Volunteering has now become all the fashion; every high-spirited boy looks forward with hope to the time when he is big enough and old enough to join his companions in some town or provincial volunteer corps, and shoulder the rifle. Now, I am not particularly _au-fait_ at the new rifle practice, and therefore I shall not attempt to forestall the many effective drill sergeants appointed to the duty of instructing their companies of "civilian soldiers," but a few remarks in reference to the position-drill, without arms--to which both the cavalry and infantry recruit is first subjected on donning his uniform--may be useful and probably interesting to my young readers. The practice of the following instructions, either in schools or at the homes of those boys who wish to expand their chest and develop their figure as they progress towards the age of adults, by giving them the general "set-up" and bearing of the soldier without any of his stiffness or constraint, which, however necessary it may be for the ranks, would certainly detract from the appearance of the thorough gentleman on the promenade or in the ball-room. The first instruction conveyed to a recruit at drill is to stand straight and keep his head up. But as the simple command to do this would only cause him to endeavour to comply in his own particular way, he must be instructed in detail at first, as one movement involves many others, which, when he becomes perfect, can scarcely be distinguished while changing position. In order to stand in the proper position at "attention," the heels must be in a line with each other and close together, the knees straight, the toes a little turned out so that the feet may form an angle of about sixty degrees, the arms must hang near the body, the little finger touching the thighs, and the thumbs placed as far back as the seams of the trousers; the elbows and shoulders must be kept back, the belly rather drawn in, and the chest advanced, but without stiffness or awkward constraint; the body must be upright, but inclining forward so that the weight of it principally bears on the fore part of the feet; the head must be erect, but dignified and without stiffness or the appearance of a forced attitude. The position in which a soldier moves also determines that in which he should stand still, and too many methods cannot be used to render the recruit supple and easy in his walk, so as to banish the air of the rustic; but that excess of setting up which stiffens the body to such an extent, that a person appears as if he had swallowed a poker, is contrary to every true principle on which the movement of the human body ought to be regulated, and should therefore be carefully avoided. On the instructor giving the command "stand at ease," the recruit draws back his right foot about six inches, and the greatest part of the weight of the body bears upon it, the left knee is a little bent, the hands are brought together before