What he required—in my humble opinion at
least—to qualify him for the army, was a year
or two's training in some military college or
establishment, where he would be taught the
discipline of the service, and gradually learn his
future duties, in much the same way as his
brother was taught his professional work on
board the Britannia at Dartmouth. But when
I mentioned to the "awfully good crammer"
these my views on the subject of military
education, he almost laughed in my face. It
was very well, he said, for the officers of foreign
armies to be so brought up, but it would
never answer in the English service. "We
want gentlemen, my dear sir, in the English
army," he would repeat every five minutes:
"and not mere military prigs like those in the
French, Prussian, Austrian, and other
continental, services. If all our young officers were
obliged to go to military colleges, as you
propose, what would become of the principle of
free competition in education? What of the
numerous private schools which cover the land?"
I thought that if our government undertook the
education of the candidates for military
commissions, as she does those who want to enter
her navy, it would be a somewhat difficult
problem to solve, what would become of the
many "awfully good crammers" who make their
living by preparing young men for the "direct
commissions" examination, in much the same
way as turkeys are prepared for the Christmas
market? However, I said nothing; but feeling
that my son's prospects were in a great measure
depending upon this gentleman, I agreed to
engage him, and did so upon terms which could
hardly be termed exorbitant.

The lad had to attend at the residence of the
"awfully good crammer" three days a week,
for three hours each day, and on the intervening
days he had to study at home the lessons set
him. Although it seemed quite certain that the
tutor would be able to coach him through, yet
the system of preparation astonished me. All
that the boy had previously learned appeared
to be of no use whatever to him. The great
object of the training seemed to be to prepare
him, so to speak, for certain educational feats,
by which he would be able to answer questions
which, although not exactly known before-
hand, were certain to run in well-worn
grooves. Every two or three days I examined
the lad as to what he had learned and how he was
getting on, and I became more and more
convinced that without the special cramming which
he was undergoing, he never could have passed
the examination ordeal.

Under the "awfully good crammer," several
other young men were being "coached" for the
same examination as my son. Some of these
had profited more than he had, others less, by
their previous education. But one and all felt
the same difficulty in making any use of former
teaching for present purposes. Some few of
these youths, it is true, had up-hill work before
them, their notions about spelling being original.
To teach these would-be soldiers the rudiments
of writing from dictation, or to make them
commit to paper anything better than a mass of
blunders, seemed impossible. But it must be
allowed that these gentlemen were an exception
to the rule, and that the great majority of the
tutor's pupils got on pretty well.

At last the day arrived, and with at least
a couple of hundred candidates my son went
up before the commissioners. The examinations
were very fairly conducted; of all the young
men examined, about half were, after four or
five days' trial, declared to have passed: my
son taking a place about half way down the
successful list. When I came to calculate the
expenses of a residence in London in order
to be near his tutor, and the fee I had to pay
the latter, I found a very large hole made in
a cheque for fifty pounds. And there was yet
to follow the price of his commission and the
cost of his outfit.

The latter did not turn out quite as expensive
as I had calculated upon; but it cost not a
shilling under a hundred and fifty pounds,
although ordered with the greatest care. When
to this sum was added the four hundred and
fifty pounds which I had to pay for the
commission, and the fifty pounds which his tutor
and the residence in London had cost me, I
found that I had spent a matter of six hundred
and fifty pounds before the lad could join his
regiment—and that, notwithstanding he had
been gazetted to a line regiment, supposed,
with reason, to be the most economical branch
of the service.

The 110th Foot was quartered in the north
of England, and when my son proceeded to join,
I accompanied him. No sooner did the lad
begin to learn his regimental duties, than it
struck me, as it did him, that all he had been
examined in before the commissioners at Chelsea
was utterly useless. He had no knowledge
whatever of his drill, and, although a
commissioned officer, had to be taught the
rudiments of professional acquirements in the same
squad as the private recruits: his teachers being
drill corporals and sergeants. This is an anomaly.
I should like to see ensigns joining their
regiments with sufficient knowledge of their work
to enable them to command the men put under
their charge.

Life in the army is not for the poor man: at
any rate, not in a corps stationed in England.
Although my son was by no means an extravagant
lad, and although his regiment was not an
expensive one, I found it impossible for him
to pay his way and keep out of debt, without
an allowance of at least two hundred pounds
a year. Six hundred and fifty pounds to start
a young man, and an allowance of two
hundred pounds a year, is by no means what every
one can afford. But, as I found out later, the
most expensive part of a military man's career
had yet to be paid for.

When my son had been about two years
in the service, an opportunity occurred for
him to purchase his next step, a lieutenancy.
Thinking that the sum laid down in the