And the lesson may be carried further. One of the greatest mistakes in the battle of life is to underrate those who oppose you or the hindrances that lie in your path. Always regard your opponent as fully your equal in everything, and then use your best endeavors to overcome him. Do your best at all times, and you have more than an even chance of success in the long run.
Jack and Harry listened a few moments to the debate among the men in front of the recruiting office, and then made their way inside. A man in the uniform of a captain was sitting behind a desk taking the names of those that wanted to enlist, and telling them to wait their turn for examination. In a few moments a man came out from an inner room, and then a name was called and its owner went inside.
“Don't think you 'll get in there, sonny,” said a man, who observed the puzzled look of Jack as he glanced toward the inner door.
“What are they doing in there?” queried Jack encouraged by the friendly way in which he had been addressed.
“They 're putting the recruits through their paces,” was the reply; “examining 'em to see whether they 'll do for service.”
“How do they do it?”
“They strip a man down to his bare skin,” was the reply, “and then they thump him and measure him, to see if his lungs are sound; weigh him and take his height, make him jump, try his eyes, look at his teeth; in fact, they put him through very much as you've seen a horse handled by a dealer who wanted to buy him. They've refused a lot of men here that quite likely they 'll be glad to take a few months from now.”
And so it was. The first call for troops was responded to by far more men than were wanted to fill the quota, and the recruiting officers could afford to be very particular in their selections. Subsequent calls for troops were for three years' service, and, as the number under arms increased, recruiting became a matter of greater difficulty. Men that were refused at the first call were gladly accepted in later ones. Before the end of the first year of the war more than six hundred and sixty-one thousand men were under arms in the North.
Jack and Harry walked up to the desk where the officer sat as soon as they saw he was unoccupied.
“Well, my boys, what can I do for you?” said the captain cheerily.