. Book of the Royal blue . rforce was virtually an-nihilated; to fallwounded nn the fieldwas to lie left to the little mercy of thevictor. The histories of the wars of thatperiod make no mention of any provisionfor the care of the disabled. The menwho filled the ranks were generally forcedinto the service, being born thralls of somechieftain, and were of no use to theirmasters when disabled, and while wealthand glory were won by the leaders nothought was given to the helpless fol-lowers. Later, when men farmed them-selves into bands under clu i^^en leadersand sold their servicer to the highest
. Book of the Royal blue . rforce was virtually an-nihilated; to fallwounded nn the fieldwas to lie left to the little mercy of thevictor. The histories of the wars of thatperiod make no mention of any provisionfor the care of the disabled. The menwho filled the ranks were generally forcedinto the service, being born thralls of somechieftain, and were of no use to theirmasters when disabled, and while wealthand glory were won by the leaders nothought was given to the helpless fol-lowers. Later, when men farmed them-selves into bands under clu i^^en leadersand sold their servicer to the highest bid-der, tlividing the spoiU of conqueredprovinces, the fewer to divide, the greaterthe amount for each, hence the unfor-tunate of their number received littlemore consideration than did the wretchedinhabitants of the provinces they overranor the cities they plundered. Two and one-half centuries ago muchthe same condition prevailed in press gang seized inotTensive citizensand fiirced them into the arm\- or the. NATIONAL SOLDIERS HOME navy, and when their services were nolonger iiee(le(l for any reason, they wereturned out to find their way home andface the world as thev best might, .\ftereverv war Europe was infested withswarms of beggars, many of them crip-pled. It is said that sometimes kingsgave permits to beg at court among thenobles to reward special services. The|)lan of a fixed pension, payable at regu-lar periods, was of slow growth and even\et prevails to a limited extent in Europe,and at least one nation treats the pensionnot as something due to its defenders butas a gratuity from the sovereign, andamounts given for the same disability dif-fer. England, which showers honors andrewards on victorious leaders, in somecases granting large yearly allowancesnot onl\ to the one being honored, but|)rovidiiig it .shall continue to his de-scendants for a fixed number of genera-tions or in perpetuity, does little for thecommon soldier. France and England,and perhaps
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Keywords: ., bookauthorbaltimoreandohiorailr, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890
