Evening star., 1914-11-22
Not Even 0utdone by Finest
London Regiments, Says
Visitor to Salisbury Plain.
BANKERS AND CLERKS
CAMP WITH COWBOYS
Thirty Thousand Volunteers Con-
tented and Happy, and Getting in
Condition to Fight.
>pecia, Correspondence Of The Star.

Special Correspondence Of The Star.
SALISBURY PLAIN. England, No
vember 10.-WS rode toward a little
fire that glowed in the dusk. The scent
Of warm, tired horses was in the air
Prom this hollow and that came the
sound of equine pickering. The hills
rose before US In long even swells. and
dropped into depressions in which q
bunch Of cattle might hide against a
storm. Here and there tree plantations
at great distances from each other
might have been cottonwoods. nesting
in the elbow of creek in Alberta.
Look it over" said the colonel OF
the Canadian contingent; isn't it just
like homer"
That was precisely 1t. That was
what made this camp of 10000 Ca
madam volunteers so unutterably good
to look at. That Is why-or In part
why-they are contented and happy.
These rolling hills might be in Alberta
or North Dakota or in any other por-
tion of that great west which the cat
tie man opened and the wheat grower
seized. The horses. barely seen
through the growing dark where they
are tethered to their lines. might De
the "cavvy" Of one of those round-ups
which are sentimentally regretted by
every old cowpuncher. Even the great
steam lorries. numbering over the mud
dy roads with train Of transport
wagons battering behind, might pass
for "thrashins outfit moving from
one ranch to another after the days
work was done. A candle SHINING
through the canvas walls OF tent at
tracted US. We stepped to the door.
$50 / told this mutt" said a voice
that had not been formed by Englands
fogs, you tie your butter to the END
of the table. Sabby? Don't you never
let 1t jump on my bread no more.
British writer's have referred to the
Canadian contingent as more English
than the English" That's pure humor.
They are British IN their loyalty to the
empire and in their anxiety TO get 10
the front, where the fighting Is going
on. Now and then one finds a homebred
man who leavens the snappy accents OF
his mates by broad English as or a
certain uncertainty as to his his. But
II an American from anywhere In that
territory which stretches from Cal
weston to Hudson bay were to drop into
that camp from an airship. totally ig-
norant Of his whereabouts, his nrst ex-
preston would be:
Home at last"
Just Like American Prairies.
Everything adds to the illusion.
Mounted men gallop over the Salisbury
plains, which are like our rolling prai-
rio in every respect except that the
bunch grass has become turf and the
sage-brush is lacking. They sit their
horses In that easy fashion that the
cattle business teaches. Their reins
hang loose, but at a touch the horses
stop and -whirl as though they were
chasing yearling steers. The horses
nave that choppy. mile-annihilating
gallop Of western horses. They are
western horses. One meets an army
wagon on the road. The driver hasn't
tho air of Thomas Atkins. set to driv-
ing q team. He poses himself different
ly, A martinez would say that his lines
hang slack. His horses do not wear
that aspect of dignity and conserva-
ttsm- that distinguishes the horse of
the British Isles. Tney break readily
into a gallop. The off horse shies vio-
iently when he sees a steam lorry
Their ears are always pointed forward
and their eyes are widely Open That
driver can drive those horses along
the comb of Westminster Abbey and
never turn a hair.
There is certain amount of CROUCH
.ng among the men. of course. There
.llwaSs is, in every camp. 1t is an ar
ticle of faith with them that Valcartier
camp in Canada is the model upon
which all other permanent camps
should be built The English army diet
does not correspond to the ''grup p,le"
of the roundup and the chuck" of the
mines, or the refined table board" one
can find in the tree-shaded back streets
of Canadian cities. There is no butter,
and there are too few vegetables and
the needs of thousands. and therefore
sometimes fails to fit the appetite of
one.