THE TRENCH MANCEHVRES OF 1891 . 
75 
obtain accurate information on questions of staff organisation) tbe issue 
of orders aud other important points, but by moving about amongst 
the men, one was able to see a great deal in connection with the 
ordinary and every day life of the French soldier on service. 
One of the first points that strikes one is the wonderful handiness 
aud readiness with which the French soldier adapts himself to the 
exigencies of camp life. An Englishman would often starve where 
a Frenchman lives well. The plan of messing adopted in the French 
army is one which is admirably suited to the nature of the men from 
which the army is drawn. Messes are formed of twelve, with a corporal 
or junior non-commissioned officer at its head,.and every arrangement 
for cooking is made by the members of the mess, who carry the cook¬ 
ing pots as part of their ordinary kit. As a regiment approaches the 
end of its march, the men may be seen picking up a few dry sticks, or 
anything which will be useful for fuel, so that, by the time canton¬ 
ments are reached, a very fair bundle of fire-wood will have been 
collected for the mess. Directly the men are broken off, one member 
of the mess sets to work to make a primitive stove, which is com¬ 
pleted in a very few minutes, three large stones being all the 
building material required; in this a fire is quickly lit from the bundle 
of sticks which the men forming the mess have collected, the necessary 
draught for the fire being strengthened by scraping the earth away 
from beneath the hearth, so as to form a flue or passage for the air. 
While this is being done, another man fetches water in the mess kettle, 
and on his return, the meat, vegetables, and every form of food 
is put in the pot. Within an hour soup is ready, this is strained off, 
and the meat and vegetables left behind are eaten as a stew at 
the evening meal. This plan of living could not be copied by every 
army, but it is admirably suited to the ways and habits of the French 
who, even amongst the poorer classes, possess a >^ound knowledge of 
cooking, each man is made, to feel that his own comfort and well¬ 
being depends entirely on himself, and on the care with which he sees 
to strict economy in the disposal of his daily ration. Thrifty habits 
ensue, and all waste of a necessarily scanty ration is avoided. Besides 
which, elaborate arrangements for camp kitchens are done away with, 
and the carriage required for all the .paraphernalia, which attend on 
such luxurious ways of living, avoided. 
The men were much crowded together in the villages in which they 
were billeted, for to collect 120,000 men into a poor and rather sparsely 
populated district, and to house them all is. a very difficult matter. 
The men slept in the barns, stables, out-houses, cow-sheds, and where- 
ever it was possible-to find any form of cover; the proprietors and 
peasants were very much crowded, as they had all to find accommoda¬ 
tion for a certain number of officers and men in their private houses. 
Blankets were not carried, the men slept in their long blue capotes, 
without any extra clothing beyond what they might carry in their packs; 
this was no hardship, as the weather was very warm and dry, and the 
men were so closely packed that they were more likely to suffer from 
heat than cold. 
Owing to the excessive warmth of the weather, orders were issued that 
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