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

3 -4 MILITAR Y LIFE.
letters, and beside some of these the answers of his mother
fastened to the leaf. From the examination of the mother's
writing you could draw out the history of the war ;
the trembling
of her hand is certainly the surest indication of eventa
Taking them as a whole, her letters always say the same
thing, it is quite natural ;
but in those of her son there is
something to be noted here and there. I will jot down this,
which will form an incomplete and disjointed chronicle,
but a truthful and lively one, of the different events of the
war, or rather of the various impressions which some of
them left on my friend's mind :
PlACENZA,
8th May.
Piacenza seems like a barrack. There are more soldiers than citizens,
and more medals than soldiers at ; every step we meet some one whose
breast is covered at ; every turn there is a general and as for colonels, they
;
do not strike us as being any thing at all extraordinary. How I feel
my own
littleness among all the gilt braid Great ! military reunions have this evH,
that we poor lieutenants are not looked at even ;
in fact, we disappear entirely.
I am joking, you know I have
; you, my soldiers, my friends ;
my blood is full of fire, my heart full of Italy, my soul full of the future ;
I am happy, desire nothing, and envy no one. We are quartered
in a convent
and sleep on straw.
It is a desperate sort of business with those conscripts
who do not know how to dress themselves, walk, or eat. Things
have been done too hastily. If the war were to begin to-morrow, I tell
you we should find ourselves in a sorry state half the ; regiment does not
know how to load ;
there is a great need of provincial soldiers, who are expected.
In the whole barracks they cannot find a room for the officer of
the guard. The other night I took refuge in the office of the majority, and
I slept on the registers
. . .
At the end of the mother's reply I find these words :
" Be
careful not to injure the registers ; they may be important.
Did you think to put something under your head ? Erminia is
ill from the pain of parting with you. The other day, in dusting
your things, she began crying. I saw her, and said so. She