Barrack room

“ Dumping off the kit-bags, the two men drove round to the stable in the rear of the main dwelling, where they unhitched and put up the team. The sergeant led the way into the house. Passing through a small store-house and kitchen they emerged into the living room. On a miniature scale it was a replica of one of the Post barrack-rooms, except that the table boasted a tartan-rugged covering, that two or three easy chairs were scattered around, and some calfskin mats partially covered the painted hardwood floor. ”

“ This renders the barrack-room quite uncomfortable during the evening; which, as the greater part are employed at work, or otherwise occupied during the day, is the principal time when they can be together. ”

“ These clothes he keeps on a shelf above his bed, and he so arranges his garments that the French colours, blue, white, and red, are clearly seen. In summer he rises at 4 a.m., and in winter at 6 a.m., and he goes to bed at 9 p.m. all the year round, except when he is on sentry-go, or has permission to stay out late. Every day the barrack-room is inspected, to see that the beds are properly made, that the men's clothes are in good order, and that the room is clean and tidy. ”

“ Volunteers are ready with their clean towels to serve as pudding-cloths, and then a procession marches to the cookhouse, where the puddings are consigned to the copper over which the conscientious compounder holds his long vigil. It is a pleasant time when on Christmas Day the bountiful fare is spread on the barrack-room table, and when the captain goes round the rooms, and says a few genial words to the men standing at attention while they listen. ”

“ The unmarried soldiers are quartered in barrack-rooms usually planned to contain twelve men in each; this number forms a convenient division to suit the organization of the company, and is more popular with the men than the larger numbers which were formerly the rule in each barrack-room ”

“ Captain Harry Beyers, the officer in command of the Guard, has his office, where all permits and passes are issued; the Commandant of the District, who, by the way, lives at the Remount Station about five miles out of the town, comes in three times a week to transact any military business. The barrack-room is a fine and large hall where the men have their meals and also sleep. The rifles are all in racks at the further end of the hall; these racks are all numbered, and every man knows his number. ”

“ The country is under very great obligations to gentlemen of family and fortune who will forego the comforts of home for the miserable inconveniences of barrack service. We had never seen it before, and have not the least wish to see it again. It is horrible. The only privacy of an officer by day or night is in these wretched hovels, in which they must alternately sweat and shiver. The mess-room is open indeed at all hours. ”

“ B——, whose baby was dying. I never witnessed such a scene—a perfect barrack—every room was filled with six or eight ladies; beds all round, and perhaps a dining-table laid for dinner in the centre—servants thick in all the verandahs—numbers of the 32nd soldiers and their officers; and underneath all, the women and children of the 32nd barracks—such a hubbub and commotion! It is an upper storeyed house, but the upper storey is not nearly so large as the under one, and yet in that, including servants and children, there are ninety-six people living! ”

“ It contains one hundred and twenty-six families—is entered at the sides from alleys eight feet wide; and by reason of another barrack of equal height, the rooms are so darkened, that on a cloudy day it is impossible to sew in them without artificial light. It has not one room that can be thoroughly ventilated. ”

“ So crowded was the men’s barrack, that the beds were ranged five tier in height, allowing only about 1 foot 8 inches for each bed, while the greatest extent of floor-room measured only about 8 feet 6 inches across, between the beds on opposite sides, as will be seen in the sections and diagrams of Plate VIII. The artificers commenced this morning at 5 o’clock, and, in the course of the day, they laid the Forty-eighth and Forty-ninth courses, consisting each of 16 blocks. ”

“ Many of the barrack-rooms are uncomfortable on account of their size, containing sixty or more men. This greatly destroys social comfort: for one or two individuals can molest all the rest; so that select retired conversation can not be enjoyed. ”

“ They luxuriated, for instance, in tablecloths, and in cups and saucers in lieu of the rough stoneware basins supplied to the other barrack-rooms by the contractor for the mess-table refuse. But although the gentlemen chose to be independent in regard to the Christmas dinner, they were glad to accept in the spirit in which it was tendered the dozen of wine which Captain Jolliffe sent over from the officers’ mess with his compliments and the good wishes of the season. ”

“ In barracks there are few sensations more agreeable than that of being awakened by the reveillé on the dawn of a summer's day: gradually its sweet low wail steals upon the waking senses, sadly and slowly at first, then increasing in strength and power till the full body of music floats through the morning air, redoubled by the echoes of the empty barrack-courts; when as the measure from the slowness of a Scottish lament increases to the rapidity of a reel, the drams roll impatiently as if to rouse the tardy sleepers. ”

“ American barracks are interesting, as providing for perhaps a higher class of recruit than usual; they are well designed and superior finish internally is given. The barracks are arranged usually on the separate block system, and centre round a post-exchange or soldiers' club, which is a combined recreation establishment, gymnasium and sergeants' mess, with bath-house attached. Canteens for the sale of liquor were abolished in 1901.
See The Barrack Synopsis (1905) ; The Handbook of Design and Construction of Military Buildings (1905) ; The Army Regulations, India, vol. ”

“ If more than five men were seen together, or if anyone was heard to whisper or spit upon the floor, it was certain to be followed by one of these punishments. Frequently men sick in barracks were delirious; sometimes one or two in a barrack were crazy. These were the cause of a whole barrack of men being mounted on a horse or punished in other ways. Sometimes a guard would come in, and swear he heard some one whispering. He would make four or five men get up, with nothing but their underclothes to protect them against a climate where the thermometer stood twenty degrees below zero. ”

“ The last new barracks has been built with a special view towards housing convalescent or delicate persons. Partitions have been erected so as to cut up the barrack into small divisions, and two water-closets have been installed. A new washhouse for these barracks has been erected, with shower baths and washing troughs.
The construction of the new barracks, the transfer of some hundred persons to Dr. Weiler’s sanatorium, and the release of about a hundred persons have made it possible largely to reduce the crowded conditions of the “obens,” or lofts, of the old barracks. Twenty per cent. ”

“ Many, indeed, would never have got into barracks without assistance. In short, when I sat down exhausted by the road-side several times during the march, and looked at the men, I thought it bore in some degree a similitude to the Corunna retreat; so awfully had disease enfeebled them.
The hospital at Hythe being filled with the sick, the barracks became a hospital, [Pg 262] and as deaths ensued, and thinned the wards, the men were continually removed, making a progress from barrack to hospital, and from hospital to the grave. ”

“ Our barracks, one of many built on the same pattern, was a long, low wooden building, weather-stained without and whitewashed within. It had accommodation for about forty beds. One end of the room was very manifestly American. There was a phonograph on the table, baseball equipment piled in one corner, and the walls were covered with cartoons and pictures clipped from American periodicals. The other end was as evidently French, in the [13] frugality and the neatness of its furnishings. The American end of the room looked more homelike, but the French end more military. ”

“ They leave in barracks the things they will not require on field service, the materials for what the British soldier knows as "spit and polish soldiering," and the conscript starts out with his field kit and equipment, prepared to have a good time.
The infantry swing out through the barrack gates, a long column of marching men; they talk among themselves of what they will do when manœuvres are over; the second-year men talk of going away, back to their homes, and of turning their backs on military service ”

“ It is a standing puzzle to the uninitiated where the soldier in barracks contrives to obtain drink of a morning. The canteen is rigorously closed. No one is allowed to go out of barracks and no drink is allowed to come in. A teetotallers' meeting-hall could not appear more rigidly devoid of opportunities for indulgence than does a barrack during the morning. ”

“ She Said, Changing the Subject, “Is Boom Town.”
“The two-story ones are barracks,” her companion explained. “Some of the one-story buildings are Company Headquarters, some are mess halls, and some day rooms.”
“Day rooms?” Norma was puzzled.
“Day rooms that you mostly visit at night,” Lieutenant Warren laughed. “Lights in the barracks are out at nine-thirty. Most of the girls prefer to retire then. When you’ve been here three days you’ll know why.
“Some hardy souls wish to stay up another hour, so they retire to the day room to lounge in easy chairs, write letters, read, or play cards. ”

“ The first comers take possession of the benches; the others lie where they can. When all are inside the gates are closed, but the doors are not barred until nightfall.
The “stage” is a small wooden barrack—with a large court, formed of palisades, in the rear—divided into several compartments, one of which is assigned to the nobles of the convoy; but like all the others it is far too little for its destined purpose. The prisoners are as closely packed as herrings in a barrel. A few only can find places on the benches. The others have to sleep on the damp and dirty floor. ”

“ A strong fortification of stone-work ran from this bulwark towards the water-side, having its southern end beside the king's storehouse of provision and munition for his ships of war. Here, moreover, was the barrack in which certain of the galley-slaves were cabined at night, for when the galleys lay idle the greater number of the oarsmen was employed on shore in sundry laborious exercises—repairing the fortifications and the like. A little way southward of this barrack was a rampire of earth built close against the sea-wall, and furnished with three great pieces of ordnance. ”

“ These stairways are wide enough to allow two men to walk conveniently abreast. They terminate in a funnel-shaped excavation, whence a stone staircase leads towards four terrace-shaped barracks, built one above the other. Somewhat higher is a pentagonal redoubt, also employed as a barrack, in which at this time a detachment of artillery, the only garrison of Dover was quartered. The redoubt forms the right wing of the position. From this point an irregular line of masonry, partly hewed out of the rock, runs to the left wing, where there is an oblong quadrangular fort. ”

“ I heard Amy say as our maid opened her windows on Tuesday morning.
"There is to be no banquet," was the answer. "Voyez done the proclamation posted on the door of the barrack at the corner of the Rue Chaillot."
I sprang from my bed and looked out of my window. A strange change had taken place in the teeming little caserne at the corner. Instead of the usual groups of well-behaved boy-soldiers in rough uniforms, the barrack looked deserted, and its lower windows had been closed up to their top panes with bags of hay and mattresses. Not a soldier, not even a sentry, was to be seen. ”

“ If any one was heard to whisper at night, or the least ray of light was seen, the guard would fire into the barracks at once. In each barrack there was only two stoves to two hundred men, and for a stove to warm one hundred men, it was frequently red hot. ”

“ It will never be of any use in modern warfare, but makes a good barrack and a most magnificent place for a pyrotechnic display for the delectation of young folk, in which definition for these purposes may be included the whole of the population of France.
As I am writing, a troop of acrobats pass along the green between this hotel and the sea, followed by a crowd of boys. There is the strong man in black velvet carrying the long balancing triangle, on which he is about to support the light fellow in yellow who walks by his side. ”

“ The barrack should at least be on a par with the workhouse.
The high rate of mortality in the army is not to be attributed to the bad arrangements of barracks alone; the important elements of exercise and food have to be considered, and in both the infantry are in an inferior position to the artisan.
“Perhaps,” says Colonel Lindsay, “no living individual suffers more than the soldier from ennui. ”

“ Tame as stories of barrack life must seem when we are thrilling with the great events for which that life furnishes the substratum, it is worth our while, for the sake of this lesson, to give them also their page upon the record, to spread these neutral tints in due proportion upon the broad canvas. It is partly for this reason that I turn back to sketch the trivial and monotonous scenes of a winter in barracks. It is well to remind you, dear young friends, feminine and otherwise, at home, that a great many days and nights of patient labor go to one brilliant battle. ”