Soldiers have more work to do than many civilians give them credit for, but theirs is certainly not a case of all work and no play. In almost every barracks there is a library and recreation room. In the former are picture and other papers, and books that are frequently changed; i the latter a bagatelle, and sometimes a billiard table, and other games, The mention of books for soldiers reminds me of the following. I once asked a man in hospital what kind of book he would like me to get for him out. of the library. He replied, "Well, sir, I can read almost anything except the life of a General." There is in many barracks @ place with a Morris shooting tube in it, and a gymnasium where in the form of play a recruit can train his sight and strengthen his sinews. Should this and his work give a larger appetite than ordinary meals can take away, there is a coffee shop where he can procure almost a feast for twopence, and indigestion for threepence. The army is not all beer and skittles any more than are other kinds of life, but good beer can be got in the wet canteen, and a skittle alley is generally near it." Many of our warriors, however, especially the younger ones, patronise the dry rather than the wet canteen, preferring very wisely to eat their pay rather than to drink it, "Happily amusenients may be got in barracks without going to the canteen at all. Conjurors, thought readers, animal magnetists, clairvoyants, frequently ask for and get permission to mystify Tommy. In many regiments there is a dramatic club, which arranges "gaffs" at which, when soldiers act the part of ladies, they appear gigantically tall, and give them-solve airs and graces which no doubt they must have seen in real life. But what "brings down the house" is step-dancing. The man who is known to be "handy with his feet" is sure of applause even before he begins. To me the comic songs of our soldiers are sad and the tragic ones funny. When Tommy is sentimental he is very much so, and sings about love and war and other dangerous things at such length that I sometimes think that he has learned off a three volume novel. Cards and a game called Check, played with buttons on small squares of differently coloured cloth, are frequently to be seen in a barrack room, and a "dust up" with the gloves is not uncommon.
out-of-door games are preferred there are regimental and company cricket, football and other clubs, and good players are made almost as much of in a regiment as they are at a public school. Before a match that may bring honour to the corps, they are excused many duties and sometimes specially fed. Many soldiers own a bicycle and they can make it. almost a wheel of fortune by carrying messages on Her Majesty's service at Id. 2 mile.
Thomas Atkins goes all over the world, so his recreations vary according to the place and climate he is in. He is a keen sportsman. After one of the battles in South Africa, our soldiers uw races with horses taken from the Boers. They also raced and backed favourite scorpions. In India, where ponies are cheap, some cavalry sergeants play polo, and in that country there are even privates who go out to shoot big and little game in as lordly a manner as the millionaire who has hired a Scotch moor.
When the heat is too great to go out of doors, Tommy does fret-work, not in himself but in wood, makes badges he has collected, and embroiders pictures of the colours and other things belonging to the regiment.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.