About Russian Soldiers

A great many of our lah-de-dah lolllpop somebody's son officers have been attached to the gubsistence department so that they may be sure of getting the best there is to eat. Our soldlers are the best paid and the best fed in the world. The wages of a common soldier in Russia are 3 rubíes per annum - about $2.25. The rations are, daily, two pounds of suchary, which is a very coarse kind of bread made of cracked rye, baked hard at first, then cut in small pieces and further dried In heated oven; a small quantity of salt and some soup. The soup is boiled in a huge caldron capable of holding 400 gallons. Into the water is cast some cracked barley, together with the shell dirt, and to this a little salt is added, but nothing of the meat kind enters into the composition. The eoup is dealt out by a number of men with dipper, every soldier in his turn receiving his allotted quantity. Sometimes an adventurous fellow presents a larger vessel than the regulations require, and when detected in the effort to get more than his share is punished with 100