The Road to Manhood, by W. Beach Thomas, is a
volume of " The Young England Library," Edited by George A. B. Dewar (G. Allen, 6s. per vol.) It deals with many of the activities of life, with various forms of exercise—gymnastics, for instance, and swimming—with some games—especially football, to which, indeed, it assigns the praise of being "the most English game," and baseball, which it compares with cricket—and with Volun- teering. On all these subjects Mr. Thomas has something worth hearing to say. His remarks about Volunteering are especially good. We wish that young Englishmen could more generally sympathise with him when he writes :—"I have played most games and have enjoyed all I have played ; but I have never seen such solid and satisfactory enjoyment all around as in and after a good field-day, or during the week of the public schools' encampment at Aldershot." Unfortunately, the fascina- tion of games has taken away from the Volunteer ranks nearly the whole of the upper middle class. Forty years ago they were the main strength of regiments which now almost entirely consist of artisans. Except in a few corps, the gentleman private is not even as frequent as he is in the Regulars.
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