cretary--who was completely dressed. The majority had
neither coats nor boots; and their remaining costume was in the last
stage of decay. Nor had the inner man been nurtured any better than
the outer. They were emaciated and drawn with hunger and hardship.
They rose out of their holes with their hands above their heads like
great gaunt ghosts with saucer eyes. They were in such a state that
surrender brought to them no pangs of remorse. They welcomed it as a
means to live, and their ravenous supplication for food was not the
least pathetic setting to the scene. They are a strange paradox these
people. One could not help admiring the patriotism--or is it magnetic
power of their leaders?--which kept in the field, in spite of all its
dismal horrors of death and suffering, men who had but to surrender to
return to their share of the comfort of living. If it is true
patriotism, then you feel inclined to raise your hat. But if it is
only fear of the knout, then hanging is the best end you could wish
the leaders, who are able to control such suffering, and who, in the
hope of personal advancement, refuse to alleviate it. But what is more
humiliating than anything else, is the realisation that these
miserable creatures are an enemy able to keep the flower of England's
army in check, to levy a tax of six millions a-month upon this
country, and render abortive a military reputation built upon
unparalleled traditions. This is indeed a bitter reflection, a painful
reminder that the advance of science has placed the athlete and the
cripple almost upon an equality in armed encounter.

It was an interesting gathering that partook of dinner in the quaintly
boarded little dining-room of the Hopetown tavern. Four column
commanders and their staffs filled the tables, which betimes were the
mess-boards of the bank clerks and shop-walkers of the village. The
soldiers, however, had some right to be in temporary possession, since
the viands were their own. The two little serving-maids, daughters of
a Dutch proprietress, were alive to the unusual importance of their
duties, and had carefully prepared for the part. Print dresses were
dispensed with, and they stood arrayed in their Sabbath frocks,
covered with the becoming apron-pinafore which the country affects,
and with carefully braided hair. Quaint little maids--why should we
quiz them?--they were there dressed and determined to do their best.
At the first table sat a middle-aged major-gen