ON THE MARCH.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume V, Issue 223, 10 August 1877, Page 7

ON THE MARCH.

In the long marches which the Russian soldiers make, it frequently happens that on arriving in a village they find no food, because in all countries of the world the army supply department is inefficient. And, indeed, in the present case it would require all the intelligence of all the merchants of New York combined to foresee and supply all the needs, and even then they would not be likely to succeed. The result js, that the Roumanians, who are a very good-hearted people, give all they can spare to the soldiers, especially their bread- Those unfortunate peasants do all they can, but cannot do enough ; hence it is that the soldiers who arrive first get something to eat while the laggards have to go without, and these have added to the sufferings of hunger the envy of seeing others eating. Then arrive the traders and speculators, who follow the column and Bell at an outrageous price the very bread which the peasants had given for nothing. These vultures have a horrible dread of the Cossacks, who move about two by two along the line of the railway which they guard. Left to himself, the slightest opportunity awakes in the Cossack's breast the instinct of the marauder. He pounces on whatever comes in his way and clears out at a gallop much after the manner of a street Arab. From the window of the train in which lam caged I observe all this. lam obliged to keep my nose in the air, for the heat inside is insupportable, and these horrible Russians who are in the compartment of our drawingroom car will only permit one of the four windows to be let down, and then they wrap themselves in their cloaks. I have heard one of them when it was hot enough to melt butter regret that he had not his furs. i

When day breaks I can see in the distance the snow-clad mountains, marking the horizon with a mass of blueish white, on which the sun throws the golden powder of his early beams. Pardon me this slight poetic sally : I return to the reality. This reality presents itself in the form of a Mayor, who has taken up his position in a railway station and offers a relic to be kissed. Everybody, officers as well as soldiers, gather about him, and he does not disdain to accept the copecks which are poured into his hand, which has taken the permanent form of a cup. As we approach Bucharest the Roumanian officers show themselves in greater numbers, and their bright-colored and somewhat theatrical uniforms make a curious contrast to the severe uniforms of the Russians. They are going to join their corps, which are about to receive their baptism of fire, because, as 1 have said in a former letter, the Roumanian army is quite virgin. It must be said that it has acted very well in the first engagements it has had with the Turks on the Danube. The first moment, which Monsieur de Bismarck might call the psychological moment, has passed rapidly, the sensations have been short, and on arriving on the spot Prince Charles, who alone in his army has seen service, was able to judge the good quality of his soldiers. " Well, my children," said he to them, " those big shells make a funny effect." " Oh," answered a soldier, " I've seen pumpkins bigger still." 2?. Y. Merald.