avellin' around the
worruld wid a bicycle."

I have with me a letter of introduction to an officer stationed at
Jullundar. Upon inquiry, however, I find that he is absent at Simla on
leave. Desirous of seeing something of Tommy Atkins in his Indian
quarters, I therefore accept an invitation to remain at the barracks of
the Royal Artillery until ready to resume my journey in the morning. At
this season of the year, an Indian cantonment presents the appearance of
a magnificent park. The barracks are large, commodious structures, built
with a view to securing the best results for the health and comfort of
the troops.

No soldiers in the world are so well fed, housed, and clothed as the
British soldiers in India, and none receive as much pay, except the
soldiers of the United States army. That they are justly entitled to
everything that can contribute to their happiness and welfare, goes
without saying. For actual service rendered, and the importance of the
responsibilities resting on their shoulders, it is little enough to say
that the British soldiers in India are entitled to a greater measure of
consideration than the soldiers of any other army in existence. This
little army of fifty or sixty thousand men is practically responsible for
the good behavior of one-sixth of the world's population, saying nothing
of affairs without. And in addition to this is the wearisome round of
existence in an Indian barrack, the enervating climate and the ennui, so
poisonous to the active Anglo-Saxon temperament.

After all that is said for or against the Anglo-Indian army, the
unprejudiced critic cannot fail to admit that they are the finest body of
fighting men in existence, a force against which it would be impossible
for an equal number of the soldiers of any other country to contend. That
the old dominant spirit of the British soldier is yet rampant as ever may
be seen, perhaps, plainer in the cantonments of India than anywhere else.
The manifest superiority of Tommy Atkins as a fighter stands out in bold
relief against the gentle populations of India, who regard him as the
very incarnation of war and warlike attributes. His own confidence in his
ability to whip all the multitudinous enemies of England put together, is
as great to-day as it ever was, and nothing would suit him better than a
campaign against the military colossus of the North in defence of the
British interests in India he now so faithfully guards.

The interest i