g to mix Canada in the war, whilst a third faction
suffering from the Celtic gift of second sight described how
mysterious falling stars and meteors flashing across the sky at night,
and other portents, presaged dire disaster to the British arms in the
war, and more particularly to the 48th Highlanders.

Staff officers, Majors Dixon and Sweny, were both soon called to
Valcartier to help organize the first contingent. Later, Major Sweny
left for England to join his regiment, which had been ordered to the
Front. Had Major Sweny remained in Canada he no doubt would have been
given a command high up on the staff, and very rapid promotion, but he
chose to play the manlier part, and joined his own regiment in England
when called. The war gave him well deserved promotion.

On August the 18th, the House of Commons met in Ottawa and the Speech
from the Throne was read by His Royal Highness the Duke of Connaught,
khaki being the uniform of the military men present. A short visit to
Ottawa to say good-bye to colleagues in the House of Commons, a brief
trip to Collingwood in my constituency to lay the corner stone of a
new postoffice building, and I was back again at the work of preparing
for Flanders. The soldiers were hardly settled in camp at Long Branch,
when orders were given that every man would have to be inoculated
against typhoid, and the process began on a Saturday. The men lined up
cheerfully and let the regimental surgeon, Major MacKenzie, jab a
needle and the serum into their arms.

The following Sunday there was a Church parade. The sermon was
preached by Rev. Major Crawford Brown, the regimental Chaplain. The
various units in camp paraded at a small natural amphitheatre near the
lines. Many people motored out from Toronto to attend the service. The
band of the regiment, under Lieut. John Slatter, came out and supplied
the music for the service. The day was beautifully bright and a trifle
warm. After the sermon had commenced, many of the men began to feel
the effects of the serum and a few toppled over, and for the first
time the new battalion heard the call of "stretcher bearer." The men
were all ordered to sit down. The effect of the inoculation is to make
one have real typhoid for a few hours, after that there is a quick
recovery, and the absence of typhoid among the men subsequently spoke
volumes for the efficacy of the preventative.

Every evening the battalion had a camp fire and "sing-song," and
hundreds of