At home the call for volunteers met with an eager response. On Monday, December 18, the 3rd Durham Light Infantry (Militia) volunteered to a man for foreign service. The 3rd York and Lancaster Regiment on parade on the same day was addressed by the colonel, and those who would volunteer ordered to slope arms, whereupon every man responded. The Cornwall, East Surrey, West Surrey, Gordon Highlanders, Royal Warwickshire, and Yorkshire Artillery Militia all followed suit. In no case did any militia battalion when invited to give its services show the smallest reluctance. The volunteers were equally eager and enthusiastic. Thus the colonel of the 3rd Middlesex Volunteer Artillery, when asked how many men would give their services, answered, "The whole regiment will do so if required." It may be questioned if sufficient use was made of this eagerness, and bitter complaints were heard from the volunteers as to the unreasonable severity of the medical examination of those finally selected. [Illustration: INSPECTION OF LUMSDEN'S HORSE BY THE VICEROY OF INDIA, AT CALCUTTA. In the photograph the Viceroy, Lord Curzon,* in light coat and hat, is seen amidst the group on the left, on his way to the dais after the inspection.] [Sidenote: London's contribution.] [Sidenote: DEC. 1899.] _The Wives, Widows, and Children cared for._] The City Council, at a meeting held on December 20, decided to select detachments of twenty picked marksmen from volunteer regiments and to form them into its battalion of City Imperial Volunteers, 1,000 strong. The sum of £25,000 was contributed to the equipment of this force by the City Funds, and the freedom of the City was promised to every volunteer in the organisation. Of this and other patriotic movements in the Empire's capital we shall have more to say shortly. Private individuals came forward with the most splendid generosity to contribute to the fund raised to defray the cost of the force. Messrs. Wilson, of Hull, the great shipowners, offered free of charge the use of a fitted transport for three months--an offer which was, it was calculated, equivalent to the gift of £15,000. Besides the infantry battalion, the City provided a battery of four guns and a detachment of mounted infantry. All ranks and all conditions showed equal alacrity in helping the cause. Those who were of fighting age and physique were ready to give their lives; the rest contributed money to the best of their ability. Working men subscribed their pence and shillings to keep in comfort the wives and children of their comrades who had gone to the front. And unquestionably the manner in which the nation had done its duty by raising hundreds of thousands for the wives, widows, and children of the soldiers, and for the comfort of the wounded contributed in no small degree to the alacrity with which the call to arms was met. The soldier was everywhere what he should always have been--a privileged and honoured man. [Illustration: HIT!