uriously attractive folk-songs.
During these concerts a certain Englishman solemnly sang some new
Russian songs, learnt by heart, of which he did not understand a word.
A young Russian used to make up into a delightful girl, who, with a
partner, danced a cake-walk, accompanied by the blare of their new
brass band. Mandolines were soon in vogue and most rooms could boast
of several. As we were mostly beginners the resulting noise is best
left to the imagination. Whist drives, bridge tournaments, etc.,
helped to pass the time, and a good many of us improved the shining
hour by learning French, Russian or German in exchange for lessons in
our own language.

The winter brought with it many snow fights, and a successful slide
which I started, though popular, resulted in many bumps and bruises.
The bottom of the slide led into some barbed wire--which was decidedly
dangerous. One fatal day I finished the course with three Russians and
a fat Australian on the top of me, unintentionally making a
first-class broom; first I passed over a sharp stone, and then came to
a stop on the barbed wire fence. (Some of the marks caused by this
episode remain with me to this day.) We had one or two nice walks
weekly, on parole, escorted by a German officer. One day, during a
long walk through some pine woods, we had reached the top of a hill
when we came upon a large slab of rock, about four feet thick, resting
on two smaller ones, with a broad crack right through it near the
centre. The German officer told us a legend about this, which affirms
that at this spot somewhere about the eighth century Emperor
Charlemagne met some heathen chieftain, who having already heard of
his feats of strength promised to become a Christian should he be able
to split this rock. The emperor took up a sledge hammer and with one
tremendous blow broke the rock in two. (He must have been _some_ man!)

TREATMENT.--When I first arrived the commandant, who was a major, was
quite popular, granting all reasonable requests and not bothering us
the whole time, consequently we did our best to avoid trouble; but we
were in Hunland, therefore this state of affairs could not last long.
The commandant was soon replaced by a colonel with a white beard and a
benevolent aspect, though in reality he was inclined to be vicious and
most unreasonable. He was soon followed by two junior officers,
Lieutenants Briggs and Rosenthal. The former was an officer of the
Reserve, one of the