the _Evergreen_?" I asked.

"Not unless excessively bad," returned my friend; "they won't tolerate
anything lukewarm."

"Well, now, Biquitous," said I, "sit down and give Nicholas, who is hard
to convince, your opinion as to the mode in which this and other
countries ought to prepare for self-defence."

"In earnest, do you mean?"

"In earnest," said I.

"Well, then," said my friend, "if I were in power I would make every man
in Great Britain a trained soldier."

"Humph!" said Nicholas, "that has been tried by other nations without
giving satisfaction."

"But," continued U. Biquitous, impressively, "I would do so without
taking a single man away from his home, or interfering with his duties
as a civilian. I would have all the males of the land trained to arms
in boyhood--during school-days--at that period of life when boys are
best fitted to receive such instruction, when they would `go in' for
military drill, as they now go in for foot-ball, cricket, or
gymnastics--at that period when they have a good deal of leisure time,
when they would regard the thing more as play than work--when their
memories are strong and powerfully retentive, and when the principles
and practice of military drill would be as thoroughly implanted in them
as the power to swim or skate, so that, once acquired, they'd never
quite lose it. I speak from experience, for I learned to skate and swim
when a boy, and I feel that nothing--no amount of disuse--can ever rob
me of these attainments. Still further, in early manhood I joined the
great volunteer movement, and, though I have now been out of the force
for many years, I know that I could `fall in' and behave tolerably well
at a moment's notice, while a week's drill would brush me up into as
good a soldier as I ever was or am likely to be. Remember, I speak only
of rank and file, and the power to carry arms and use them
intelligently. I would compel boys to undergo this training, but would
make it easy, on doctor's certificate, or otherwise, for anxious parents
to get off the duty, feeling assured that the fraction of trained men
thus lost to the nation would be quite insignificant. Afterwards, a few
days of drill each year would keep men well up to the mark; and even in
regard to this brushing-up drill I would make things very easy, and
would readily accept every reasonable excuse for absence, in the firm
belief that the willing men would be amply sufficient to maintain our
`reserve