THE life-boat service has benefited by £5 as the result of a vow by two army officers on Salisbury Plain. The}7 bound themselves to "a particular Lenten abstention," and the penalty for failure was to be a cheque for £2 10s. to the Institution.

One officer sent his cheque for £2 10s. not, he explained, as a penalty, but as " a thank-offering for his success in keeping the vow." The other officer sent his cheque for £2 10s..