Last year only 1,000 would do so,
which seems very few for a country in which there are 7,000,000
people. It has been the same for years. So there is a law called the
Conscription, by which the necessary numbers are forced to serve.
This is how they manage the conscription: in February of each year all
the boys who become nineteen in that year must go and draw lots to
decide which of them are to enter the army.
The drawing generally takes place in the _Hotel de Ville_ of the chief
town in the part of the country to which the boys belong. On the
appointed day all the families in which there are sons liable to serve
flock into the town, and a great crowd gathers outside the building.
The lads who are to draw lots go in, and find some officials waiting
for them. Each boy has to put his hand into the ballot-box and draw
out a paper on which there is a number. Suppose there are 150 boys,
and 50 are wanted for the army, then those who draw the 50 lowest
numbers are those who have to serve. Each boy draws out his paper, and
gives it to an official, who calls out the number. If it is a number
above 50, he is free, and runs out shouting with joy; but if it is one
of the lower numbers, he goes out sadly to tell his family that he has
drawn a "bad" number.
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