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

2 1 MILITAR Y LIFE.
two, among the malefactors hidden in ditches, who treacherously
shoot at them from .their hiding-places, they too lead a
hard life. Yet see how gladly they do their !
duty It is the
same thing with the sentinel. At night, such nights as these,
who sees the sentinels enveloped in their cloaks, curled up
at the back of their boxes, motionless and silent ;
who hears
them, knows who they are, or thinks of them ? No one. Yet
the sentinel must remain at his post, without any melancholy
thoughts in his mind, and think :
Every one is sleeping ;
but I
watch over the sleep of all
;
if there were no sentinels, no one
would be able to sleep from fear. My little box protects the
largest palaces ; everywhere people are singing, playing, and
enjoying themselves, and they can do so without thought or
suspicion, because I am silent, vigilant, and listening for them
all ; my rough cloak protects the silken and velvet robes of the
ladies who go to balls ;
this shadow protects that light, my
silence those sounds. The soldier must draw comfort from
the feeling of this truth, of which one is not accustomed to
think, or of which many have never thought, but which
ought really to be kept alive in his mind and heart, and
he ought to comprehend that in this feeling lies
the most beautiful
reward for his sacrifices and his virtues. Are you convinced
of it ?"
" Oh, yes, lieutenant."
His voice had trembled, had come from his heart, had found
some impediment half way in his throat, I perceived ;
I went
on :
" And after he has sacrificed for five years, five long years,
at all hours and moments, his own will, desires, affections,
habits, thoughts, every thing in fact has sacrificed
;
every thing