n fact nothing of the
sort occurred. It was the French name for the place. We took over the
name when we pitched our tents.

Indeed the camp was not the sort of place which gets a name given to
it. It is only places which somebody loves or hates, in which
somebody is one way or other interested, which get new names given
them. Nobody, or nobody in high authority, took an interest in this
camp. It was a stepchild among camps, neither attractive enough to be
loved nor disagreeable enough to be hated and reviled.

With a string of other dull camps, it was under the command of a
colonel who, having much on his mind besides the care of this camp,
lived elsewhere. Only one officer slept in the camp. He had a bedroom
which was half office, decorated--he several times assured me that
his predecessor was responsible for the decoration--with pictures
from _La Vie Parisienne_. The proprietors of that journal must have
profited enormously by the coming of the British military force. If
there is any form of taxation of excess profits in France that editor
must be paying heavily. Yet the paper is sufficiently monotonous, and
it is difficult to imagine that any one wants to take it in
regularly.

Except this bedroom, the officer in command had no habitation in the
camp. He messed elsewhere and, as was natural, spent his spare time
elsewhere. He did all he could for the camp, but he could not do
very much. He was of subordinate rank and of no great military
importance. It was very difficult to stir the authorities to any
great interest in the camp. There was a certain amount of excuse for
them. It never seemed worth while to take much trouble for the men
there. The function of the camp was peculiar. Men were drafted into
it from convalescent camps and hospitals when they were passed "fit,"
and were ready to rejoin their units. The business of the camp
authorities was to sort the men out, divide them into parties, and
dispatch them to the depots of their regiments.

Every day men came into camp and were for the moment "details." They
belonged to all possible regiments and branches of the service. Every
day parties of men left the camp for the different base depots. At 10
a.m. the H. party for H., at 12 noon the E. party for E., no longer
"details," but drafts consigned to their proper depots at H., E., or
elsewhere. Their stay in the camp was usually very brief. It was
scarcely worth while trying to make them comfortable or doing