T In the Dog-Days: 1898 HE dog-days have been so long with us, -beginning at a most unconscionably early date, before Sirius was in the ascendant-that recognition of their presence seems belated. It would seem that in sympathy with our soldiers in the tropics, we had taken on some of the aspects of the rainy season of those latitudes, and were enabled thereby to share, even if in a very small degree, the discomforts and discouragements of their climatic differences. But as soon as we speak the words, the foolish notion vanishes, the slender resemblance disappears. It is a wetter season than usual; we have malarial fever, the humidity clogs our veins and our digestions, but we are not having our physical vitality lowered to the point where collapse follows and the rest of life threatens to be a struggle with a broken constitution. That is the prospect before our soldiers, and the thought of it makes us feel as if mere enjoyment of active labour here were something of an affront to the men whose |