAR ARMY.
sight among the people, the citizens would discover that soldiers
are men the same as themselves, with all sorts of characters.
As a class, a little more inclined to be reticent and silent to
strangers than workmen, the best of them have a certain depre-
catory air when thrown into a crowd of citizens, dashed with a
spice of defiance. They know there is a prejudice against
them, and they feel that it is unjust, so they keep among them-
selves as much as possible, and nourish regimental pride to con-
sole them for civil depreciation. All they need to make their
position happier, is to be better known.
   Another cause of the depreciation is found in the nature of
a soldier's duties. There is nothing which is more inexplicable
to the ordinary civilian than the true military spirit, that glories
in hardships, danger and death, and that despises fine uniforms.
He cannot understand it. To be a militia man in a gorgeous
uniform, and to march through the streets behind a splendid
band is his idea of soldiering, and when he finds that his real
soldier friend hates this and loves the excitement of a battle
pure and simple, the civilian is puzzled. In a conscriptional
country where every one is liable to service, the feeling of pity
and sympathy for men who are forced against their will to
endure the hardships of real military life, extends to every
member of the population in the country who has a relative in
the army, and helps to make the army popular. During the
war of the rebellion, when the overpowering necessity of the
times operated instead of the conscription, the same feeling
tended to make the volunteers popular. They went (according
to the public idea) not because they loved a soldier's life, but
because it was their duty. The inen in the regular army after
the closS of the war, could plead no such excuse. They enlisted
either lecause they loved military life, or because they were
too iidolent or unskillful to make a living at anything else. In
either case, the average citizen disliked the motive and despised
the man.
   This state of public estimation reacted injuriously on the
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