in a way
that shows its want of reason. Both have lived on the same fare all
their lives, and the captain knows that it is an absurdity for him to be
drawing the price of four rations a day on the supposition that he has
been luxuriously trained, while in reality he satisfies his appetite
with the same plain dishes served out to his brother in the ranks. He
knows that it is an absurdity for him to receive a large pay in order to
support his family according to their supposed rank, while the private's
wife and children are to be made comfortable out of thirteen dollars a
month; the fact being that Mrs. Captain and Mrs. Private probably live
next door to each other at home, and exchange calls and groceries, and
wear dresses from the same piece, and talk scandal about each other, all
in as neighborly a manner as they have been accustomed to do all their
lives. Indeed, whatever aristocracy of wealth and elegance was growing
up among us has been set back at least a generation by this war, which
has brought out into such prominent notice and elevated so high in our
hearts the rougher merits of the strong arm and the dextrous hand. Every
month sees a larger proportion of officers coming from among those whose
habits have been the reverse of luxury. It is hard to say which would be
more mischievous and absurd: for these to spend their extra pay and
rations in an effort to copy the traditional style of an English
Guardsman, or to keep on in their old way of life, and pocket large
savings that are supposed to be thus spent.

We need therefore to root out entirely this division of the army into
two classes. Let the scale of rank and pay rise by regular steps from
corporal to general, so that the former may be as much or as little a
'commissioned officer' as his superiors. Abolish all invidious
distinctions by a regular system of promotions from the ranks, and only
from the ranks, except so far as West Point and kindred schools furnish
men educated to commence active service at a higher round of the ladder.
Then we shall have an army into which the best class of our youth can go
as privates without feeling that they have more to dread in their own
camps than on the battle field.

No doubt there would be an outcry against such a change from those who
have been accustomed to the old system and enjoyed its benefits. This of
itself would be no great obstacle, unless supported by a vague
impression among the people at large that there