Our Odd-men 



in their respect and liking of the Coach- 

 master. 



One of the most respectable members 

 of this quaint company was old German 

 George, a great six-foot fellow, with a 

 grand depth of chest, and a loud deter- 

 mined voice, with the ring of authority in 

 it, come of the days when he was a sergeant 

 in the Grenadiers. He had been carried 

 off as a boy from his home in the Rhine 

 Provinces to serve under Napoleon. A 

 few years later, a French ship of war, on 

 which he was undergoing his first pangs of 

 sea-sickness, was captured by an English 

 vessel, and he was pressed Into the service 

 of his Majesty King George. I asked 

 him once how he liked being handed 

 about from one nation to another, and he 

 said, "If you will allow me to express the 

 sentiments of my mind, sir" (this was a 

 favourite expression with him), '' I like to 

 be an English soldier better than to be a 

 French soldier ; if I might be a German 

 soldier and fight for my own country, that 

 I would like the best/' He saw a good 

 deal of service, and was at the Battle of 

 Corunna. Before he retired on his little 

 pension and with his several medals, he 

 had been raised to the rank of Sergeant- 

 Major In the Grenadier Guards, and had 

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