whom he confused at the bi-weekly meetings with the ancient scales ; who could never remember which were authentic and which plagal. They could manage to recollect that a true Gregorian should have but one recitation or dominant note; but what note the Doric Authentic D had for its plagal, or how, having D for a keynote, the scale should be without sharps or flats-all these things were puzzling. But the curate persevered, and old men raised their eyes to the ceiling by way of listening, while the old women, far back in their big bonnets, looked as if no circle of sound could touch their ears, and the younger people confessed, admiringly, that "the pace was sharpened wonderful, and it was more spirity like."

But attendant upon the composition of those sermons there was a new feature the one listener. The Rev. Ralph did not acknowledge it to himself, did not argue about it, but there it was. They were not only preached to her as well as himself, but they were written with the shadow of the face in the room with him; and, though he was hardly conscious of it, there was, faint and far-distant, an idea of intellectual appreciation or human sympathy breaking every now and then, like a spark, across the dreary waste of his work. He went out from the sermon which this intangible presence had presided over; he went out, into one of the bad parts of his parish, not far from the great piston, revolving in his mind an unhappy sentence which refused to fit into its place.

Again he stopped opposite that same cottage from which he had once drawn back in disgust. This time it was at the window he stopped, constrained to do so by a single passing glance. He saw there the sick woman, still propped up with pillows in her chair; but the fluttered garments had disappeared. The fire was bright, and in front of it there was a slight figure, with folded hands and a pale childish face. It was his one listener. As her lips moved, the peevish woman opposite to him brightened up into a smile; the slouching man had taken himself away, and the dirty child was dirty no longer. The fire flashed out upon those earnest eyes he knew so well, lighting them up, and once they turned suddenly to the window. Then Ralph drew back with a start of dismay as great as though he had actually felt a reproving glance rest upon himself. And he went away about his business with the unlucky sentence gone for ever.

Who was she?

That was one question, but not the only one, which appealed to him for an answer as he walked back to his lodging.

She stood on that hearth like one who was at ease; oppressed by no awkwardness or constraint. She stood there like one who was welcome, and whose presence gave pleasure. Why could not he do this?

(To be continued.)

CHRISTMAS EVE AND MORN.

CHRISTMAS EVE AND MORN.

ARMY READING ROOMS.

"THE family of the Herberts-a family that hath been blessed with men of remarkable wisdom, and a willingness to serve their country, and, indeed, to do good to all mankind; for which they were eminent."

It was Izaak Walton who wrote thus nearly two hundred years ago in his life of "holy Mr. Herbert, of Bemerton." The Lord Herbert of Lea, whom we lost last year, came of the same ancestral stock as the poet, and one might suppose the eulogy had been written more expressly in view of the patriotic labours with which he wore out his life. It is to call renewed attention to one of the latest of those labours; to an object which he had very much at heart, but which he was not spared to accomplish, that this article is written.

It was in February, 1861, that instructions were issued by Lord Herbert, through his able Under-Secretary, Sir Benjamin Hawes, to a Committee which he had appointed "to inquire into, and report on, the present state, and on the improvement of Libraries, Reading Rooms, and Day Rooms for the troops." The instructions were clear, minute, thoughtful, and the Committee were urged to meet as soon as possible. Their report bears date 24th August, 1861, and as the inquiry involved a correspondence with many of our stations in Canada, the Mediter ranean, and elsewhere abroad; as, moreover, the Commissioners were Major-Generals Eyre and Lawrence, the Reverend Mr. Gleig, (the Chaplain-General of the Army,) and other gentlemen well known for their energy and ability, there seems to be no reason to think their work could have been so well done as they have done it, in less than six months. But in the meantime the generous brain that had set them to work had itself ceased working; the eloquent, earnest tongue that should have pressed their recommendations on the legislature, had been silent for three weeks past; Lord Herbert had died on the 2nd of August. And in a little while Sir Benjamin Hawes had followed him too; and the ball that had been set a-rolling now lies still again. The report of the Committee was indeed "presented to both Houses of Parliament by command of Her Majesty," but it seems to have been submerged in the general deluge of blue books. The session came and went, and we heard of no action being taken upon it.

But though Parliament has as yet been silent, the press has not remained so. The "Times," the "Saturday Review," "All the Year Round," and other influential serials, have from time to time discussed the problem of how to turn to some good the leisure of the soldier; and sufficient proof has been given that the subject is one of national interest. Nearly all the troops in the British Army, we are told, pass

LEISURE OF THE SOLDIER.

31

through Aldershot in turn, and it is calculated that of the fifteen thousand who are generally quartered there, two-thirds have, on an average, each five hours of leisure in the day. It is an amount of leisure which most labouring men possess only on one day of the seven, which very few clerks or tradesmen can call their own any oftener, which indeed men of business, and taxpayers in general, can very seldom obtain for themselves. What is true of the troops at Aldershot, is equally true, for the most part, wherever troops are in garrison, or not engaged in actual service. It becomes a question, therefore, of very serious interest;-In what way is all this leisure spent; and how could it be spent to the best, or at any rate to better, advantage? The answer to the first part of this question, "How is it spent ?" is a short one, and an evil one :-in the canteen, the beer-house, the brothel. Alexander's men are, in their humbler way, like Alexander himself. Bacchus, and Mars, and "lovely Thais" are their divinities as well as his. If not wine, then beer. If not war, then brawling. If not love, then lust. "How to spend this leisure better?" would seem also, after such premises, an inquiry not difficult to answer, but it is one that has been already answered in so many ways that it has at last become a theme of contention. Shall the soldier fill up his spare time by labouring at military or other national works? by gardening? by working at his trade (for a very large proportion of the soldiers have trades)? Shall he be ordered additional drill and pipe-clay? or shall he, finally, have his leisure still at his own disposal for dissipation, recreation, or instruction?

Each system has its advocates and each its opponents. The civilian public would not see any hardship in the men who are paid their daily wages by the state being required to do a reasonable day's work at whatever kind of labour the State might most need. But then civilians are, as is known, wholly given over to folly and stupidity. It is only the professional mind which can understand how in England, more than elsewhere, a man should be a worse soldier for working now and then as a navvy, a mason, or a carpenter.

Leaving out of the question, therefore, the spending of this leisure, or part of it, in State labour, there remain the calls of recreation and instruction. But even to what are generally called amusements, we are told the soldier in no way takes so kindly as we might have expected. The Rev. Mr. Dacres, the Chaplain of the Forces at the Curragh, says :"There is no problem more difficult to solve than how to amuse the British soldiers. Give them cricket, and unless the officers play with them, very few will avail themselves of it; give them athletic games, and unless you add prizes it is in vain; give them plots of ground for gardening, and, unless they can make large profits by selling the produce, they will not raise as many vegetables as will supply their own mess. I have not seen the experiment of a gymnasium or a fencing-room, but

I fear that unless such exercises be made a part of their daily drill, they will share a similar fate; for the only game I have seen persevered in is skittles, near a canteen: away from the canteen it was a failure."

And as it is evident that the soldier cannot be compelled to amuse himself, contrary to his own inclination, we come next to consider What inducements do we hold out to these men whom we don't keep at work, and who play with so little spirit, to spend some portion of their leisure on books? What is the present state of affairs as revealed by Lord Herbert's commission?

We will try to draw the picture of what is called an ing-Room" as it is presented to us in the report.

Army Read

It is an ordinary barrack-room, capable of accommodating, with not too much elbow-space, from ten to fifteen men. The furniture consists of a plain deal-table, a bench or two, a chair or two. It is not very light in the daytime, for the window-space is of the scantiest. At night the dimness is made a little more perceptible by the aid of candles or oil, and sometimes (but more rarely) the room has even a gaslight in it. In a fourth part of the whole number reported upon, the lighting is stated to be very insufficient; and in the cold and rainy season— -the season when men do read, if they read at all—the same complaint is made as regards the fuel. Either the room is warmed by a stove (always red-hot, or else with the fire rapidly dying out), or if it has an open grate the supply of coal is inadequate. The newspapers and magazines are littered (perhaps in detached portions) on the table, or piled in the window. The books are not ranged on shelves, but stowed where they cannot be seen, in chests or cupboards, generally of the rudest and most unsightly description. Perhaps, too, the room is the "librarian's quarters," and he is dining at the table, or washing himself with his basin on the bookbox; in either of which cases it is not pleasant to interrupt him. There are a couple of men playing draughts or dominoes on one of the benches, with a running commentary of curses only half subdued. However large the garrison, it is rare that more than two such rooms as this are provided for library and reading accommodation. More generally there is only one-one, in fact, of the kind, being, very naturally, found quite enough. The instances are very few, indeed, in which a room has been designed and built specially as a reading-room and library.

This then is the encouragement which we offer to the soldier to become a reader of books; and the Commissioners report that they find the soldier displays but "little relish for literary amusement or instruction."

"Little relish," we should think! Which of us, indeed, who read

"It very often happens, under present arrangements, that the emergency-a severe frost or long-continued rain-for which additional fuel is required, has passed before authority can be obtained for more coals."-Commissioners' Report, p. 8.