een then, and that there are
still less of such to-day. An army of six--footers like him, with his
intelligence, instincts of discipline, capacity and expertness, physical
strength and activity, and personal courage, would easily account for
more than all of England's warlike renown and success; the puzzle is,
how to account for anything but disaster without them--though, to be
sure, other armies might be equally lacking in Blairs. He was well
educated, modest, and moral; he was a married man, with a wife who was
the model of a soldier's consort, and two or three little sons, all
of them experts with the foils and the broadsword. It was against the
regulations of the service for privates or non-commissioned officers to
have families, and, when Blair's connubial condition became known to the
authorities, he was degraded in rank from sergeant to corporal, though
he wore the Balaklava medal; for he had taken part in that immortal
charge, and I only wish I could recall the story of it as he
told it to me. His regiment had been under the command of Lord
Cardigan--"Black-Bottle Cardigan," as he was nicknamed in the army,
on account of the well-known (real or apocryphal) incident. It was
my good--fortune, by-the-way, once to see this eminent captain. I was
taking my lesson at the barracks, when Blair told me that his lordship
was expected to visit them that afternoon. The hour appointed was three
o'clock. Punctually at three o'clock a carriage drove rapidly through
the gates of the barracks, and the guard turned out on the run and
lined up to salute the noble occupant. But, much to their disgust, the
occupant turned out to be some one else, not meriting a salute. The
men returned to the guard-room feeling as men do when they have been
betrayed into exertion and enthusiasm for nothing. However, in about ten
minutes more, another carriage drove up, and out came the guard again
and ranged themselves smartly, to please the eye of their martinet
commander, when lo! they had again been deceived. Again they retired
with dark looks, not being at all in a mood to recognize the humor of
the situation. This same thing actually occurred twice more, by which
time it was near four o'clock, and the men were wellnigh mutinous, and
it became evident that, for some reason, Cardigan had been prevented
from coming. Such being the case, the approach of still another carriage
attracted no attention whatever, until it came to a half-pause, and I
saw,