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sergeant-majors, and he only sighed again and passed on.

When next we were due to "order arms I tried to take a surreptitious look to find out where my toe might be, but the Sergeant-major at once made it clear that this was against the rules of the game. However, I missed my own toe all right, but the man next to me had to fall out. I was sorry about it, but if a man can't lose a little thing like a toe nail without all that fuss he isn't fit to be a soldier. Fortunately the Sergeant-major and I were agreed on that point, so the incident passed off without much unpleasantness.

As every soldier knows (and I learned that night), the incidents I have described are "manual exercises." Having done with them we passed into more congenial and familiar paths of drill, at which, when unhampered by a rifle, I am no worse than some of the others. Being a Rifle Brigade it is incumbent on us to march with the rifle at the "trail." Everyone knows that to get the rifle to the "trail" you give it a cant forward and seize it at the point of balance. Well, I missed it. This was due to the fact that the backsight bit out a large portion of my first finger. I admit that this caused some slight delay in the execution of a somewhat intricate manoeuvre. You cannot all in a moment pick up a rifle and replace a portion of your finger in an indifferent light. I explained to the Sergeant-major that if I had waited till the end of the parade to execute my repairs the pieces of my finger would have got cold and might not have amalgamated properly, and that the result might have been the loss of my services to the corps for quite a time.

If I had known that you cannot conveniently "right about turn" with a rifle at the "trail" the injury to my neighbour's knee would not have occurred. What he and the Serjeant-major said were both out of order. The man had no more right than I to talk in the ranks, and it wasn't the Serjeant-major's knee that was damaged.

Thenceforward until the end of the drill my neighbours gave me more room and I did better, but I can't say that I really got on friendly terms with that implement. Still, there was no sustained ill-feeling between the Sergeant-major and myself. After the fourth pint he gave me some private and confidential hints about the use of the rifle which, if he was right about them and I can remember, may come in handy.

"My husband belongs to the Authors' Brigade. They're getting on splendidly―in fact, I believe they're going into a thir edition."

From "To-day's Diary" in The Daily Express, June 19th:―

"Mr. Bonar Law speaks at Shrewsbury School speech-day.

'Oh! Be Careful' (revival), Garrik Theatre, 8."

But a perusal of the Colonial Secretary's speech shows that there was really no cause for anxiety.

Lieutenant-Colonel ———, just posted to the Royal East Kent Mounted Rifles, was latterly serving with the 1st Reserve Regiment of Cavalry and is a retired major of the 5th Dragoon Guards. He has won many distinctions in the Soudan and South Africa, and was fatally wounded in the latter campaign."

Kentish Gazette.

Like Charles II. he seems to have been an unconscionable time in dying, but with more advantage to his country.

"The association of Admiral Sir Arthur Wilson with the Admiralty Bard is regarded here as a masterly move."―Rangoon Times.

Our congratulations to Sir Henry Newbolt.