s not
much liked by the rest of the men in the troop. He used to be looked up
to as a 'schollard,' but has lost ground lately, owing to a singular
circumstance. A letter appeared in the _Ballymucky Reporter_, signed
'MILES,' and Sergeant-Major tells me that GRUMBLE wrote a letter in
reply, and signed himself 'Two _miles_,' and was informed in the answers
to correspondents, in the next number, that he was an ass. All the men
saw it, and GRUMBLE got laughed at for his 'law.' I am very glad the men
have lost faith in him, as CAPTAIN CHUM told me he was always boring
about fractions and the price of shaving brushes. As the GENERAL wants
us to know all about straps and buckles, and packing valise, &c., I told
Sergeant-Major I would look at one yesterday. So PRIVATE MUSCLES was
ordered to show; but as his highlows were at the shoemaker's, and forage
cap at the tailor's, and the rest of the valise was filled with two
sheets and a bolster, I didn't get much information from him. The
Sergeant-Major said I had better order him a week's marching order, and
make him show kit in the afternoon. Which I did, as I thought it better
to do what the Sergeant-Major said. I looked at the kit in the
afternoon. _Such_ a kit, WHIFFIN, you never saw. The Sergeant-Major
'shook up' everything, and found that the fellow had actually got a wisp
of hay rolled up in a helmet-bag to represent a shirt, and his 'drors,'
as he called them, would, I verily believe, reach from my quarters to
the riding-school. Sergeant-Major says he's always late for morning
stables in winter because his drawers are so full of holes he can't get
into them till a candle is lighted. I hope all this 'private'
information won't bore you, but I have really had no time lately to go
to town and see any of our old haunts. Besides, the GENERAL says we must
take an interest in this sort of thing, in order to study the 'comforts
of the men.'

"Good-bye for the present, old fellow. I shall let you know how we're
getting on from time to time.

"Yours truly,

"JOHN SNAFFLES, _Queen's Piebalds_.

"P.S.--I've released MUSCLES and given him a new kit, on the condition
that he won't get drunk for a month. You know our match with all
Hammersmith comes off in three weeks, and it wouldn't do to have him
away then--he's a capital long-stop. By the bye, you must contrive to
have a pain in the side, or some urgent business with your legal adviser
about that time, as we can't get any one to b