MARCHING AT HOME AND ABROAD. 571 
horses fare sumptuously. Of course a great deal depends on the be- 
haviour of all ranks, and on the tact of the officers and N.C.O.’s. 
When I marched as a C.O. at home, I gave the men before starting 
a little lecture about behaviour in billets, and told them that a 
civil tongue and aready manner, especially with the ladies, often meant 
a breakfast in the morning; they evidently took the hint, for I had not 
one complaint in six weeks, nothing but praise of them from the land- 
ladies, and the men were nearly all of them under three years service. 
The young officers should also try and have a chat with the landlady 
or landlord at every house, it does good, not only to your men but to 
those who follow after ; I have marched in the wake of corps that have 
made themselves liked by their courteous behaviour, and also in the rear 
of others that have got themselves disliked by their own rough 
manners. 
As regards the officers own billets, officers are apt to forget that 2s. for 
a bed and a private sitting-room ig not what the innkeeper is accus- 
tomed to get, and that in busy times they may be a trouble and a loss; 
I have followed a battery where the officers grumbled apparently at 
every inn at 6s. a head for dinner and drank no wine (possibly they 
may have been teetotalers). I think myself one should do something 
for the house, and for the credit of ,the army, and in all the batteries I 
have served with, and marched with, we always had a bottle, and if 
good a couple of the best port in the house, and I have unearthed 
some rare good stuff too in out-of-the-way inns, especially in hunting 
counties. 
Sometimes it was almost impossible to get a private sitting-room, 
and we have gone without to do the landlord a turn, and have been 
treated none the worse in consequence. With but one or two excep- 
tions, | have invariably been well done and the officers have always 
parted the best of friends with the landlord and staff. As a subaltern 
I have a vivid recollection of some old British brandy in the com- 
mercial room, at I think the Bear Hotel at Bath, and some whisky at 
Roscrea that took a deal of beating, though I had a bad head the next 
day from either too much or too little of it. 
Both officers and men should be made to dress as smartly as possible 
on the march, and when about the streets, it does a deal of good 
to the army, also there are lots of old soldiers, both officers and privates, 
in all country towns who are on the look-out, and it soon gets about 
as to whether the soldiers be a smart or a dirty lot. I regret to say I 
have met batteries of R.A. and have heard of a battery of R.H.A. (it 
must have been a very bad one) of which the officers marched in 
serges. I also insisted myself on all officers dressing for dinner at the 
inns, just as they would do at mess. 
As doctors do not now accompany troops on the march, a medical 
practitioner can be called in if required, the man if necessary will be 
sent to the nearest military hospital by rail ; if too bad to move, to the 
civil hospital; the same in the case of horses; it should be borne in 
mind by all ranks that it takes but a very few sick horses to disable a 
battery, and thus every care should be taken to prevent casualties with 
batteries not on full establishment. 
Hotels. 
Dress. 
Sick, 
