Democratic Sentinel, Volume 5, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 August 1881 — Single vs. Married Soldiers. [ARTICLE]

Single vs. Married Soldiers.

It has long been a mooted poiut whether single or married men make the best soldiers. Some maintain that the lack of wife and family tends to make a man more reckless of his life—therefore a good soldier. Others say that the married man is almost a veteran wnen he enters the ranks, being inured to combat—therefore a good soldier. In the recent Tunisian campaign a Colonel was questioned upon this point. “Both are right,” said he. “Look yonder—do you see that battalion of happy, devil-may-care fellows ? They are all single men, and they would take their lives in their hands. But look again—do you see those taciturn, somber, gloomy-looking men there? They are all married, and in a hand-to-hand fight they are terrors. ” “ What is the name of the battalion?” asked the inquirer. “They are called,” said the Colonel, gravely, “the ‘Children of Despair.’ ” The man who eats oleomargarine gets fat. There it no doubt about the fat cart-