A SOCIALIST ON THE ARMY.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] read with joy your quotation in last week's Spectator from Mr. Blatchford's book :—" The change wrought by the Army life among the recruits was astonishing." I too have felt the same. Our recruits in the Marine Artillery used to reach the division hungry, shy, or ashamed, with their toes turned in, their shoulders hanging together, and their heads down. They got a very firm training on the parade under a smart sergeant and two lynx-eyed bombardiers, and were never allowed to make a mistake uncorrected. I used to note that in two months they were clean, their heads came up, their chests came out, they put their feet down firmly, they were, and with reason, proud of themselves, and looked you in the face like men. Discipline was iron over them yet wise, and it did them immense good. They were different people, and much more profitable to the nation by reason of the discipline.
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