y fought.

_Recruit_ is another word which came into English from the French at
this time. It, again, is a word which has been used a great deal in
the European war. It came from the French word _recrue_, which also
means a newly-enlisted soldier. The French word _croitre_, from which
_recrue_ came, was derived from the Latin word _crescere_, "to
increase."

All these words, we should notice, have now a figurative use. We speak
of "recruits" not only to the army, but to any society. Thus we may
say a person is a valuable "recruit" to the cause of temperance, etc.
A "campaign" can be fought not only on the field of battle, but
through newspapers, meetings, etc. It is in this sense that we speak
of the "campaign" for women's suffrage, etc.

Many words relating to the dress and habits of our soldiers have
curious origins. We say now quite naturally that a man is "in khaki"
when we mean that he is a soldier, because the peculiar yellow-brown
colour which is known as "khaki" is now the regular colour of the
uniform of the British soldier. In earlier days the British soldier
was generally a "redcoat," but in modern trench warfare it is so
important that the enemy should not be able to pick out easily the
position of groups of men in order to "shell" them, that the armies of
all nations use gray or brown or other dull shades. _Khaki_ is a word
which came into English through the South African War, when the policy
of clothing the soldiers in this way was first begun on a large scale.
It comes from a Hindu word, _khak_, which means "dust." The object of
this kind of clothing for our soldiers is that they shall not be
easily distinguished from the soil of the trenches and battle-fields.

When a soldier or officer or any other person who is generally in
uniform wears ordinary clothes we say he is "in mufti." This, again,
is an Arab word meaning "Mohammedan priest."

The soldiers in the Great War used many new words which became a
regular part of their speech. They were chiefly "slang," but it is
quite possible that some of them may pass into good English. We shall
see something of them in a later chapter.

CHAPTER XIV.

PROVERBS.

Every child knows what a proverb is, though every child may not,
perhaps, be able to say in its own words just what makes a proverb. A
proverb has been defined as "a wise saying in a few words." At any
rate, if it is not always wise, the person who first said it and the
people who repe