SOME day I hope to be able to give a | full account of all the doings of the' members of the Staff who have been, and are, serving in arms in the struggle in which we are engaged. It will prove interesting reading, for men who had been quietly engaged as Inspectors of Life-boats, or Organizers, or in clerical work, or, perhaps, employed as riggers ! or labourers, have been scattered to the ends of the earth, and have become acquainted with strange places and | stranger people in the performance of their duty to Kiag and Country.

Some have already earned distinction; j some have gone down in the fight; j others are still playing their parts manfully in Prance, Flanders, Salonica, India, Mesopotamia, Italy, or on the high seas. One died in the Gulf of i Aden; another (severely wounded in I France) succumbed after amputation of 1 a leg. The Housekeeper and Messenger ! of the Institution covered some 40,000 i miles at sea in one of the converted liners.

Commander W. G, Rigg, B.N. (now a Lieutenant-Colonel, B,E,), earned the D.S.O, for gallant action in command of Mine Sweepers off Zeebrugge, in the course of which service he witnessed the destruction of the armed yacht Sanda, commanded by that gallant officer and gentleman, Lieutenant Commander Qartside Tipping, R.N., a member of the Committee of Management, and a former Inspector of Life-boats. Lieut.- Commander P. P. M, Fellowes, who was District Organizing Secretary for the South of England, was shot down with his seaplane during the attack on Zeebrugge, and rescued, wounded, by the Germans, after being a considerable time in the water. He is now a prisoner of war.

A boy who was born in the ham- drum atmosphere of Pimlico writes to me occasionally from Bangalore ; others from the high seas or from Italy. Some day the record will appear in these pages, and will show that the Staff of the Institution has played a worthy part in the Great War.

Meanwhile, I think it will interest our readers to have the two letters which I publish below. They are from one of the clerks in my office, and they will be read with the more interest as they were not intended for publication.

It will be seen that they breathe the same cheery, jolly spirit which has carried our men through every vicissi- tude of fortune and of climate, and is certain to bring us out triumphant in the end. "When Mr. Payne wrote these letters, he did not know that he had lost a brother, killed in France. The good wishes of all the Staff will follow his ; further adventures, and we hope to welcome him back safe and sound at the end of the War. And as that does not seem likely to occur the day after to-morrow, I trust these pages will again be enlivened by further contribu- tions from his pen. I April 21st, 1918. : DEAR Sir, j I am glad to say that, so far, I have kept ; pretty well, and am feeling quite all right. , All the same, I shall be very glad to get out of this country ! It's the most disgraceful bit of terra firma imaginable., I have just returned from quite a good stunt. We played a very big part in con- nexion with the capture of the whole Turkish Force on the Euphrates Front at Khan Bag- dadi. We were out about a mouth, and ] I quite enjoyed it, although we had a very j rough time, which is inevitable when cavalry ; commence a forced march of several hundred miles. The day before we expected to go into action we trekked over fifty miles. Then we dismounted, got the guns into positions, and reckoned on a few hours' rest. But at 10 o'clock at night the Turks had a bang to try and break through, and we had quite a merry time. Then above even the din of the scrap, we heard the most dismal wailing of about 2,000 Turks shouting for mercy, so we sent out a party and marched them in. Unfortunately, I had to stand to my gun while they came in, and so missed the souvenirs, which always come with the taking of prisoners! Im- mediately after this my Section was in the saddle again, did another twenty miles and came into action again at 7 o'clock next morning. This finished them off, and we packed up at midday expecting to return next day. But after half-an-hour's rest, during which we ate a biscuit and a slice of raw | bacon, we went off on a forced march to Anna, where it was suspected that the Germans were preparing a base for the recapture of Bagdad.

This march of seventy-five miles took two days, and caused many horses to be shot.

However, we got everything, including a colossal ammunition dump and many Germans. Having finished off everything, there was no need for a force to remain up there, so we trekked back again, and are now in summer quarters somewhere on the banks, of the Euphrates. So I'm glad I didn't come all this way for nothing. I wouldn't have missed this stunt for anything, even though it was semi-starvation for a month! The climate here is rather a, disgusting affair. Extreme heat, extreme cold, and extreme storms. So things drag on out here.

I hope affairs at home are all right. We don't get any news, and often wonder how it goes at home.

I trust that you are keeping well, and all at the Institution. I am looking forward to a return to the old game.

I am, Sir, Yours faithfully, W. PAYXE July 7th, 1918.

" By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept." As a youngster I used to chant this in the choir, and it conveyed nothing to me. I didn't even consider why they should sit down and weep. I got paid forty bob a quarter for singing about it, pro- viding I wore my Eton collar outside my cassock; and there the matter ended. But, as Charles Garvice would make his Villian— uo, make it Hero, as I'm talking about myself!—say, " I see it all now." No wonder the poor devils wept! Oh lor, oh lor, oh lor ! I've been rusticating by the aforesaid waters since our return from the Line. That must suffice as to any detail concerning my where- abouts. And, really, if you could but have a look around here, you'd agree that the Censor's motto, " The less said about it the better," is well founded and thoroughly justified! Anyhow, I can say that we're on the desert by the Euphrates. Officially I suppose I should say " In the Field," but I won't run the risk of being misunderstood, like the orderly who announced to the C.O., " Sir, the prisoner is without," and received the reply, " Without what ? " We are now in summer quarters and, as far as duties are concerned, are having a pretty cushy time—at any rate to the extent that 118° in the shade permits of anything " cushy," bracketed, of course, with things that crawl, and jump and buzz, and spit and growl, and whistle and shriek—and all of which bite, which, in turn, causes an—er— irritation, which is scratched and turns to fever, and another one is struck off rations and accommodation. Thus one thing leads to another. I expect after all this you'll wonder that I'm alive ! But I'm here all right, gradually transferring myself to a towel.

You know it's very annoying to find yourself dripping off your own chin, isn't it ? I often wonder if my various letters hiv? reached the office. I wrote old ayam on the boat, and have written several times to Mr. Shea.* My letters are reaching my tome all right, so I expect the others have arrived too, aad you will know something of what has happened to me txp to now.

But tor the fact that I badly waat to go home, 1 could almost persuade myself that I'm having a good time, (Oh, hel pi) One thing, we've had plenty of fua, as you can imagine from the fact that we formed a new squadron, and so commenced right from the beginning, with all the things suggested by the imagination which can grasp the fall significance o! " Machine Gun Squadron," The above mentioned " things" included some horsas—and they deserved the epithet 1 It's a scream. The commencement is a notice in orders to the effect that " a party will parade," etc., " to draw remounts." This doesn't mean anything to do with sketching or pencils and paper! Anyhow, Machine Gan Squadrons always get the best performers, and this time I've never seen anything like it! A Wild West show manager would have crawled away and organized a spy system to find out where our authorities obtain their horses S For my part, I felt awfully " backed " of01 my first ride! Anyhow, we soon tamed them with the aid of a lunging rein, and were on the go alter the "henemy"—and they want some catching, too, even though yon are mounted! We passed Hit—I suppose it was the old gentlemen from this place who wsra known as the Hittites, whose favourite pastime was to " smite the Amalakites," Many miles past this place we caught the main body of the Turkish Euphrates Force. The Machine 0ua Squadron is usually regarded * as a sort o£ brigade mascot, until it comes to a scrap, when we come into our own, and other people's as well S Bat.I won't worry yoa with details. I imagine you are at present getting enough of them from "special" correspon- dents! Let it suffice to aay that we "dtawed it aororst 'em," and then added insult to injury by grring them bally and biscuits to eat! When I get out of this I think I'll write a book on "How we lived on a bale of mouldy hay for a fortnight at Anah " ! In this case the word " mouldy " is not an epithet, but an accusation. There are various applications of this word. For instance, I used to be asked, " How long holiday are you getting this year ? " and my reply was invariably, " Only a' mouldy fort- night I" But never again I It would be some- thing like, "Oh, think of it, I'm getting a whole fortnight!" You don't want to hear anything about this country, do you ? No wonder Adam fell.

It's enough to drive a man to the resort of things forbidden! So far I've seen nothing worth writing home about concerning either the country or the people—though in a way I envy the latter, as they still have their * Apparently all Trooper Payne's letters have reached us. Uafortusaiely our letters to Mm have not fared so well, and none of my letters appeal' to have reached either Cspt*in Mapleson or Corporal Payne. — EDITOR.

civvy suits on, even though those suits consist of a sack with four holes in it, Bagdad is a very disappointing place. The wonderful "mosques and minarets glittering in the sun " made me laugh S (The whistle has just gone for turn out to water—I'E be back in a few minutes.) You'll be amused to hear that siaoe the squadron has been formed my half section has baeo a native Lancer. His name is Ahmed Kahn—I call him Armoured Oar, it's easier, and practically the same. I can't tell you what his particular job is, but it seems to me that he considers it to have something fcp do with smoking my fags. Ha rides by my side when we are out or on trek, and he has put years on me! And as though I'm not having a sufficiency o! Moore and Burgess, he wants to pat me on to two of his wives when we get back to Bombay! AH of which gives you some idea o£ the horrors of war.

Anyhow, I'm keeping very fit, which is really all that matters. I can do the rest all right, I have developed a (to myself) sur- prising nonchalance to everything except a desire to get back to England, and so, as everything else is a means to that end, J can do it I Until now I haven't properly realized the beauties of Charing Gross Boad and surroundings! I'm afraid I haven't said very much about Mesopotamia, but there's really nothing to say. I'm sure you don't wish to read any- thing about sandstorms, Arabs, dates, the desert, jackals, and so on. Of course, I could move you to tears by a recitation of experiences whiie on a fortnight's forced trek when out- flanking the Turks; of days and nights on end in the saddle—" whacked to the wide," and with hardly strength enough to climb up again after a halt!—of taking my gun into action after an unbroken sixteen hours in the saddle. (We got 2,000 prisoners and » lot of staff out of this.) Then straight into the saddle again and another twenty miles, coming into action again at daybreak next morning; then that mad eighty miles dash up to Anah—and I wouldn't have missed it for quids, though, of course, at the time, we all had a record on 1 Moat of this trek was across the great Syrian desert, so there's not much to say about the " scenery"—especially as none of us saw anythitig for several days consequent on the dust raised by a cavalry column on the gel It is a game, isn't it? Have any "of the others gone from the office yet uodar all these new age limits 1 I can assure any that they'll have a gay time if they come out" this way; bat, tell th«m to go anywhere rather than come out here. I'm not growling, mind you. Personally, I don't care if it snotos, I'm as happy as a sandstorm, but I'm still entitled to an opinion, and my opinion of this bally country cannot be put down here. la fact, I prefer not to think about it, but just sail merrily on, and I shall wake np one of these mornings, find a oup of tea aad some thin bread and butter by the side of the bed, and say to myself, " What a rotten dream I've had," Then down to break- fast, a stroll across the park, sign the book— and so on, and so on, and so on! * I suppose Buck and Woottonf are still going strong.

By the way, they'll have to change their name when I get back. The word Buck has a nastyflavour, and I should always be thinking about " drawing remounts." Ta-ta for now. Best wishes to everybody at 22. Yours sincerely, w.:* The Sybaritic and nonchalant tone of these day- dream remarks muat not mislead our readers. We have it on the authority ol the Secretary that Mr.

Payne's work as a member of the staff is carried out as punctually, faithfully and cheerfully as Trooper Payne's military duties are.—EDITOR.

t The name ot the worthy firm of printers who do a great deal of the Institution's work.—EDITOR.