re very kind and offered us the most
amazing collection of subjects. The secretary of many a literary
society at home would be envious of our list. We accepted every offer
we got, no matter how inappropriate the subject seemed to be.

It was impossible to tell beforehand which lectures would be popular
and which would fail. Military subjects were of course common. We had
"The Navy" with lantern slides. M. gave that lecture, but all his
best slides were banned by the censor, for fear, I suppose, that we
might have a German spy among us and that he would telegraph to
Berlin a description of a light cruiser if M. exhibited one upon the
screen. We had "Men who have won the V.C." with lantern slides. That
was, as was expected, a success. But we also had "Napoleon's
Campaigns" by a Cambridge professor of history, illustrated by
nothing better than a few maps drawn on a blackboard. To our
amazement that was immensely popular. We had "How an Army is fed," by
an A.S.C. officer, the only lecture which produced a vigorous
discussion afterwards.

But we did not confine ourselves to military subjects. We had
lectures on morals, which were sometimes a little confusing. One
lecturer, I remember, starting from the fact that the boys had
misstated their ages to the recruiting officers when they enlisted,
hammered home the fact that all lies are disgraceful, and therefore
our boys ought to be thoroughly ashamed of themselves. Another
lecturer, a month later, starting from the same fact, took the line
that it was possible to be _splendide mendax_, and that we had good
reason to be extremely proud all our lives of the lie told in the
recruiting office.

Manners are more or less connected with morals, and we had lectures
on manners; that is to say, on saluting, which is the beginning and
ending of good manners in the army. A good many civilians, especially
those of the intellectual "conchie" kind, are inclined to smile at
the importance soldiers attach to saluting. Our lecturer convinced
me--I hope he convinced the rest of his audience--that saluting is
something more than a piece of tiresome ritual, that it is the
external expression of certain very great ideas.

Occasionally, but not often, we were in difficulties about our
lectures. Some one at home sent us a present of a beautiful set of
lantern slides, illustrating a tour in Egypt. They were such fine
slides that it seemed a pity to waste them. But for a long time we
could not fi