_A propos_ of reading we were
wonderfully well provided with all manner of literature by the kindly
forethought of good people in England. The assortment was very curious
indeed. One would see lying side by side _The Nineteenth Century_, _Ally
Sloper's Half Holiday_, and the _Christian World_. This literary
syncretism was especially marked in the mission tent at De Aar, where
the forms were besprinkled with an infinite variety of magazines and
pamphlets--to such an extent indeed that in some cases the more vivid
pages of a _Family Herald_ would temporarily seduce the soldier's mind
from the calmer pleasures of Mr. Moody's hymn book, and those who came
to pray remained to read.
In the evening about 5 o'clock, when the rays of the setting sun were
less vertical and the cool of the evening was not yet merged in the
chill of the night, we sallied out for a stroll. Everybody walked to and
fro and interchanged war news--such as we had!--and mutual condolences
about the miseries of our forced inaction at De Aar. Canteens were
opened in the various sections of the camp, and long columns of
"Tommies" stood with mess-tins, three abreast, waiting their turn to be
served, for all the world like the crowd at the early door of a London
theatre. The natural irritability arising from residence in De Aar,
added to the sultry heat and one's comparative distance from the canteen
counter, frequently caused quarrels and personal assaults in the swaying
column.
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