going to have evening entertainments besides this, and many of us were hard at work getting up a concert. Wherever there are soldiers you may depend upon it you will have music—music of a sort certainly, and not quite of a "Monday pop" order, but still music which gives a great deal of pleasure, and a great deal of amusement, and is not altogether without a little sentiment and pathos sometimes.
By good luck we had among the officers two excellent pianists, and several performers on the mandolin, banjo, accordion, and penny whistle; we also had one of the best performers on the bones it was ever my lot to hear. To fall back on, we had also in the company a professional dancer and a professional clown, also a conjuror; so we were a merry family all round.
Our days were taken up, then, as follows, and one was pretty much like another. Réveille sounded at six, then came breakfast at eight, prayers at nine, when the whole company were marched aft and at the word "caps off" the clergyman began reading a psalm followed by a few prayers, and finishing with the one for us soldiers. There was always something impressive to me in this service; it only lasted ten minutes,
