ITALIAN SOLDIERS AND THEIR FOOD. [To ass EDITOR Or ass
"SPECTATOR."] 6114.—I think the following quotations from a letter I have just received from a friend in Italy as to the food of the Italian soldier may interest your readers :— " There are three or four hundred soldiers here now, quartered at the monastery during the municipal elections. They [the authorities] dread riots. At night, up every dark turning and round corners one sees drawn swords and bayonets gleaming, and little squads of mounted men up side streets ; it is quite imposing. They have a terribly hard time, poor things. What would an -English Tommy' say to a piece of bread and dish-washy soup at ten o'clock for breakfast and soup and macaroni and bread at 8.30 for dinner, and nothing more till next day again at ten ! In their dinner soup they get a little lump of meat—by courtesy meat—but according to B—, who sees these things, more often gristle or bone, which they cannot eat. Their pay is a penny a day, with fines out of that for damages to uniform, lost buttons, &e., and fines for divers other things No wonder they are always prowling about in our orto seeking what they may devour ; they must be hungry. Our man, Giuseppe, is a corporal of Bersaglieri, and he says the life of a private soldier is terrible. A good many of the men here now are back from the United States to serve their time. Some speak English, or rather American, uncommonly well The sergeant sometimes pays us a visit. He knows he gets some wine, and he is a policeman in San Francisco! Doesn't it seem queer? He owns a little land—a vineyard probably—in. Italy, and unless he came back and served his time it would be confiscated."
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