Recruits in the United States Army are called "Rookies"--why, I don't know. You can readily tell a rookie from a veteran. A rookie's earliest interest concerns his "kit," which is his personal property, although issued to him by the quarter-master. The kit comprises a great number of articles, including under-clothing, shoes, collars, white cotton and fur gloves, half a dozen styles of caps, a dress-coat, and a brown canvas suit for "fatigue" duty. Each man is allowed $60 the first year, $28 the second, and $30 the third to spend for clothing. The government loans to him a bedstead, mattress, sheets, pillow, clothes box and bag, besides gun, canteen, knife, fork, and some other odd things. Barrack life is not one which every man can take a liking to at first. The enlisted man, in scores of cases, is a rover, to begin with. But a company of such men thrown together presently find their "bunkies." They pair off by a sort of natural selection. The accidents of the mess, or of walking post, or guard duty lead to a rough-and-ready friendship. A trying period for the recruit is while he is in the sergeant's training, getting his first lessons in drill. This he begins without gun--or arms, as the gun is called in the army. It is not till he has had these private lessons for three months that he is turned over for duty, walks his first post, and comes to be regarded by his fellows as a full-fledged soldier. [Illustration: THE YARD, JACKSON BARRACKS.]