VILLAGE GUARDS.
[To vas EDITOR or TUB STRCTATOR:1 Sra,—The patriotic efforts of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Lord Desborougb, yourself, and other far-sighted men, under the genial sunshine of War Office approval, are beginning to bear fruit abundantly. Down in this corner of Kent, within a radius of five miles, we hope shortly to muster some five hundred heroes who have passed the military age, but whose patriotic enthusiasm time has not staled nor the flying years abated. Each village is mustering its own con- tingent or section, as it is technically termed, from fifty to a hundred strong. It is good to see these valorous veterans being regularly trained twice or thrice a week by military experts in the elements of drill and musketry. When "efficiency," based upon attendance at forty drills, coupled with the attainment of a respectable proficiency at the rifle range, has been achieved, we hope to be incorporated with the Central Association of Volunteer Training Corps, which during the next six months should muster at least a million of trained veterans for the purpose of home defence, and to meet all other eventualities which may yet arise. Only four days ago I received from Lord Roberts—whose irreparable loss the country is now lamenting —a letter of kindly commendation, and I hope that one result of his noble life may prove to be the national adoption of that universal military training towards the popularization of which he devoted his latest and most strenuous years.
Requiescat in pace.—I am, Sir, &c., ARNOLD F. HILL/EL Hammerfield, Penshurst, Kent, November 15th.
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