(about sixty-eight pounds English), exclu- | ping now and then only long enough to sive of their ammunition, of which each man carries ninety cartridges. The rain was falling in torrents as we passed out of the town and struck the "Route de Paris," the broad national highway running from the coast towns to the capital, and the order to march at ease was passed down the column. The ranks opened out a little, rifles were shift grin at the chaff of the soldiers. The women looked on admiringly, and one vivacious lady wondered loudly why there was no music, while one of the farm hands, in his quality of old soldier, explained that, "en campagne," troops dispense with much of the fuss and feathers of the "piping times of peace." I had some acquaintances among the officers, and as we marched, they described | ing no large body of the enemy in sight, the plan of the manoeuvres to me. The enemy, represented by a body of troops about equal in number to our own, were supposed to have landed on the coast, and to be threatening two important commercial and manufacturing towns of France. Our objective point was Yvetot, on the line of the railway between Havre and Rouen, and we expected to meet them near there, their head-quarters being that day probably at a place called Bolbec, situated a few kilometers from the town we were then marching on. We had been on the road four or five hours when suddenly we heard a shot, followed immediately by several others, directly in our front, and the column came to a halt. We saw some movement up the road, where it disappeared over the top of a hill, commands were heard, and the troops began to move off to the right and left, and form in column of battalions in the fields. The foremost regiments threw out squads of skirmishers, the men moving at a run up the rising ground in our front. A red and white guidon, fluttering among a group of horsemen on the highest point of the ascent, indicated the position of the staff, and toward it I hurried to ascertain what was going on, arriving in time to see a reconnoitring party of the enemy's cavalry disappearing in a line of woods in the valley below, pursued by a troop of our own. They wore white linen covers to their shakos to distinguish them from our men, and as their line vanished into the shadow of the trees, I could see them turning to give a parting shot or two. Our troopers soon returned, report and, as the hour of noon had approached, orders were given to halt where we were. The skirmishers rejoined their regiments, arms were stacked, ranks were broken, and preparations were made for the noonday meal. Wherever the least shelter from the rain could be found the men began to build their fires to make their coffee and heat their soups-hard work at first, for the ground was damp and the rain falling heavily; but as one succeeded, others borrowed the embers, and soon a hundred little fires were burning all over the fields, the smoke curling through the wet grass, and half hiding the groups of busy soldiers. The regimental canteens, huge, solidly built wagons, drawn by two and sometimes four horses, and presided over by the cantinière, or female sutler, of the regiment, came up from the rear, and were soon surrounded by chaffing, pushing throngs of soldiers. Alas for the picturesque vivandière of by-gone times, the traditional "daughter of the regiment"! Where is she now? Can this fat old woman, her white cap fastened on her head by an old red shawl passing under her chin, and a much-worn private's overcoat thrown over her shoulders, striving with scolding voice and authoritative gestures to maintain a little order among her thirsty customers, as she stands behind the tail-board of her wagoncan she be the descendant of the lace-coated, scarlet-trousered Hebes we have read of in novels and applauded at the opera? Be that as it may, I doubt whether the prettiest vivandière that ever existed-if she ever did exist, and is not wholly a creature of romance-could have been more popular, or have administered more fully R THE COMPANY KITCHEN. to the comfort of her comrades, than did this obese old creature. Many of her calling have done noble deeds, and more than one has been decorated with the Legion of Honor. I know of one, poor thing! who proudly wears the cross, and ekes out a living by selling catalogues at a panorama in the Rue St. Honoré at Paris. Having succeeded, thanks to the attention of the cantinière, in procuring my luncheon, I proceeded to discuss it under the hospitable shelter of a thick hedge, where my friend, the surgeon of one of the infantry regiments, joined me. The rain presently ceased falling, and an occasional ray of sun THE CANTEENS. shine broke through the clouds. The road, followed by the whole shouting, men, most of them having finished their meal, were scattered about the field, some of them drying their wet clothing at the fires, or lounging wherever they could find a comparatively dry spot to rest in; the officers were smoking and chatting together, and the musicians were assembling preparatory to giving us some music. An occasional aide-de-camp or or derly rode by, and now and then we heard a bugle signal as some non-commissioned officer was summoned or a detail of service was to be attended to. All at once there was a great commotion among the soldiers over in the fields on the other side of the road-men were running together from all points, shouting and laughing. We saw them kicking at something on the ground, and from our side a shout of "Un lièvre! un lièvre!" went up, as a poor hunted hare broke out from among them and rushed across the falling, kicking crowd. The poor creature ran close by us, and neither the doctor nor I had the heart to attempt to stop it; but its pursuers were too many for it, and finally it fell a victim to the sword of a burly sergeant. A garde champêtre (gamekeeper), who had vainly endeavored to stop this unceremonious poaching on his master's preserves, loudly protested, but to no apparent purpose, as the sergeant sheathed his sabre, not made more glorious by the butcher's use it had been put to, and calmly walked off with his prize. One mess of "non-coms" had the addition of a succulent dish of roast hare to their supper that night, and that was all there was about it. Meanwhile the band had assembled, and the gay strains of a quadrille from one of Offenbach's operas filled the air. Sets were quickly formed, and, in spite of the fatiguing march of the morning and the mud and wet, the soldiers all over the fields were dancing and kicking about, gay, good-humored, and frolicking, dancing with a vim and enjoyment such as only Frenchmen can exhibit. An hour passed amid such scenes, when the bugles sounded. The men instantly fell in behind the stacks, knapsacks were slung, the piles of arms broken, and immediately the utmost order and quiet reigned where less than a minute before everything had been confusion. The column moved into the road, and we were again tramping through the mire toward Yvetot. An hour or two of marching brought us to a little village, a suburb of the town, where the advance of the infantry, which I had been accompanying, halted, and I took leave of them, pushing forward alone the music of their bands as regiment after regiment arrived and was dismissed. The troops were billeted on the inhabitants, and the streets were crowded with soldiers in groups of two or three together, their paper billets in their hands, seeking their quarters, which were easily found, as the quartermasters had been in the town in advance, and on every door-post was chalked the number of the company and regiment, and of the men who were to be quartered in the house. This is considered by no means a hardship by the inhabitants, and the soldiers were hospitably received. Military and civil life in France are closely allied, and nearly every one of the people has some relative, a son, a brother, a husband, in the army, for, as is generally known, service for a time in the in search of quarters for the night. The way led through a long ugly street, bordered with unsightly trees and small detached houses. I passed an occasional cavalryman sitting on his horse at a street corner for our cavalry, moving ahead of us, had already occupied the town-and in a few minutes reached the door of a comfortable hotel, where I was fortunate enough to find a room. It was not long, however, before the troops followed, and the air was full of land or naval forces of France is compulsory to every citizen, no matter what his position in civil life may be, and so all realize that at some time their loved ones will be cared for in the same manner in some other part of the land; therefore, as a rule, they give what they can, cheerfully and even gladly, making of the arrival of their soldier guests in their midst a sort of little fête. Place is made for them everywhere, carts and horses are unceremoniously put aside to accommodate the cav |