description of such a drill ground
may be of interest to those who are following the fortunes of our
soldiers.

At six the bugle sounds and the whole camp is astir. Outside there is
the clatter of feet as the men fall in after a hasty breakfast. The
shrapnel-proof steel helmets are donned, the heavy seventy-pound kits
and rifles are swung to the broad backs, the band strikes up "Pack Up
Your Troubles," and our battalion is on the march for the "Bull Ring."

First comes the ceremonial parade. A whole brigade swings into line
and must prove that it can move as one man, as a perfect machine,
without flaw or friction. One master mind directs every motion, and at
the word of command thousands of feet are moving in exact time,
wheeling, marching, maneuvering with a precision that proves the long
months of patient practice. This finish of discipline and perfection
of unity have their part to play in the winning of the battle raging at
this moment up the line.

Next the men must pass through the deadly gas chambers, to be ready to
meet the attack of the enemy fully prepared. More fatal than the
prussic acid which the Prussian has occasionally employed, is the
deadly mixture of chlorine and phosgene, which has been most commonly
used. In a gentle favoring wind it is put over invisible in the
darkness, and if it catches the foe unprepared, can kill from ten to
fifteen miles behind the lines. The mixture is squirted as a liquid
from metal generators. It quickly forms a dense greenish yellow cloud
of poison vapor, which floats away in the darkness. Its success must
depend on the element of surprise, taking the enemy unprepared and
choking him, awake or asleep, in the first few moments before the
horns, gongs, and whistles send the alarm for miles behind the trenches.

Recently a new so-called "mustard gas" has been used by the enemy with
deadly effect, owing to the fact that it is both invisible and
odorless. It is sent over in exploding shells, and sinks in a heavy
invisible vapor about the sleeping men, creeping into their dugouts and
trenches or enveloping them around the guns or in the shell holes. The
effects do not manifest themselves for several hours. With stinging
pain the man's eyes begin to close, and for a time he may go almost
blind. He is then taken violently sick. The surface of the lungs and
the entire body, especially where it is moist with perspiration, is
burned. The skin may blister and come