The swells at the War Office may laugh me to
scorn, and assert that the dragoon's pay ought to be
reckoned in silver, and not the baser metal, copper;
but experto crede, I have soldiered for six months at
a stretch on a penny a day, and I claim to be con-
sidered a master in the art of "financing" under
difficulties. And how this depth of impecuniosity
is reached may fall out in three ways. First, the
dragoon's pay is nominally is. 4d. per diem, out of
which gd. is deducted for rations, washing, &c., leav-
ing the magnificent surplus of yd, free for him to
disburse as seemeth unto him good. But out of this
income he has to pay for all clothing except the
Government tunic, overalls, and boots; and as a
jacket costs him 1 7s. 6d., a change of underclothing
about los,, and a cap nearly half as much, it will
easily be seen that his task is no light one. If he is
careful, he can replace underclothing as it wears out
without undergoing a stoppage of more than 2 d. a
day out of his 7d.; but when his jacket gets dingy,
and the inexorable colonel condemns it, there is
nothing for him but to shoulder his cross in the
shape of a penny a day till the 17s, 6d. is wiped
It of the sergeant-major's account-book.
