THE EMPRESS CLUB . BATHS. .
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR.1
SIR,—If cleanliness be next to godliness, then surely the B.E.F. strives after the good ! In the trenches all ranks inevitably become, and remain, plastered with viscous and filthy mud. Sent back to rest, all ranks start spontaneously and with enthusiasm to wash and make them clean. Who of us out here has not paused in his walk, even on a raw and chilly morning, to smile at the spectacle of " Thomas Atkins " stripped to the waist, girt with a towel, performing copious ablutions in the coldest of water and with the aid of a most inadequate biscuit tin, a small crowd of natives, interested and amused, regarding this foreign and incomprehensible habit ! If a wash be good, how infinitely better Is a hot bath, and how real our gratitude to those who provide the where- withal. We have splashed and almost swum in huge laundry-vats ; we have doubled ourselves into exiguous half-tubs ; we have experienced the gentle and refreshing rain from the " rose shower " ; but now, best of all, thanks to the Empress Club, we can recline in something which looks and feels like a bath, the real goods ! The Empress Club : I know not what it is or who its members are ; to me it is only a name, though a name of power stencilled in black on the iron sides of its thrice-blessed gifts ; but were it a club of Empresses, the thanks of many a weary soldier, eased of his aches, cleansed from his stains, would be a not B.B.F.
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