Frank never thought, as some boys do,
that it is smart and manly to swear. Sometimes we hear a man talk, whom
the vicious habit so controls that he cannot speak without blasphemy.
With such, oaths become as necessary a part of speech as articles or
prepositions. If deprived of them they are crippled; they seem lost, and
cannot express themselves. They are therefore unfit for any society but
that of loafers and brawlers. Such slavery to an idle and foolish custom
Frank had the sense to detest, even while he himself was coming under its
yoke.

Here, too, before quitting the subject, justice requires us to bear
witness in favor of those distinguished exceptions to the common
profanity, all the more honorable because they were few. Although,
generally speaking, officers and men were addicted to the practice, the
language of here and there an officer, and here and there a private,
shone like streaks of unsullied snow amid ways of trodden mire. Captain
Edney never swore. Atwater never did. No profane word ever fell from the
lips of young Gray. And there were others whose example in this respect
was equally pure.

Fortunately, Frank was kept pretty busy these times; else, with that
uneasy hankering for excitement which possesses unoccupied minds, and
that inclination to mischief which possesses unoccupied hands, he might
have acquired worse vices.

No doubt some of our young readers will be interested to know what he had
to do. The following were some of his duties:--

At daybreak the _drummer's call_ was beat by the drums of the guard-tent.
Frank, though once so profound a sleeper, had learned to wake instantly
at the sound; and, before any of his comrades were astir, he snatched up
his drum, and hurried from the tent. That call was a signal for all the
drummers to assemble before the colors of the regiment, and beat the
reveille. Then Frank and his fellow-drummers practised the _double-quick_
for two hours. Then they beat the _breakfast call_. Then they ate their
breakfast. At eight o'clock they had to turn out again, and beat the
_sergeant's call_. At nine o'clock they beat for _guard mounting_. Then
they practised two hours more at _wheeling_, _double-quick_, _etc_. They
then beat the _dinner call_. Then they had the pleasure of laying aside
the drumsticks, and taking up the knife and fork once more. After dinner
more _calls_ and similar practice. The time from supper (five o'clock)
until the beat for the evening roll