DECEMBER 229 



African War, and is now the service dress of the army ; 

 but the full dress for officers and the ' walking-out ' uni- 

 form for men is still cut and fitted on the old excru- 

 ciating lines. I think it took three weeks to fit a 

 young friend of mine, joining a battalion of Guards a 

 few years ago, before the adjutant of that corps d'dite 

 passed the tunic as satisfactory. Every crease and 

 wrinkle had to be obliterated, at such cost to freedom 

 of limbs and lungs as may be imagined. It may not 

 be an extravagant hope that, when our army returns 

 once more to a peace footing, the full dress may be 

 designed with more regard to health and comfort than 

 hitherto. 1 Our eyes have grown accustomed during the 

 present war to seeing soldiers in a costume, far from 

 beautiful, indeed, but easy and respectable. There is 

 no reason why a scarlet coat should be less comfortable 

 than a dust-coloured one, and it will be a sad thing if 

 the historic red of the English infantry is not pre- 

 served for full dress. But even if it were not, the 

 khaki uniform might be rendered very becoming by 

 the addition of a little modest ornament, especially by 

 the restoration of the old regimental facings. These 

 would not make troops one whit more conspicuous in 

 the field; on the contrary, it is a commonplace of 

 optics that parti-coloured objects are less easily de- 

 tected in a landscape than those of one uniform colour. 

 One desirable result might follow upon making 

 uniform more comfortable to the wearer; officers 

 might no longer think it etiquette to exchange it for 

 mufti the moment they are released from duty. Alone 



1 This hope remains unfulfilled. 



