Holland, Italy, and France followed the greatest of military powers in this matter; and now the dog is thoroughly established in the battlefield as a unit of high value. It is realized that hundreds if not thousands of men may owe their lives to canine searchers, or at least the mitigation of terrible suffering, such as the dreadful thirst resulting from loss of blood. The Russian army in Manchuria employed hundreds of specially trained collies, and Captain Persidsky, of the late Count Keller's staff, reported to his chief: "In finding the missing and wounded with which the millet fields were strewn, nothing even approached our pack of seven English dogs. In our last engagement fiftythree men were found more or less badly wounded in utterly unsuspected places, where the stretcherbearers and the surgeons would never have even dreamed of looking." On another zeal. Prince Adolf, of Schaumburg Lippe, had a night trial at Bonn, when the dogs discovered casualties which could not be found at all by even the most experienced of the ambulance men. Similar trials were carried out by Captain Cistola, head of the Ambulance Dog Establishment in Rome, which has been subsidized by the Italian Government, with surprising results. As to Great Britain, every year her War Office authorities carry out exhaustive tests of war dogs, both at Aldershot and in the great territory recently acquired for military purposes on Salisbury Plain. The scene during one of these night trials is most weird and im pressive. Long shafts of dazzling light thrown by portable searchlights sweep the entire range of rugged, boulder-strewn common, and under these rays the engineers and dogs glide silently through bracken and undergrowth seek ing for men sup- occasion with ONE OF THE POWERFUL BELGIAN HOUNDS USED BY THE As the bearer sections advanced, with the Major and his dogs, the collies would be loosed from their leash with the sharp words, "Seek, laddie!" Instantly the eager and powerful animal would spring into the undergrowth, nosing silently and swiftly among the bushes and long grass, ever searching and racing, and covering more ground TRAINING A DOG TO ATTEND A WOUNDED MAN ON in one minute than one of the ambulance- Hurrying to the spot, the officer and his stretcher-bearers would find the soldier lying collapsed and prostrate on the ground, feigning to be very far gone indeed. He was lifted tenderly on to the canvas stretchers, while his savior gave a series of low delighted barks and wagged his tail as the Major rewarded him with kind words and caressing hand. The dog immediately resumed his search for the next casualty; and soon the cry of "Bearer company" from out of the darkness would bring the stretcher men up at the run. After this, for some time, the dog searched over a large area in vain. Suddenly he plunged into a dense growth of bracken on the left flank of a hill. Major Richardson judged that this was too far away for any wounded men to be found, and called him back. But the dog ignored him, and, as no bell could be heard, the eager creature was followed, and found standing over two prostrate "wounded" almost wholly buried in ferns and bushes. In Germany the war dog plays many parts besides searching for the wounded. Thus he guards baggage, and will carry despatches at great speed and with many wiles, escaping rifle-shot and bursting shell (he is thoroughly accustomed to both), and getting through an enemy's lines where cavalryman or trooper would merely court inevitable destruction. The training of the dogs is by no means easy, and calls for sympathy, insight, and immense patience. They vary in intelligence, just as human beings do; and some of them readily see what is required of them and take to the work with great zest. As regards their equipment, the great military na tions have various systems. Bungartz, in Germany, equips his dogs with a saddle which has several pockets, in which are placed neat bandages and surgical dressings; while round the animal's neck is a small barrel with brandy or other stimulant. Captain Cistola, the Italian authority, places his flask in the pockets of the saddle. Colonel Malentieff, the Russian staff officer charged with the instruction and maintenance of war dogs, provides his four-footed soldiers with lanterns. Major Richardson, however, the English military trainer, considers that the equip ment should be as simple as possible. He thinks the bandages and stimulant unnecessary, since British troops carry all their "first aid" dressing on their person. Also, he points out that if a wounded man were able intelligently to take the bandages and stimulants from the dog, he would surely be in a fit state to call out for the stretcher-bearers. Undoubtedly the extra weight of these articles hinders the action of the canine scout. "My own dogs," he told the writer, "wear a very light canvas saddle with no pockets, but with the Geneva Cross on flaps at either side. Each wears a leather collar and a loud bell. They are attached in relays to the bearer companies of the Ambulance Corps; also to companies of the Royal Army Medical Corps, and to volunteer bearer companies." Their real use is now internationally acknowledged, as we have seen; and this is especially felt after a battle, when the searchers have collected all the wounded that are visible, and yet it is known from the roll-call that many are still "missing." The great difficulty lies in having dogs trained and ready in sufficient numbers. For it is utterly useless to take untrained dogs into the field in time of war. A model establishment is, perhaps, that of Italy, where, in the Roman military headquarters, there is a regular training establishment for the "dogs of war," and a large stud of dogs are kept in constant training in peace time. And hither officers come from all parts of the country, from the Alps to Mount Etna, to get practical instruction in the value, selection, and education of the dogs. ONE OF THE WAR COLLIES OF THE BRITISH ARMY RETURNING WITH A MESSAGE IN HIS POCKET. HE HAS TRAVERSED SIX MILES OF COUNTRY HENRY CHURCHILL KING LEADER IN THEOLOGICAL THOUGHT BY WASHINGTON GLADDEN R. Drummond says that while the New Jerusalem was the proper of object John's faith, because the old Jerusalem was John's city, the vision which should kindle our enthusiasm is not of the new Jerusalem, but of the new Glasgow, the new Boston, the new Chicago, the new Columbus, or whatever city or town may be our home. The new Chicago is waiting in the heavens above the old one-waiting to come down to earth as soon as the people on the ground get ready for it and call it down. Other cities, great and small, have experienced this transformation. Some of the worst are much less bad than once they were, and some of the best are a great deal better. It may not have been widely published, but it is a fact that there is a new Oberlin. It has been coming down out of heaven from God for a number of years, but of late the descent has been more rapid and notable. The Oberlin of to-day, in its physical features, in its intellectual attitude, is quite a different community from that of fifty years ago, or even of twenty-five years ago. I do not think that the fundamental moral convictions or tendencies have greatly changed, but the horizon has been extended and the outlook has widened. More than one hand has helped to lay the foundations on which the new Oberlin has been descending out of heaven from God; that calm and courageous thinker, James Fairchild, had much to do with them; that seer and master of assemblies, Edward I. Bosworth, has been busy upon them. But the master builder of the new Oberlin is its present President, Henry Churchill King. Of the place which President King holds in the hearts of the new generation of Oberlin men and women I have had some opportunities of judging. A few years ago, when he was teaching philosophy in the College, it was my privilege to hear him deliver a "Thursday Lecture" to the students in the chapel. The old building was packed to the doors, and the welcome which the students gave him when he rose to speak was itself a revelation. The lecture was a rather stiff scientific discussion of the psychological principles underlying conduct; it was unsparing as surgery, but it was tender as maternity, and it was good to look into those students' faces and see how this serious appeal in which there was never a tone of "jollying' held their thought and gripped their con sciences. When the hour's address was ended, the volley of sustained applause was a tribute that did equal credit to speaker and hearers. From that hour I had no doubt who ought to be the President of Oberlin. Three years ago, at his inauguration, I had the honor of walking with President King in the procession to the church, and when the long line opened order and let us march through, the greeting that he received was something to remember. The faculty and the alumni, especially the later ones, were enthusiastic enough, but the undergraduates-what a passion of loyalty, of admiration, of affection, it was that shone from their eyes and rang in their voices! To have won such regard as this from thousands of young men and women is a greater |