Jumps on the Militia

The past week has been mainly remarkable for a considerable display of amateur soldiers, and from it has arisen a small tempest, which may result in permanent good to the auxiliary force. The British volunteers, whose great yearly period of training is at Easter, are divided into two parties — those who are desirous of doing serious soldiering and those who prefer making their annual holiday a sort of a picnic. This year the bulk of the volunteer regiments of the London district were taken to Windsor, where, with the guard battalions from Aldershot camp, some paltry maneuvers were carried out, and on Easter Monday there was a big review, in the presence of the duke of Connaught, youngest son of the queen, the general in command at Aldershot, Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein, Lord Methuen, commander of the Thames district, and other war officials, and all the royal servants from Windsor castle.

The Times, in a leading article on the subject, takes the duke of Connaught and the other military officials sharply to task for ordering "such a burlesque of real soldiering," saying "four days were misspent on rehearsing for a royal review." The comment of the Times has led to much correspondence on the subject, the writers in a number of instances thanking the Times for its criticism of the military officials responsible for the review at Windsor, and saying that the criticisms are in the real interest of the volunteers.

The queen has decided to discontinue hereafter the early drawing rooms. She will hold four drawing rooms after Easter.

The queen's ostrich, which was presented to her majesty by a South African queen, and which was recently given to the zoological gardens, died Tuesday last, much to the queen's regret.