Mess

The law is silent with regard to me es in the army. Executive regulations have been made on the subject, but without law it is impo ible to put me es on a proper footing. In England, an allowance is granted by the sovereign in aid of the expense of officers’ me es; and every officer on appointment to a corps subscribes one month’s pay to the me -fund. All the officers of the corps me together. (See Guard Me .) In France, the several grades me separately; lieutenants and sub-lieutenants forming two tables, captains another, and field-officers of different grades generally eating separately also. Generals and colonels of the French service receive an allowance for table expenses, not sufficient to keep open house, but enough to enable them to entertain guests. In the British navy there are generally three me es, namely, the ward-room me , the gun-room me , and the engineers’ me ; in the U. S. navy there are two: the ward-room and steerage me es. Enlisted soldiers and seamen, in the army and navy respectively, me together in tables comprising a certain number, according to squads or rating; but this has no reference to the technical meaning of me ing as applied to officers, and is merely for the purpose of economy of fuel and labor in the cooking of their rations.