Military life in Italy : sketches - Societa italiana di storia militare

THE SENTINEL.
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in front of you, and from one moment to the other may fall
upon you.
Then, after a night passed there, you return to the
regiment, and there is nothing to
satisfy your hunger, no place
to sleep, and you are obliged to stretch yourself
mud, on stones, or on the damp grass
out in the
then you know what a
hard life is ! This is
nothing. Yet brave soldiers lead that
life so full of perils and deprivations courageously, and never
grumble when
; they can sleep, well ;
when they cannot, patience
;
when there is bread, hurrah for the bread ! when there
is none, one can fast, & la bonheur, and does not get out of
temper for such a trifle. Do you know why ? Because they
are living among friends and know how to do their duty, to
a soldier who will defend the country where he was born and
brought up, where he has his family, home, friends, and .
be
. .
sweetheart ;
all that is dearest and most sacred to us in this
world ;
do you understand ? And the consciousness of having
done his duty is all that the good soldier needs. See how
many poor unfortunates the soldiers have dragged out of the
river down there during the summer bathing season ! Well,
what have those soldiers who have risked their lives to save those
of people whom they did not know gained ? Nothing ;
that is,
much
the gratitude of the saved, and the consciousness of their
courageous deed, and this is
enough
for a brave man. Then
the soldiers who go to fight the brigands ? Every day one dies ;
who knows that he is dead ;
who will remember his name beyond
the members of his family ? Yet the soldiers are willing
to stop up on the mountains, in the woods and ravines, and
to lead that cursed sort of existence, and why ?
Because they
know that they are doing their duty.
And the carabineers, poor
soldiers too, who wander about the country at night, two by