THE MILITARY SPIRIT.

THE author of "Sitne Perpetua?" in the last Advocate does not appreciate the military spirit in any of its manifestations. He objects to Decoration Day celebration, to military men in office, to military drill in public institutions. He does not approve of any of these features of our national life, and, as he has a perfect right to do, states the grounds of his objections. With regard to Decoration Day, he admits that "it commemorates in a tender and touching way the valor and devotion of brave men who are dead"; but objects to the public celebration of the day, because it has a tendency, as he affirms, to keep alive the memory of the late war, "and of all its concomitants."

Our friend is certainly taking too tragic a view of the matter. He apparently fears that Decoration Day will rouse bitter and revengeful thoughts in the minds of the people who throng the streets to witness its yearly celebration. It needs very little knowledge of human nature to perceive that the majority of the people who appear on the streets that day come out simply and solely to enjoy themselves.

There is not one out of five hundred of this unsophisticated population who ever calls to mind the ruinous civil war which was the occasion of this holiday. The day is to them a time for a pleasant ride or walk, flowers and peanuts. It seems rather hard to lay any part of the blame of the ill-feeling which is supposed to exist between the North and South on so innocent a holiday as this is known to be.

But it is urged that it perpetuates the memory of the late war, and thus tends to foster a certain spirit of hostility between two large sections of the country. Do not histories perpetuate the memory of the war to a still greater extent? Why not burn them up? Why not destroy all the records of the war, for the same reason? This principle, if carried to its natural result, demands their destruction.

What one of us is not filled with deadly hatred for the South as he gazes on Memorial Hall? Why not tear it down? Just think of the fearful results of our dining there next year! How we will burn with anger towards the South!

The writer next informs us, and no doubt on excellent authority, that the Southern States are at present engaged in the unpleasant occupation of "writhing and groaning under the ignorant despotism of their colored legislators." This is adduced as a particularly lamentable instance of the evil of considering military men, "ipso facto, the very best for civil offices." It must be acknowledged that it takes a considerable stretch of inventive genius to discover what this and Decoration Day have to do with the writhings and groanings of the South. Perhaps the writer means to lay the blame of the present condition of the South on the Administration. It will probably survive the attack.

He informs us that when the South ask for aid or sympathy from the North they receive "the cold shoulder." One cannot but admire the spirit which leads him to deal in the appetizing metaphor of "the cold shoulder" rather than in the "dry bones" of the ancient Jeremiah. It is impossible to surmise how much is implied by that exceedingly dubious expression, "the cold shoulder"; but the meaning cannot be extended so far as to include the Northern capital, which is the life of the South at the present time. The writer, if he is interested in facts, will also find that when the Mayor of New Orleans appealed to the North in behalf of the sufferers by a destructive flood in that locality, he received something besides "the cold shoulder."

In speaking of military drill he says: "Are we never going to wake from the delusion that various pursuits and occupations which war rendered necessary more than ten years ago are proper ingredients in a life of settled peace?"

It may be both interesting and instructive to observe, in passing, that the "we" in this sentence comprehends the writer and the remainder of our country which is about to receive instructions with regard to the subject of military drill.

The writer finds one great danger attendant upon military drill; he fears that men will acquire such an undue fondness for it as to unfit them for "sober civil life." He again states that "these remarks have been prompted by the recent events at Bowdoin College." This is certainly an unfortunate instance for his theory. The drill at Bowdoin seems to have done anything but give the students a restless love for martial pursuits. The Bowdoin men had not learned the first lesson of military life, which is obedience. Men who will sign an agreement to keep all the laws of an institution, and then deliberately break their agreement, manifest the need of military drill. Military drill, when backed by the proper authority, makes men prompt to obey, well qualified to command. It gives them erect forms and strong bodies. It makes them cultivate regular habits and develops true manliness. Such men are wanted in peace as well as in war.

V.