12 OCTOBER 1901, Page 3

We endorse with great pleasure the appeal for the Field

Force Fund which is being raised by a Committee of ladies in order to supply our troops in the field with Christmas gifts. We very greatly hope that the appeal will meet with a hearty response. It is an imperative duty to make the soldier on active service feel that he is not forgotten by his fellow countrymen and countrywomen at home. We note that the proposal is to send each scldier a parcel which shall contain a pipe, a packet of tobacco, a pair of socks, a handkerchief, a small plum pudding, a Christmas card, and a small housewife. That is an excellent Christmas stocking, and since we have all something of the child in us, the very homeliness of the parcel's contents is sure to appeal to the men. Truly, the men who are fighting our battles on the veld deserve any and every small pleasure which we can afford them, and we trust that the subscriptions will come in freely,—and yet will not injure the other war funds. This is the soldier's Christmas-box, and should be given in addition to other subscriptions. No family at home should feel easy at Christmas if they have not remembered our soldiers' Christmas stockings.