fice, a body which gets very little
credit for anything, that it gradually altered its policy.

At first we had no outdoor music except what the men produced
themselves, unofficially, by singing, by whistling, or with
mouth-organs. Indoors there were pianos in most recreation huts, and
the piano never had a moment's rest while the huts were open--a
proof, if any one wanted a proof, of the craving of the men for
music. Then bands were started privately by the officers in different
camps. This was a difficult and doubtful business. Funds had to be
collected to buy instruments. Musicians who could play the
instruments had to be picked out from among the men, and nobody knew
how to find them. Hardly anybody stayed long in these base camps, and
a good musician might at any moment be reft away and sent up the
line.

Yet bands came into existence. An Irish division started the first I
came across, and it used to play its men to church on Sundays in a
way that cheered the rest of us. My friend M.'s camps on top of the
hill started a band. Other camps, which could not manage bands,
discovered Scottish pipers and set them playing on ceremonial
occasions. Later on in another place I found an excellent band in a
large Canadian hospital, and a convalescent camp started a band which
went for route marches along with the men.

But these were all voluntary efforts. The best that could be said for
the higher authorities is that they did not actually discourage them.
The regimental bands, which we ought to have had in France, still
remained at home, and I do not know that they did much playing even
there. I think it was the Brigade of Guards which first brought a
band out to France. It used to play in the market-place of the town
which was then G.H.Q. Later on another Guards' band went on tour
round the different bases. There was no mistake about the warmth of
its reception. The officers and men gathered in large numbers to
listen to it on the fine Sunday afternoon when it played in the camp
where I was stationed.

Since then I have heard of, and heard, other regimental bands in
France. Their visits have been keenly appreciated. But we ought to
have more than occasional visits from these bands. It is probably
impossible to have them playing close to the firing-line. But it
would be an enormous advantage if we had a couple of good regimental
bands at every base, and especially in places where hospitals are
numerous.

It is a mista