s. Everything is done
by bugles. At 6.30 in the morning there is the first call
and everyone gets up. If you don't--the sergeant comes along
and pulls you out. To wash we have to run down to the other
end of the camp and fill our buckets. There are only two
buckets for sixty chaps, so you can imagine the scramble.
For a bathroom we have a large field, and we nearly break
our backs bending down over the basins. For about one hour
before breakfast we do physical drill with our coats off.
And hard work it is. For breakfast we have streaky greasy
bacon. Funny--at home, I never ate bacon, I couldn't stick
it, but here I walk into it and enjoy it. The tea they give
us is not ideal, but so long as it is hot and wet it goes
down all right. For dinner it's stew--stew--stew, but it's
not bad. Of course, some day I get all gravy and no meat,
another day meat and no gravy. Tea is quite all right. We
have plenty of bread, butter, jam, and cheese. All food is
fetched in dixeys (large boilers), and tea, stew, and bacon
are all cooked in turn in these, so if the orderlies don't
wash them clean at dinner time we have greasy, stewy tea.

"I am getting a bit used to the marching, especially when
there is anyone singing. The favourites are 'John Peel,'
'Cock Robin,' 'Oh, who will o'er the downs so free?' 'John
Brown's Body,' 'Hearts of Oak,' and 'Annie Laurie.' We all
have little books of Camp Songs, and we learn them at night;
it makes all the difference to the marching. One of the
songs is:--

"Oh, Mother is the leader of society, and
You can see her name is in the papers every day.
She was presented at the court
For fighting Mrs. Short
Down our way.

"Not an exactly edifying song, but it goes with a swing. I
can hardly keep my eyes open as I write this."

On the whole and considering everything--a wide phrase covering many
things unspoken--Sydney Baxter enjoyed his camp life, but Christmas
was certainly a hardship. He writes:

_Christmas Day, 1914._

"All day yesterday I was on fatigue work, and did not finish
until 7.30 to 8. We started the morning by building a hedge
with bushes gathered from the Heath, and then we unloaded
trucks of hay and straw and built them in a stack. I g