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gentleman cadets of the lastjoined term," this last word being ambiguously used for a period of time-viz., that which lasted from one vacation to another-in the usual way, and to the whole body of youths who, working together and passing together from the embryo stage of "last joined " to the full-fledged officer, became a sort of clan or family, with mutual bonds of comradeship for life. When I state that in July 1914 no fewer than eighteen of our "Old Term" dined together at "the Senior," it will be realised that the above is no exaggeration.

Food and housing in those bygone days were problems which were plainly and adequately, but certainly not luxuriously, solved. We break fasted in a beautiful dininghall at 8, after the chaplain, or the subaltern on duty, had read prayers. As on the historic occasion of the burial of Sir John Moore, "few and short were the prayers we said," and then we tackled our breakfast with youthful appetites. The senior class of cadets-smart, efficient, young soldiers, with booted overalls, spurs, and swords-attended prayers, but marched off at once to riding drill, presumably having had breakfast already. Over them was the "Responsible Under Officer," the senior cadet, Ronald Maxwell, a model of soldierly efficiency, who was QuartermasterGeneral of the Army in France

in the Great War, and who, as far as I know, is the only soldier in the Army who has won the bronze medals for the Kabul-Kandahar march under Lord Roberts and the similar medal for the Great War operations in 1914-15. Another cadet in the same term is now Sir Jocelyn Wodehouse, of Sudanese fame.

All this, however, is anticipating, though the stately memories of old campaigns that surrounded the beautiful dininghall naturally raised thoughts of whether we too, prosaically eating breakfast or dinner, would ever have the honour of serving in the field under great leaders like Marlborough and Wellington.

Dinner was at 1.30, after a very strenuous morning's work. Roast beef and plum-pudding, certainly twice a week, and good substantial fare always, with plenty of wholesome beer; and lest drowsiness should follow, we went at once to gymnasium or riding-school, or heavy-gun drill. We had tea after evening lectures at 7, and then were free to amuse ourselves as we chose, and generally as described below.

As far as accommodation went, each cadet in the three senior terms had a room to himself in the very attractive "wings" of the Academy. These buildings, very like those in our great universities, were charmingly arranged for sleep and study. They were simply furnished, and it was customary for each occupant to add to

this official provision a few soldier, of the age that we were luxuries.

The junior cadets for about the first year were housed in barrack rooms, each holding four occupants, very barely furnished. This might be very objectionable, for there were ancient customs of practical jokes on the last joined, some of which were merely childish and others coarse. The "Old Term" considered the question when the opportunity came round to us, and we decided to discontinue them entirely as barbarous relics of an age gone by, and unworthy of English gentlemen. In any case, living with other youths who are strangers can be disagreeable.

But there is another side to the question. For four chums to live in the same room may be far pleasanter than for each to have a room of his own. During the winter of 1872-3 Shirres and I applied for a room, together with two others of the "Old Term," and we had a most jovial time. We worked together, fed together, lived together, and, certainly on one occasion, we fought together. Study, of course, was out of the question with four buoyant spirits, but after all we had every day six hours of bookwork in lecture-rooms. This side of barrack life was extremely pleasant, and I have often remembered it since, when in the course of my career as an engineer officer I have had to design barracks, being convinced that the private

then, is far better living in cheery fellowship with a few comrades than having a cubicle to himself.

Our servants were old gunners, many of them with Crimean and Mutiny medals. One, who looked after Jock and me, had a ghastly scar in his hand from a Russian lance at Inkerman or Balaclava. These servants had hard work, for they looked after the cadets in four rooms, and that meant (besides cleaning boots and belts for sixteen lads), in winter, lighting four fires at 7 A.M. or thereabouts; for this was our one great luxury, and it enabled us to dress in great comfort. The bathrooms were situated in a little shed on the far side of an open court behind the house, each bath being of circular form, about four feet diameter and a a foot deep. Every morning it was the invariable rule for each cadet, juniors first, to rush to the baths (of which there was one for each room), splash all over, and flee back again, dressed in a sponge, to dry in front of the fire. Hot water was absolutely unknown. I have often in winter crossed the yard in snow and in the dark, and found the bath partially frozen, but I never heard of any one being harmed by the exposure. Naked dripping bodies fleeing for dear life along the corridors, or up the stairs, used to flash past in the semi-darkness, but shirking this daily ordeal was unheard of, even if extra drill

made one turn out half an hour earlier than usual.

Our uniform, which was worn always, except when on leave of absence, was comfortable, but not very practical. It consisted of a dark-blue tunic, with red collar, and blue trousers, with a narrow red stripe. We had no pockets, so could not carry even a pencil or penknife, and a tight tunic is not a very suitable garment for riding or heavy-gun drill. However, it was the practice in the Army generally then to have all clothing made for appearance rather than utility. We wore a round cap, with gold lace of the artillery pattern, on all ordinary occasions, but in full dress we had the artillery busby, with a white plume on the left side and a scarlet bag hanging over the right. head-dress was worn chiefly on Sundays, when with much ceremonial the cadets marched down to the Garrison Church and took part in the general parade of the garrison, being officially the First Company of the Royal Regiment of Artillery. Of this I personally saw nothing, as I paraded with the "heretics and papists" (Presbyterians and Roman Catholics), who marched down amicably together to the chapels of these persuasions, which happened to be situated alongside of one another. There were no Wesleyan cadets or any other denomination; I do not know why, but I never met an officer belonging to them.

VOL. CCXV.-NO. MCCCI.

This

As regards those who ruled over us, there was, most important of all, the Governor (I believe that theoretically at that time he was only Lieutenant Governor, the Commander-in-Chief being the titular Governor), Sir Lintorn Simmons, afterwards a FieldMarshal, Governor of Malta, and Envoy to the Pope. He was then a vigorous, capable man in the prime of life, with huge red moustache and whiskers, kindly shrewd eyes, and beetling eyebrows. Of course we only saw him on rare occasions. When discipline demanded, he would (and did) speak to us like a father. But I know he had warm sympathy with exuberant youths, and his brilliant row of medal ribbons showed that he had the hall-mark of war service, which we all respected. There were also the colonel and the adjutant, whom we saw on parade weekly. But the officers with whom we were most concerned were the subalterns who daily inspected us and taught us drill, and the instructors in various technical subjects. And there were the sergeants, a few of them fat and ludicrous, some very smart and alert. I used to like to chat with them, just as one would do with a coachman about his horses, or a gamekeeper about the prospects of shooting; but comparatively few of them were responsive. An exception, however, was the sergeant-major, whom we knew as "Thunderbomb,"

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though his name was something like Cochrane. To him, I believe, the acme of human bliss was to command a horse artillery or a field battery. Smart and dapper himself, with a splendid voice and perfect knowledge of all minute details of a gunner's life, it was a treat to stand by him when there was a field-day going on. Not a detail escaped his eagle eye. "Did you see that 'oss artillery battery, sir; the officers did not come quite to the salute together, whereas in the next battery they was perfect," &c., &c. He told me once he would rather instruct six squads of ordinary gunners than one of cadets. young gentlemen are up to such a lot of tricks, but you do learn the job, I must say, in 'arf the time.'

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Then there was a sergeant whose business it was to take us on in heavy drill. "This, gentlemen," he would say, "is a weel

This is the nave, these are the spokes, this is the felly. This 'ere is hoak, this is hash, and this is helm "; and then possibly (to some grinning cadet), "Mr, sir, take that smile off your face; you make the 'ole squad unsteady."

Two more sergeants must be mentioned, huge Horse Artillerymen, who taught us sword drill, fencing, single-stick, &c. With one of these I used to box frequently, as I was fond of that form of exercise. But one day he fairly lost his temper and pummelled me

badly. I did not mind that, but I did mind the uncertainty of temper displayed, for it was not playing the game. Both these men taught us all the regulation physical training exercises, but they were too big and heavy for much gymnasium work.

After our day's work was over, about 7.30 or 8, most of us went to the gymnasium and larked about the various bars and spars. Two or three times a week the Artillery Band came there and played, generally dance music, to which we danced with one another in our flannels, and certainly learnt all the usual steps then in vogue. I believe later ladies were asked to certain evenings there, but in those days we never saw any of the fair sex about the place. There were two billiard-rooms, to which some fellows went, and capital workshops, where, if tired of gymnastics, one could work with lathes or other tools, and have a little help, and much scorn, from a crusty old mechanic there, whom some of us loved to draw. At 10 P.M. the trumpet sounded the "Last Post," and we had to be in our rooms and answer the rollcall of the corporal on duty, and lights were out at 10.30.

"But what did they teach you?" is the question which Professor George Saintsbury in one of his charming " scrapbooks" puts in the mouth of an inquirer relative to Oxford; and it is one which was often asked relative to our time at

saw the guns made in the Arsenal, and we fired them at Shoeburyness. It was excellent and up-to-date. We also learnt something about military surveying and how to use sextant and compass, though I think we wasted a lot of time over antiquated methods of representing slopes of land. We learnt (from Captain, afterwards General Sir Henry, Brackenbury) the fresh story of the recent war, of Worth and Gravelotte, Bredow's charge at Mars la Tour, and Kameke marching to the sound of guns at Colombey. But the military engineering was ancient, old as the days of Marlborough, and redolent of the pompous jargon of French pedants. We were not taught anything useful about the field defences of positions and villages, and very little about the passage of rivers, the mining and demolition of obstacles. This, I think, was one of the weakest features of the whole instruction.

Woolwich. It must be remembered that the era was one of profound significance in the Army. The old order was changing. The Franco-German War had caused many seriously to examine and question the existing system. The new school of thought, of which Wolseley was the chief exponent, was expressing its views with emphasis, and the old school was saying that the Army was going to the dogs. The Cardwell Reforms had come to stay. Among these possibly the most significant was the abolition of purchase and the consequent demolition of the wall which separated the Cavalry, Guards, and Infantry from the Artillery and Engineers. Yet, strange to say, one of the first effects of this was to close Sandhurst for something like three years, and thus, at the time of which I write, Woolwich was our only military school in actual being. As this was the case, surely some general education about all arms was impera- It will possibly be amazing to tive. Yet I am bound to say those who read this to learn that the teaching at Woolwich that we were allowed to take was far too restricted, far up as voluntary subjects Latin too much on one subject and Greek. For the entrance only. We learned nothing examination these were quite about cavalry and infantry in order, for knowledge of tactics, but we did learn all about artillery. This was taught thoroughly, in all its details, theoretical and practical. We learnt how guns were made, and how they were used. We learnt the science of ballistics and the chemistry of explosives. We

these languages showed at least
some smattering of a liberal
education.
education. But it was quite
another thing, when one's mili-
tary training and education
began, to make marks gained
for knowledge of these ancient
tongues equal to those for
French or German, or for artil-

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