CORRESPONDENCE.

WAR IN THE VILLAGE.

[TO TILE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.-] Sin,--The ignorance which prevails among our rural popula- tion on the subject of war and the Army is surprising when it is remembered what a large proportion of recruits are drawn from this class. Even such families as can boast one or more soldiers among its members are not much better in- formed than others less privileged. The people have a vague idea that the Army is a vast body of men, " moor'n arra one could count in a smart few days," for figures convey no im- pression to their mind, so small a number as five hundred being entirely beyond their grasp; and that parts of this great body, notably those in which they have a personal in- terest, are being continually "shifted" in a foolish, unneces- sary manner to all quarters of the globe. This arrangement is peculiarly trying to the letter-writing relatives of soldiers abroad. English addresses are easy enough, Irish names may be achieved with patience, but Indian titles are impossible. What transformations do they undergo ! Ferozepore would scarce recognise itself as " Freezypoo-er ; Mien Mir becomes "Mm Marn "; the luckless Punjab, however, suffers the strangest change, for the Land of the Five Rivers is ruthlessly metamorphosed into "Punchjam." "Shifted agin " ex- claimed a despairing mother who had just mastered an intricate address in which Bareilly figured as " Brolly "; "shifted agin ; this time 'tis fur his 'e'lth, a sez, so that aims moor sensible-like. They've gone up on the downs 'cause 'tis coolder thee nor down below, but I can't tell 'ee the name o' the place, 'tis that comacal, same as all o' them over ther'." By "the downs" the perplexed parent meant of course the hills, the low chalk range of her native county being the greatest height to which her mind could soar.

To the peasant the Army is a huge voracious machine which swallows unlimited raw material in the shape of ploughboys, and turns out a smart finished article,—the British soldier. Of the process of manufacture, however, beyoLd the knowledge that "they has to lam n their drillses an' their shootin'," the feeders of the machine are profoundly ignorant. "1 dwun't knaw nothink about so'jerin'," remarked a mother of eight sons, "though I've got three bwoys a-doin' it, an' a fourth as wanted to 'list, on'y they 'udn't take 'an 'cause a war too short. My sons ain't given to talkin' brodgel,* they niver sez much about the life. Harry 'e telled ma as 'e got drunk onct, a-foor 'e had hie good-conduck badge, an' the news out were stuck up in barricks fur arra one to read,—`Harry G-- drunk ' ! I can't think as that could ha' bin very pleasant fur 'e to look at ivery time as 'e paced in an' out ; a said you couldn't help but see't, 'twur writ sa large an' plain, an' I knaw that's true, fur Harry telled ma 'tis the on'y time as iver 'e war drunk, a-foor 'e had his badge as 'e sets sich store by." The in- formation to be gleaned from the letters of these taciturn warriors, who are so disinclined to reveal the secrets of the barrack, is meagre in quantity and more often about the station than the life, as when a lad newly arrived in India

• "Talliitr brolgel "—chattering freely.

writes that "it is getting warm hear, and the flys is enuf to eat us; they wont let us have eny rest. I ope I shell be able to stick the sun." The following is an unusually detailed

piece of description, and shows the writer to be an aCC0111- plis bed " scholerd." "We go back to barracks nex month "-

he was probably "on the downs," near the North-West Frontier—" and I shall be very glad, for their is a lot of theves up here, they take the men guns away at night and stand over them with a knife; if they ofer to move they stick them and kill them." This letter occasioned much anxiety in the mind of the recipient, who pronounced " Injia to be a tarrifyin' place, wher"um be allus a-fightin' an' a-skirmidgia' about; dwun't.niver sins to get it over an' done wi'." But pleasant news also comes across the water. Two brothers in different battalions of the same regiment meet and "have a drink together," the elder promising our mother at home to look after the new arrival, and "keep him out of the way of the old so'jers, who is the ones that leads you into mishtiff in this countrey, where 'tis as easy to he stiddy as in England, if on'y you keeps from two things." Or again, a boy writes to say that he has received the Frontier medal, and means to

be" fotoed directly the man what alwais took the rigment

comes back, as he is away at present." The photograph, when at length it arrives, is exhibited by the parents with intense pleasure ; and the decoration, which is persistently called "his metal," pointed out, accompanied by the remark that "no flies won't settle on 'un now." The soldier-sons

are a continual source of pride and comfort. "We niver

has to lay awake nights thinkin' o' they, 'eepting when they're fightin'. Now, ther's Fred, him that works at home, I dwun't niver knaw what time o' night 'e'll come home.

'E's terible fond o' drink, an' when a man's like that, 'e med be up to any mishtiff. I dwun't ha' no rest till I years 'an open the door an' come up to bed ; we they in the Army 'tis different. I knaws they has food to yet, clo'es to wear, an' a bed to sleep in; they're boun' to be

in barricks by sich a time, an' as I dwun't knaw what they're doin', I can't fret about 'nm,—'tis a sad pity as Fred didn't take arter his brothers." Of war itself the parents have the most hazy and confused notions. Here is the account of a skirmish in the late Frontier Campaign based on a letter from one who took part in the action :—" They went out to fight, did our folks, one marnin', an' the enemies was all in front of 'urn. Then they gets a-shootin', the one side at t'other side, an' the Major-Colonel, or whativer 'e calls hisself, war 'ounded—our Major-Colonel I manes, fur they black 'uns dwan't ha' sich things, I reckon; an' the men had to car'n away, so arter that a-coorse they had to give out fightin', an' take 'on home. My son, 'e had a bullet through his 'elma an' another betwixt the spine o' his back an' the pack as 'e car's on't, but a wurn't hurted nothink." Equally ignorant are they, as a rule, of the cause of the war. "Some o' they niggers killed some o' our folks, so I've a-yeard h'wever, an' we be gwine to kill some o' they to punish 'urn." Or :—" The girt peoples, kings an' Bich, gets a-quar'lin', an' cause they can't agree, they sets the poor sejers to fight it out. What I sez is—them as meks the quar'l did ought to be'r the blunt on't, not pat it on them as had to nought to doin' wi't. If these year high folk had to march all day, we p'raps on'y a bit o' bread to yet, to goo a-shootin' an' a-killin', wi' mebbe a bullet or a baggonette inside 'urn a-foor 'twur done, they'd think twice about gwine to war, I'll war'nt." The peasants are ready enough to take up arms for what they consider an adequate cause. They kindled to a white-heat of indignation over the Emperor William's historic telegram to Mr. Kruger. So high did feeling run, that German songs were rigorously tabooed at all the village entertainments, and—triumph of principle over mere pleasure !—a German band was compelled to beat an unprofitable and inharmonious retreat. "We've nothen agin their moosic, that be good anuff, but we won't ha' nothen to doin' wi' they Germans "—print, alas ! cannot reproduce the accent of scorn—" so bein' as they are, they'd best take theirselyes som'ers else." His Teutonic Majesty was universally reprobated, more particularly by the mothers of the community. "To think o' him darein' to do sich a thing ! I warmers as 'e warn% frowtened o' what his gran'- mother 'ad say to 'un; arra one 'ad a-thought as 'e'd a-showed her moor reespect, she an old lady and the QUEEN! Bat," at this point the speaker's voice waxed confident, "she gin

summat, you may depend upon't ; she let him know her

mindt ; she's not one to stan' no nonsense from a young chap like him. Did 'ee see the letter as she wrote 'un, 'twtir in the paper?" The epistle here alluded to may possibly be that which appeared in Punch, and was copied into the local journal. " Ah, she just about let 'un have it ; 'e didn't fancy hiaself quite sa much aster readin' that, I'll war'nt ! " One and all in the village were eager to fight ; one and all were absolutely secure of victory, expending much compassion on " t'other side as didn't ought to ha' acted sa ally." One patriot., in the excess of his zeal, was for smash- ing the Boers with the Flying Squadron, by which arrange- ment more force could be brought to bear upon the Germans and their destruction made more complete. On its being pointed out to him that, unhappily for the success of this otherwise admirably conceived plan, the Transvaal possessed no seaboard, his countenance fell and he pondered for some minutes. Then brightening "But I've a-yeard as them girt guns in our ships can hit arra thing a wunnerful way aff ; mebbe they'd kill some o' they Boers fellers arter all, an' if so be as 'Om didn't, why, isn't ther' a bit o' Germany anywheres about as they could get at ? " The Soudan Campaign was fol- lowed with interest, and some of the more intelligent among the villagers could tell you that the " commiseret" arrangements were not all they should have been, and that the " hignition o' the powder was orfnl bad." But it is exceedingly doubtful whether they knew of what they were talking ; fault-finding is an occupation peculiarly restful to the British mind—bucolic or otherwise—and long words exercise much fascination over those who do not quite understand their meaning. The Fashoda affair created no excitement except among such ardent spirits as, in deference to maternal entreaties, had elected to enter the Volunteer force instead of the Line. These were overjoyed at the prospect of a conflict with France, and hoped that now at last they would have a chance of striking a blow and showing what they could do "in the sejerin' business." The rest of the people were apathetic; what was Fashoda to them? The murder of a handful of British, or even of one, an insult to the Queen, were worthier causes of strife in their eyes than the acquisition of "a bit of land over ther', som'ers in furrin' parts, as 'udn't be a mossel o' good to we." Besides the love and loyalty which move the people gladly to give their sons to uphold their Sovereign's honour, they feel that she has a right to demand service of her soldiers. Does she not pay them all out of her own purse? "Tain't to be wnnner'd at as she meks we pay fur our dogs when she has to kip all they ; dear, dear, what a sight o' money it must coat her, to be sure, to feed sich a number, an' dress 'um in them fine clo'es !"

on'y one son," said a village mother to the writer, "an' at one time 'e thought about goin' in the Army; 'e niver went, an' I am glad on't, seem' as 'e's my on'y one, but I 'udn't a-stopped him by sa much as a word, fur, 'tis a noble thing to fight for the Queen."—I am, Sir, &c., E. G. H.