summaryrefslogtreecommitdiff
path: root/15615-h
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
Diffstat (limited to '15615-h')
-rw-r--r--15615-h/15615-h.htm2839
-rw-r--r--15615-h/images/201.pngbin0 -> 98916 bytes
-rw-r--r--15615-h/images/203.pngbin0 -> 155064 bytes
-rw-r--r--15615-h/images/204.pngbin0 -> 77824 bytes
-rw-r--r--15615-h/images/205.pngbin0 -> 87723 bytes
-rw-r--r--15615-h/images/207.pngbin0 -> 91505 bytes
-rw-r--r--15615-h/images/208.pngbin0 -> 66618 bytes
-rw-r--r--15615-h/images/209.pngbin0 -> 84564 bytes
-rw-r--r--15615-h/images/210.pngbin0 -> 72839 bytes
-rw-r--r--15615-h/images/211.pngbin0 -> 120226 bytes
-rw-r--r--15615-h/images/213-1.pngbin0 -> 50889 bytes
-rw-r--r--15615-h/images/213-2.pngbin0 -> 66184 bytes
-rw-r--r--15615-h/images/214.pngbin0 -> 71655 bytes
-rw-r--r--15615-h/images/215.pngbin0 -> 93632 bytes
-rw-r--r--15615-h/images/216.pngbin0 -> 87795 bytes
-rw-r--r--15615-h/images/217.pngbin0 -> 94637 bytes
-rw-r--r--15615-h/images/219.pngbin0 -> 62004 bytes
-rw-r--r--15615-h/images/220.pngbin0 -> 102572 bytes
18 files changed, 2839 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/15615-h/15615-h.htm b/15615-h/15615-h.htm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..04d4cc8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/15615-h/15615-h.htm
@@ -0,0 +1,2839 @@
+<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
+ "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
+<html>
+<head>
+<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" />
+<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 158, March 17, 1920, by Various</title>
+ <style type="text/css">
+
+ <!--
+ body {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;}
+ p {text-align: justify;}
+ blockquote {text-align: justify;}
+ h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {text-align: center;}
+ pre {font-size: 0.7em;}
+ .sc {font-variant: small-caps;}
+
+ hr {text-align: center; width: 50%;}
+ html>body hr {margin-right: 25%; margin-left: 25%; width: 50%;}
+ hr.full {width: 100%;}
+ html>body hr.full {margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 0%; width: 100%;}
+ hr.short {text-align: center; width: 20%;}
+ html>body hr.short {margin-right: 40%; margin-left: 40%; width: 20%;}
+
+ .note, .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;}
+
+ span.pagenum
+ {position: absolute; left: 1%; right: 91%; font-size: 8pt; text-indent: 0;}
+
+ .poem
+ {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: left;}
+ .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;}
+ .poem p {margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;}
+ .poem p.i2 {margin-left: 1em;}
+ .poem p.i4 {margin-left: 2em;}
+ .poem p.i6 {margin-left: 3em;}
+ .poem p.i8 {margin-left: 4em;}
+ .poem p.i10 {margin-left: 5em;}
+
+ .figure, .figcenter, .figright, .figleft
+ {padding: 1em; margin: 0; text-align: center; font-size: 0.8em;}
+ .figure img, .figcenter img, .figright img, .figleft img
+ {border: none;}
+ .figure p, .figcenter p, .figright p, .figleft p
+ {margin: 0; text-indent: 1em;}
+ .figcenter {margin: auto;}
+ .figright {float: right;}
+ .figleft {float: left;}
+
+ .inline {border: none; vertical-align: middle;}
+
+ p.author {text-align: right; margin-right: 5%;}
+ .center {text-align: center;}
+ -->
+ </style>
+</head>
+<body>
+<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 158,
+March 17, 1920, by Various, Edited by Owen Seaman</h1>
+<pre>
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at <a href = "https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre>
+<p>Title: Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 158, March 17, 1920</p>
+<p>Author: Various</p>
+<p>Release Date: April 13, 2005 [eBook #15615]</p>
+<p>Language: English</p>
+<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p>
+<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI, VOL. 158, MARCH 17, 1920***</p>
+<br /><br /><h4>E-text prepared by Jonathan Ingram, Sandra Brown,<br />
+ and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team</h4><br /><br />
+<hr class="full" />
+ <h1>PUNCH,
+ <br />
+ OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.</h1>
+
+ <h2>Vol. 158.</h2>
+ <hr class="full" />
+
+ <h2>March 17, 1920.</h2>
+ <hr class="full" />
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="page201"
+ id="page201"></a>[pg 201]</span>
+
+ <h2>CHARIVARIA.</h2>
+
+ <p><span class="sc">Prince Albert Joachim</span>, it appears,
+ did not take part in the attack on a French officer at the
+ Hotel Adlon, but only gave the signal. Always the little
+ Hohenzollern!</p>
+ <hr class="short" />
+
+ <p>It seems that at the last moment Mr. <span class="sc">C. B.
+ Cochran</span> broke off negotiations for the exclusive right
+ to organise the <span class="sc">Carpentier</span> wedding.</p>
+ <hr class="short" />
+
+ <p>"Will Scotland go dry?" asks <i>The Daily Express</i>. Not
+ on purpose, we imagine.</p>
+ <hr class="short" />
+
+ <p>A new method of stopping an omnibus by a foot-lever has been
+ patented. This is much better than the old plan of shaking
+ one's umbrella at them.</p>
+ <hr class="short" />
+
+ <p>Mr. <span class="sc">Lloyd George</span>, we read, makes a
+ study of handwriting. The only objection that <i>The Times</i>
+ has to this habit is that he positively refuses to notice the
+ writing on the wall.</p>
+ <hr class="short" />
+
+ <p>It is rumoured that the Government will construct an
+ experimental tunnel between England and the United States in
+ order (1) to cement Anglo-American friendship, and (2) to
+ ascertain if the Channel Tunnel is practicable.</p>
+ <hr class="short" />
+
+ <p>Dr. <span class="sc">C.W. Colby</span>, head of the
+ Department of History, has taken Sir <span class="sc">Aucland
+ Geddes'</span> place as Principal of McGill University. The
+ report that Sir <span class="sc">Auckland</span> will
+ reciprocate by taking a place in history awaits
+ confirmation.</p>
+ <hr class="short" />
+
+ <p>"It is quite usual nowadays," a well-known auctioneer
+ states, "for mill hands to keep a few orchids." We understand
+ that by way of a counter-stroke a number of noblemen are
+ threatening to go in for runner ducks.</p>
+ <hr class="short" />
+
+ <p>A Rotherham couple who have just celebrated their diamond
+ wedding have never tasted medicine. We ourselves have always
+ maintained that the taste is an acquired one.</p>
+ <hr class="short" />
+
+ <p>A Greenland falcon has been shot in the Orkneys. The view is
+ widely taken that the wretched bird, which must have known it
+ wasn't in Greenland, brought the trouble on itself.</p>
+ <hr class="short" />
+
+ <p>An alleged anarchist arrested in Munich was identified as a
+ poet and found Not Guilty&mdash;not guilty, that is to say, of
+ being an anarchist.</p>
+ <hr class="short" />
+
+ <p>With reference to the pending retirement of Mr.
+ <span class="sc">Robert Smillie</span> from the
+ Presidency of the Miners' Federation, it appears that
+ there is talk of arranging a farewell strike.</p>
+ <hr class="short" />
+
+ <p>The <i>Berlin Vorwaerts</i> states that ex-Emperor
+ <span class="sc">Carl</span> has been discovered in Hungary
+ under an assumed name. The Hungarian authorities say that
+ unless he is claimed within three days he will be sold to
+ defray expenses.</p>
+ <hr class="short" />
+
+ <p>We understand that Mr. Justice <span class=
+ "sc">Darling's</span> weekly denial of the reports of his
+ retirement will in future be issued on Tuesdays, instead of
+ Wednesdays, as hitherto.</p>
+ <hr class="short" />
+
+ <p>When hit by a bullet a tiger roars until dead, says a weekly
+ paper, but a tigress dies quietly. Nervous people who suffer
+ from headaches should therefore only shoot tigresses.</p>
+ <hr class="short" />
+
+ <p>Two out of ten houses being built at Guildford are now
+ complete. Builders in other parts of the country are asking who
+ gave the word "Go."</p>
+ <hr class="short" />
+
+ <p>"Marvellous to relate," says a Sunday paper, "a horse has
+ just died at Ingatestone at the age of thirty-six." Surely it
+ is more marvellous that it did not die before.</p>
+ <hr class="short" />
+
+ <p>It is said that the Paris Peace Conference cost two million
+ pounds. The latest suggestion is that, before the next war
+ starts, tenders for a Peace Conference shall be asked for and
+ the lowest estimate accepted.</p>
+ <hr class="short" />
+
+ <p>A Walsall carter has summoned a fellow-worker because during
+ a quarrel he stepped on his face. It was not so much that he
+ had stepped on his face, we understand, as the fact that he had
+ loitered about on it.</p>
+ <hr class="short" />
+
+ <p>A painful mistake is reported from North London. It appears
+ that a young lady who went to a fancy-dress ball as "The Silent
+ Wife" was awarded the first prize for her clever impersonation
+ of a telephone girl.</p>
+ <hr class="short" />
+
+ <p>We are glad to learn that the thoughtless tradesman who, in
+ spite of the notice, "Please ring the bell," deliberately
+ knocked at the front-door of a wooden house, has now had to pay
+ the full cost of rebuilding.</p>
+ <hr class="short" />
+
+ <p>After reading in her morning paper that bumping races were
+ held recently at Cambridge, a dear old lady expressed sorrow
+ that the disgraceful scenes witnessed in many dance-rooms in
+ London had spread to one of our older universities.</p>
+ <hr class="short" />
+
+ <p>Tyrolese hats have reappeared in London after an interval of
+ nearly five years. We understand that the yodel waistcoat will
+ also be heard this spring.</p>
+ <hr class="short" />
+
+ <p>A Welshman was fined fifteen pounds last week for fishing
+ for salmon with a lamp. Defendant's plea, that he was merely
+ investigating the scientific question of whether salmon yawn in
+ their sleep, was not accepted.</p>
+ <hr />
+
+ <div class="figcenter"
+ style="width:50%;">
+ <a href="images/201.png"><img width="100%"
+ src="images/201.png"
+ alt=
+ "Well, anyhow, no one could tell that this was once a British warm." /></a>
+
+ <p class="sc">"Well, anyhow, no one could tell that this
+ was once a British warm."</p>
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+
+ <h4>More Boat-Race "Intelligence."</h4>
+
+ <blockquote class="note">
+ <p>"The Oxford crew had a hard training for an hour and
+ a-half under the direction of Mr. Harcourt Gold, who is to
+ catch them at Putney."&mdash;<i>Evening Paper</i>.</p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <p>But will they catch Cambridge at Barnes?</p>
+
+ <blockquote class="note">
+ <p>"The Cambridge people have elected to use a scull with a
+ tubular shank or 'loom.'</p>
+
+ <p>"Oxford are using these sculls, too."&mdash;<i>Evening
+ Paper</i>.</p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <p>We have a silly old-fashioned preference for the use of oars
+ in this competition.</p>
+ <hr />
+
+ <blockquote class="note">
+ <p>"On St. David's Day, Welshmen wear a leak in their
+ hats."&mdash;<i>Provincial Paper</i>.</p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <p>Lest they should suffer from swelled head?</p>
+ <hr />
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="page202"
+ id="page202"></a>[pg 202]</span>
+
+ <h2>THE "NEW" WORLD.</h2>
+
+ <blockquote class="note">
+ <p>["Direct Action," which was regarded as a novelty
+ suitable for an age of reconstruction, has now, by the good
+ sense of the Trades Union Congress, been relegated to its
+ proper place in the old and discredited order of
+ things.]</p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <div class="poem">
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>In these, the young Millennium's years,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Whereof they loudly boomed the birth,</p>
+
+ <p>Promising by the lips of seers</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">New Heavens and a brand-new Earth,</p>
+
+ <p>We find the advertised attraction</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">In point of novelty is small,</p>
+
+ <p>And argument by force of action</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Would seem the oldest wheeze of all.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>When Prehistoric Man desired</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Communion with his maid elect,</p>
+
+ <p>And arts of suasion left him tired,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">He took to action more direct;</p>
+
+ <p>Scaring her with a savage whoop or</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Putting his club across her head,</p>
+
+ <p>He bore her in a state of stupor</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Home to his stony bridal bed.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>In ages rather more refined,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Gentlemen of the King's highway,</p>
+
+ <p>Whose democratic tastes inclined</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">To easy hours and ample pay,</p>
+
+ <p>Would hardly ever hold their victim</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Engaged in academic strife,</p>
+
+ <p>But raised their blunderbuss and ticked him</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Off with "Your money or your life."</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>So when your miners, swift to scout</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">The use of reason's slow appeal,</p>
+
+ <p>Threaten to starve our children out</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">And bring the country in to heel,</p>
+
+ <p>There's nothing, as I understand it,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">So very new in this to show;</p>
+
+ <p>The cave-man and the cross-roads bandit</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Were there before them long ago.</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <p class="author">O.S.</p>
+ <hr />
+
+ <h2>FAIR WEAR AND TEAR.</h2>
+
+ <p>In a short time now we shall have to return this flat to its
+ proper tenants and arrive at some assessment of the damage done
+ to their effects. With regard to the other rooms, even the room
+ which Richard and Priscilla condescend to use as a nursery, I
+ shall accept the owners' estimate cheerfully enough, I think;
+ but the case of the drawing-room furniture is different. About
+ the nursery I have only heard vague rumours, but in the
+ drawing-room I have been an eye-witness of the facts.</p>
+
+ <p>The proper tenant is a bachelor who lived here with his
+ sister; he will scarcely realise, therefore, what happens at 5
+ P.M. every day, when there comes, as the satiric poet,
+ <span class="sc">Longfellow</span>, has so finely
+ sung&mdash;</p>
+
+ <div class="poem">
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>"A pause in the day's occupations,</p>
+
+ <p>Which is known as the children's hour."</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <p>Drawing-room furniture indeed! When one considers the
+ buildings and munition dumps, the live and rolling stock, the
+ jungles and forests in that half-charted territory; when one
+ considers that even the mere wastepaper basket by the
+ writing-desk (and it <i>does</i> look a bit battered, that
+ wastepaper basket) is sometimes the tin helmet under which
+ Richard defies the frightfulness of <span class="sc">Lars
+ Porsena</span>, and sometimes a necessary stage property for
+ Priscilla's two favourite dramatic recitations</p>
+
+ <div class="poem">
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>"He plunged with a delighted <i>scweam</i></p>
+
+ <p>Into a bowl of clotted cweam,"</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <p>and</p>
+
+ <div class="poem">
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>"This is Mr. Piggy Wee,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">With tail so pink and curly,</p>
+
+ <p>And when I say, 'Good mornin', pig,'</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">He answers <i>vewwy</i> surly,</p>
+
+ <p class="i10">Oomph! Oomph!'"</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <p>and sometimes the hutch that harbours a cotton-wool creation
+ supposed to be a white rabbit, and stated by the owner to be
+ "munsin' and munsin' and munsin' a carrot"&mdash;when, I say, I
+ consider all these things I anticipate that the proceedings of
+ the Reparation Commission will be something like
+ this:&mdash;</p>
+
+ <p><i>He (looking a little ruefully at the round
+ music-stool)</i>. I suppose your wife plays the piano a good
+ deal?</p>
+
+ <p><i>I (brightly)</i>. If you mean the detachable
+ steering-wheel, it is only fair to remember that a part
+ interchangeable between the motor-omnibus and the
+ steam-roller&mdash;</p>
+
+ <p><i>He</i>. I don't understand.</p>
+
+ <p><i>I</i>. Permit me to reassemble the mechanism.</p>
+
+ <p><i>He</i>. You mean that when you put that armchair at the
+ end of the sofa and the music-stool in front of it&mdash;</p>
+
+ <p><i>I</i>. I mean that the motor-omnibus driver, sitting as
+ he does in front of his vehicle and manipulating his
+ steering-wheel like this, can do little or no harm to the
+ apparatus. On the other hand, the steam-roller mechanic,
+ standing <i>inside</i> the body of the vehicle, and having the
+ steering-wheel in <i>this</i> position&mdash;</p>
+
+ <p><i>He</i>. On the sofa?</p>
+
+ <p><i>I</i>. Naturally. Well, supposing he happens to have a
+ slight difference of opinion with his mate as to which of them
+ ought to do the driving, the wheel is quite likely to be pushed
+ off on to the macadam, where it gets a trifle frayed round the
+ edges.</p>
+
+ <p><i>He</i>. I see. How awfully stupid of me! And this pouffe,
+ or whatever they call it?</p>
+
+ <p><i>I</i>. Week in and week out, boy and girl, I have seen
+ that dromedary ridden over more miles of desert than I can tell
+ you, and never once have I known it under-fed or under-watered,
+ or struck with anything harder than the human fist. Of course
+ the hump does get a little floppy with frequent use, but
+ considering how barren your Sahara&mdash;</p>
+
+ <p><i>He</i>. Quite, quite. I was just looking at that
+ armchair. Aren't there a lot of scratches on the legs?</p>
+
+ <p><i>I</i>. Have you ever <i>kept</i> panthers? Do you realise
+ how impatiently they chafe at times against the bars of their
+ cage? Of course, if you haven't....</p>
+
+ <p>Finally, I imagine he will see how reasonable my attitude is
+ and how little he has to complain of. He will recognise that
+ one cannot deal with complicated properties of this sort
+ without a certain amount of inevitable dilapidation and
+ loss.</p>
+
+ <p>As a matter of fact I have an even stronger line of argument
+ if I choose to take it. I can put in a counter-claim. One of
+ the principal attractions of old furniture, after all, is
+ historic association. There is the armchair, you know, that Dr.
+ <span class="sc">Johnson</span> sat in, and the inkpot, or
+ whatever it was, that <span class="sc">Mary</span>, Queen of
+ Scots, threw at <span class="sc">John Bunyan</span> or
+ somebody, and I have also seen garden-seats carved out of
+ famous battleships. And then again, if you go to Euston, or it
+ may be Darlington, you will find on the platform the original
+ tea-kettle out of which <span class="sc">George
+ Washington</span> constructed the first steam-engine. The
+ drawing-room furniture that we are relinquishing combines the
+ interest of all these things. If I like I can put a placard on
+ the sofa, before I take its owner to see it, worded something
+ like this:&mdash;</p>
+
+ <p>"Puffing Billy, the original steam-roller out of which this
+ elegant piece was carved, held the 1920 record for fourteen
+ trips to Brighton and back within half-an-hour." And after he
+ has seen that I can lead him gently on to Roaring Rupert, the
+ arm-chair. Really, therefore, when one comes to consider it,
+ the man owes me a considerable sum of money for the enhanced
+ sentimental value that has been given to his commonplace
+ property.</p>
+
+ <p>Mind you, I have no wish to be too hard on him. I shall be
+ content with a quite moderate claim, or even with no claim at
+ all. Possibly, now I come to think of it; I shall simply
+ say,</p>
+
+ <p>"You know what it is to have a couple of bally kids about
+ the place. What shall I give you to call it square?"</p>
+
+ <p>And he will name a sum and offer me a cigarette, and we
+ shall talk a little about putting or politics.</p>
+
+ <p>But it doesn't much matter. Whatever he asks he can only put
+ it down in the receipts' column of his account-book under the
+ heading of "Depreciation of Furniture," whereas in my expenses
+ it will stand as "Richard and Priscilla: for Adventures, Travel
+ and Romance."</p>
+
+ <p class="author"><span class="sc">Evoe</span>.</p>
+ <hr />
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="page203"
+ id="page203"></a>[pg 203]</span>
+
+ <div class="figcenter"
+ style="width:100%;">
+ <a href="images/203.png"><img width="60%"
+ src="images/203.png"
+ alt="A ST. PATRICK'S DAY DREAM" /></a><br />
+ <b>A ST. PATRICK'S DAY DREAM</b>
+ <br />
+ (MARCH 17).
+
+ <p><span class="sc">The Idyllist of Downing Street</span>
+ (<i>with four-leaved shamrock</i>). "SHE LOVES ME!
+ SHE&mdash;BUT PERHAPS I'D BETTER NOT GO ANY FURTHER."</p>
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="page204"
+ id="page204"></a>[pg 204]</span>
+
+ <div class="figcenter"
+ style="width:100%;">
+ <a href="images/204.png"><img width="100%"
+ src="images/204.png"
+ alt=
+ "&lt;i&gt;Visitor&lt;/i&gt;. 'And how is your newly-married daughter'" /></a>
+
+ <p><i>Visitor</i>. "<span class="sc">And how is your
+ newly-married daughter</span>?"</p>
+
+ <p><i>Mrs. Brown</i>. "<span class="sc">Oh, she's nicely
+ thank you. She finds her husband a bit dull; but as I tells
+ her, the good 'uns <i>are</i> dull</span>."</p>
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+
+ <h2>WINTER SPORT IN THE LOWER ALPS.</h2>
+
+ <p>About two months ago, after a course of travel literature
+ and some back numbers of <i>The Badminton Magazine</i>, I
+ became infected with a desire to spend a winter in the Alps,
+ skating, sliding, curling and yodelling in the intervals of
+ ski-ing, skijoring, skilacking and skihandlung. The very names
+ of the pastimes conjured up a picture of swift and healthy
+ activity. As the pamphlets assured me, I should return a new
+ man; and, though I am greatly attached to the old one, I
+ recognised that improvement was possible.</p>
+
+ <p>I don't remember how it came about that I finally chose
+ Freidegg among the multiplicity of winter-sport stations whose
+ descriptions approximated to those of Heaven. I expect
+ Frederick forced the choice upon me; Frederick had been to
+ Switzerland every winter from 1906 to 1913 and knew the ropes.
+ I somehow gathered that the ropes were of unusual
+ complexity.</p>
+
+ <p>The entire journey was passed among winter-sporters of a
+ certain type. From their conversation I was able to learn that
+ Badeloden was formerly overrun by Germans; that Franzheim was
+ excellent if you stayed at the Grand, but at the Kurhaus the
+ guests were unsociable, while at the Oberalp you were not done
+ well and the central-heating was inefficient.</p>
+
+ <p>I ventured a few questions about the sport available, but
+ was gently rebuked by the silence which followed before
+ conversation was resumed in a further discussion of comforts
+ and social amenities.</p>
+
+ <p>On arrival at the hotel I took out my skates, but, on
+ Frederick's advice, hid them again. "Don't let people see that
+ you are a newcomer; there won't be any skating for some weeks
+ yet," said he.</p>
+
+ <p>"But why not?" I objected. "The ice must be at least six
+ inches thick."</p>
+
+ <p>"Well, it isn't done," he replied. "One's first week is
+ spent in settling down; you can't go straight on the ice
+ without preparation."</p>
+
+ <p>On the third day a Sports' Meeting was held, as the result
+ of which a programme of the season was published. It was
+ announced that there would be, weekly, three dances and one
+ bridge tournament; a theatrical performance would be given once
+ a fortnight, and the blank evenings filled with either a
+ concert or an entertainment. I began to wonder how I could
+ squeeze in time for sleep.</p>
+
+ <p>In order that boredom might not overtake the guests before
+ evening came, a magnificent tea was served from four to six.
+ During the afternoon one could visit the other hotels of the
+ place and usually found some function in progress. We were not
+ expected to breakfast before ten, and the short time that
+ remained before lunch was spent in a walk to the rink, where we
+ would solemnly take a few steps on the ice, murmur, "Not in
+ condition yet," and return to the hotel.</p>
+
+ <p>After about a fortnight of this I announced to Frederick
+ that I was going to skate, no matter how far from perfection
+ the ice proved to be.</p>
+
+ <p>Frederick was indignant.</p>
+
+ <p>"You'll make yourself both conspicuous and unpopular. The
+ two Marriotts are giving an exhibition to-morrow; if you spoil
+ the ice for them their show will be ruined."</p>
+
+ <p>"Very well, then," said I, "I will borrow some ski and mess
+ about on the snow."</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page205"
+ id="page205"></a>[pg 205]</span>
+
+ <p>"You can't do that," he replied, horrified; "the
+ professionals are coming next week for the open competition,
+ and if they don't find clean snow&mdash;"</p>
+
+ <p>"All right; I'll get one of those grid-irons and course down
+ the ice-run. I suppose that's what the ice-run is for," said I
+ bitterly.</p>
+
+ <p>"And spoil the Alpine Derby, which you know is fixed for the
+ tenth?" Frederick addressed me with some severity. "Look
+ here&mdash;you must choose your sport and stick to it. I am a
+ ski-er; you don't find me skating or bobbing or curling."</p>
+
+ <p>"Or ski-ing," I added.</p>
+
+ <p>"Before ski-ing," he informed me, "one must have one's ski
+ in perfect condition. Mine are improving daily."</p>
+
+ <p>Frederick in fact spent his short mornings in giving
+ instructions as to how his ski were to be oiled and rubbed. All
+ the most complicated operations of unction and massage were
+ performed upon them, and all the time Frederick watched over
+ them as over a sick child.</p>
+
+ <p>Next I was told that the height of the season had arrived.
+ The round of indoor entertainments went on and almost daily the
+ guests walked to some near point to witness performances by
+ professionals who seemed to tour the country for that
+ purpose.</p>
+
+ <p>Just when there appeared to be a slight prospect of some
+ general outdoor activity (and Frederick's ski were pronounced
+ perfect) a thaw occurred. I am bound to say that the event was
+ received philosophically. Not a single member of the company
+ made any complaint; they faced adversity like true Britons and
+ boldly sat in the warm hotel to save themselves for the
+ evening. Nor did their distress put them off their feed; they
+ punished the tea unmercifully, showing scarcely a sign of the
+ aching sorrow which devoured them.</p>
+
+ <p>Soon it froze again. The daily visit to the ice was made and
+ Frederick's ski were once more put into training.</p>
+
+ <p>As for me I began to believe that there was something
+ shameful or disgraceful in my desire to skate. So I left
+ secretly for Sicily. Here I can enjoy passive entertainment
+ without being unpleasantly chilled.</p>
+
+ <p>Well, a few days ago I received from Frederick a letter,
+ from which the following is a quotation: "The final thaw has
+ now occurred and the season is ended. It has been one of the
+ most successful on record. The full programme was carried out
+ to the letter; I wish you had been here for the last Fancy
+ Dress. My ski were really fit and I was looking forward to some
+ great days on the snow. I think I made a bit of a hit too,
+ playing <i>Lord Twinkles</i> in <i>The Gay Life</i>."</p>
+
+ <p>The ski will no doubt miss Frederick's affectionate
+ attention; he was very fond of them.</p>
+
+ <p>Yesterday, by the purest accident I came across Claudia,
+ like myself enjoying the warmth and sunshine.</p>
+
+ <p>"Oh, you've been to Freidegg; how lovely! I went to Kestaag
+ this year and was very glad to leave. Nothing to do in the
+ evening but sit round a fire. All day the hotel was like a
+ wilderness and outside nothing but a lot of men falling about
+ in the snow. They were too tired to do anything during the
+ evening. It was horrid. Next time I shall be more careful and
+ choose a nice bright place like Freidegg."</p>
+
+ <p>Next time I too shall be more careful.</p>
+ <hr />
+
+ <div class="figcenter"
+ style="width:65%;">
+ <a href="images/205.png"><img width="80%"
+ src="images/205.png"
+ alt="'ANOTHER BLOW FOR THE COALITION.'" /></a>
+
+
+ <h3>"ANOTHER BLOW FOR THE COALITION."</h3>
+
+ <p><i>Sombre Reveller.</i> "<span class="sc">Is this
+ Paddington</span>?"</p>
+
+ <p><i>Porter.</i> "<span class="sc">Paddington? No! It's
+ Merstham. Why, You ain't even on the right railway. This is
+ South-Eastern and Chatham</span>."</p>
+
+ <p><i>Reveller.</i> "<span class="sc">There y'are, y'see.
+ That's what comes of Gov'ment control of
+ railways</span>."</p>
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="page206"
+ id="page206"></a>[pg 206]</span>
+
+ <h2>HOUND-FOXES.</h2>
+
+ <p>It was really Isabel's idea. But it must be admitted that
+ the Foxes took it up with remarkable promptitude. How it
+ reached them is uncertain, but maybe the little bird that nests
+ outside her nursery window knows more than we do.</p>
+
+ <p>The idea owed its inception to my attempt at explaining the
+ pink-coated horsemen depicted on an old Christmas card. I did
+ my best, right up to and including the "worry," in which Isabel
+ joined with enthusiasm. Then she went to bed.</p>
+
+ <p>But not to sleep. As I passed by the open door I heard a
+ small excited voice expounding to a lymphatic dolly the whole
+ mystery of fox-hunting:&mdash;</p>
+
+ <p>"And there was a wood, and there was a smell. And all the
+ peoploos on '<i>normous</i> huge high horses. And <i>nen</i>
+ all the hound-foxes runned after the smell and eated it all
+ up."</p>
+
+ <p>A fortnight later, taking a short cut through the Squire's
+ coverts, I sat down to enjoy the glory of woodland springtime.
+ "There was a wood and there was a smell." There certainly was;
+ in fact I was all but sitting upon an earth.</p>
+
+ <p>All this is credible enough. Now I hope you will believe the
+ rest of the story.</p>
+
+ <p>A dirty sheet of paper lay near Reynard's front doorstep.
+ Idly curious, I picked it up. Strange paper, a form of print
+ that I had never seen before; marked too with dirty pads.</p>
+
+ <p>It was a newspaper of sorts. Prominent notices adjured the
+ reader to "Write to <i>John Fox</i> about it." The leading
+ article was headed</p>
+
+ <p class="center">"AN APPEAL."</p>
+
+ <p>"Foxes of Britain!" it began; "opposed though we have always
+ been to revolutionary politics, a clear line is indicated to us
+ out of the throes of the Re-birth. The old feudal relations
+ between Foxes and Men have had their day. The England that has
+ been the paradise of the wealthy, of the pink-coated, of the
+ doubly second-horsed, must become that of the oppressed, the
+ hunted, the hand-to-mouth liver. In a word, we have had enough
+ of Fox-Hounds; henceforth we will have Hound-Foxes."</p>
+
+ <p>Then the policy was outlined. Foxes could not hunt
+ hounds&mdash;no; but they could lead them a dog's life. They
+ had been in the past too sporting; thought too little of their
+ own safety, too much of the pleasure of the Hunt and of the
+ reputation of its country.</p>
+
+ <p>Henceforth the League of Hound-Foxes would dispense justice
+ to the oppressors. No more forty-minute bursts over the best
+ line in the country; no more grass and easy fences; no more
+ favourable crossing points at the Whissendine Brook; no more
+ rhapsodies in <i>The Field</i> over "a game and gallant
+ fox."</p>
+
+ <p>A Hound-Fox would be game, but not gallant. He would carry
+ with him a large-scale specially-marked map, showing where
+ bullfinches were unstormable; where the only gaps harboured on
+ the far side a slimy ditch; where woods were rideless; where
+ wire was unmarked; where railways lured to
+ destruction&mdash;over and through each and every point would
+ the Hound-Fox entice the cursing Hunt.</p>
+
+ <p>As for the Hounds, they feared no obstacles, but they hated
+ mockery. <i>They</i> should be led on to the premises of
+ sausage factories; through villages, to be greeted as
+ brothers-in-the-chase by forty yelping curs; into
+ infant-schools (that old joke), where the delighted babes would
+ throw arms around their necks and call them "Doggie," until
+ both men and hounds would begin to question whether the game
+ were worth the candle.</p>
+
+ <p>Therefore let every eligible vulpine enroll himself to-day
+ as a Hound-Fox. They must be dog-foxes, rising three or over,
+ of good stamina, with plenty of scent, intelligent and
+ preferably unmarried. The League Secretary was &mdash;&mdash;
+ (here followed the name, earth and covert of a well-known
+ veteran).</p>
+
+ <p>There was other matter, of course. A "Grand Prize
+ Competition&mdash;A Turkey a Week for Life!" was announced. A
+ humorous article on Earth-Stoppers and, on the "Vixens' Page,"
+ a discussion as to the edibility of Pekinese.</p>
+
+ <p>Absent-mindedly I crumpled up the astounding rag and thrust
+ it down the hole.</p>
+ <hr class="short" />
+
+ <p>I arose stiff, bemused. The hot March sunshine and the song
+ of birds had left me drowsy. A glance at my watch showed me, to
+ my astonishment, that was tea-time. So I made my way home.</p>
+
+ <p>The reception of my story was as cold as the tea. They
+ weren't such fools, they said, as to believe it. So, knowing
+ your larger charity, dear Mr. Punch, I send it to you.</p>
+
+ <p>And I shall await that retrospective article in some Maytime
+ <i>Field</i>, entitled "A Season of Disasters."</p>
+ <hr />
+
+ <h4>A Critical Problem.</h4>
+
+ <blockquote class="note">
+ <p>"<i>The Admirable Crichton</i> is still one of the most
+ captivating of modern plays, rich in humour, scenically
+ 'telling' and close-packed with
+ Barrieisms."&mdash;<i>Times</i>.</p>
+
+ <p>"'Crichton' is one of the most agreeable Barrie plays,
+ because it is so free from Barrieisms."&mdash;<i>Manchester
+ Guardian</i>.</p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <hr />
+
+ <h2>SURMISES AND SURPRISES.</h2>
+
+ <p>The appearance of the Dean of <span class="sc">St.
+ Paul's</span> at a recent social gathering not in the character
+ of a wet blanket, but as a teller of jocund tales and a
+ retailer of humorous anecdotes, must not be taken as an
+ isolated and transient transformation, but as foreshadowing a
+ general conversion of writers and publicists hitherto
+ associated with utterances of a mordant, bitter, sardonic and
+ pessimistic tone.</p>
+
+ <p>It is rumoured at Cambridge that Mr. <span class=
+ "sc">Maynard Keynes</span>, mollified by the reception of his
+ momentous work, has plunged into an orgy of optimism, the
+ first-fruits of which will be a treatise on <i>The Gastronomic
+ Consequences of the Peace</i>. Those who have been fortunate
+ enough to see the MS. declare that the personal sketches of Mr.
+ <span class="sc">Clynes</span>, Mr. G.H. <span class=
+ "sc">Roberts</span>, Mr. <span class="sc">Hoover</span> and M.
+ <span class="sc">Escoffier</span> are marked by a coruscating
+ wit unparalleled in the annals of Dietetics. The account of a
+ dinner at the "White Horse" is perhaps the <i>clou</i> of an
+ exceptionally exhilarating entertainment.</p>
+
+ <p>This agreeable swing of the pendulum is further illustrated
+ by the report that Mr. <span class="sc">Philip Gibbs</span>, by
+ way of counteracting the depression caused by his last book, is
+ contemplating a palliative under the title of <i>Humours of the
+ Home Front</i>. It is hoped that the book will come out
+ serially in the pages of <i>The Hibbert Journal</i>.</p>
+
+ <p>Very welcome too is the report, not yet officially
+ confirmed, that Sir E. <span class="sc">Ray Lankester</span> is
+ engaged on a genial biography of Sir <span class="sc">Arthur
+ Conan Doyle</span>, with special reference to his achievements
+ in the domain of psychical research.</p>
+
+ <p>Other similar rumours are flying about in Fleet Street, but
+ we give them with necessary reserve. One of them credits Mr.
+ <span class="sc">Lytton Strachey</span> with the resolve to
+ indite a panegyric of the Archbishop of <span class=
+ "sc">Canterbury</span>. Another ascribes to Lord
+ <span class="sc">Fisher</span> the preparation of a
+ treatise on <i>The Evils of Egotism</i>.</p>
+ <hr />
+
+ <h4>The Week's Great Thought.</h4>
+
+ <blockquote class="note">
+ <p>"We are at a crisis, and a critical one at
+ that."&mdash;<i>Sir <span class="sc">Archibald
+ Salvidge</span> in "The Sunday Chronicle</i>."</p>
+ </blockquote>
+ <hr />
+
+ <h4>In a Good Cause.</h4>
+
+ <p>A special matinée is to be given by Mr. <span class=
+ "sc">Charles Gulliver</span> at the Paladium, on Friday, March
+ 19th, for the National Children's Adoption Association. Mrs.
+ <span class="sc">Lloyd George</span>, who makes a strong appeal
+ for this good work, will receive applications for tickets at
+ 10, Downing Street, S.W., and cheques should be made payable to
+ her.</p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page207"
+ id="page207"></a>[pg 207]</span>
+
+ <div class="figcenter"
+ style="width:100%;">
+ <a href="images/207.png"><img width="70%"
+ src="images/207.png"
+ alt="MANNERS AND MODES." /></a>
+
+
+ <h3>MANNERS AND MODES.</h3>
+
+ <p>THE ELECT ARE PRIVILEGED TO SEE THE FINISHED STATUE OF
+ HERCULES BY A CELEBRATED SCULPTOR.</p>
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+
+ <h2>SONGS OF THE HOME.</h2>
+
+ <div class="poem">
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p class="i2">IV.&mdash;<span class="sc">The Barrister
+ Husband.</span></p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p><i>How doth the Barrister delight,</i></p>
+
+ <p class="i2"><i>According to his sort,</i></p>
+
+ <p><i>To mix in any form of fight</i></p>
+
+ <p class="i2"><i>In any kind of Court.</i></p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>When Nurse's temper runs amok,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">And Cook is by the ears,</p>
+
+ <p>And all the home is terror-struck</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">By notices and tears,</p>
+
+ <p>And Madame begs me estimate</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">What argument or bounce'll</p>
+
+ <p>Restore and keep the peace, I state</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Opinion of Counsel:&mdash;</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>"With language dignified and terse</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">And with a haughty look</p>
+
+ <p>I should annihilate the Nurse</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">And coldly crush the Cook;</p>
+
+ <p>And, if they started in to weep,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">A word would make them stow
+ it:&mdash;</p>
+
+ <p>'That's not effective, merely cheap;</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">And, what is more, you know it.'"</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>"You'd bring the Cook," says she, "to book</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">By just a look?" "I should."</p>
+
+ <p>"By something terse you'd make the Nurse</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Feel even worse?" "I would."</p>
+
+ <p>"You'd say to weep was merely cheap</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">And, what was more, they knew it?"</p>
+
+ <p>"I should," say I; and her reply</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Is: "Come along and do it."</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p><i>How doth the Barrister delight</i></p>
+
+ <p class="i2"><i>In any low resort,</i></p>
+
+ <p><i>And hurry from the losing fight</i></p>
+
+ <p class="i2"><i>To seek another Court.</i></p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+
+ <blockquote class="note">
+ <p>"Mme. Tetrazzini had not been heard in London for five
+ years and some little ooooooo aaaaaaaay shd cf cwyyy might
+ have been busy on her voice. Well, it has
+ scarcely."&mdash;<i>South African Paper</i>.</p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <p>Her many admirers will be glad to know this.</p>
+ <hr />
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="page208"
+ id="page208"></a>[pg 208]</span>
+
+ <div class="figcenter"
+ style="width:100%;">
+ <a href="images/208.png"><img width="100%"
+ src="images/208.png"
+ alt="BEHIND THE SCENES IN CINEMA-LAND." /></a>
+
+
+ <h3>BEHIND THE SCENES IN CINEMA-LAND.</h3>
+
+ <p>"<span class="sc">Hand over your money</span>!"</p>
+
+ <p>"<span class="sc">Certainly, my good man. Now I don't
+ want to be personal, but you've got the very face I want
+ for my new film, 'The Bad man of Crimson Creek.' I'll give
+ you fifty pounds a week for an exclusive contract. Can I
+ tempt you</span>?"</p>
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+
+ <h2>THE BOAT-RACE AGAIN.</h2>
+
+ <p>In June, 1914, I took a house on the Thames, in order to
+ make sure of a good view of the Boat-Race; then a man threw a
+ bomb at Serajevo and ruined my plans. But now it is going to
+ happen again. And instead of fighting with a vast crowd at
+ Hammersmith Bridge I shall simply walk up into the bathroom and
+ look out of the window. It is wonderful.</p>
+
+ <p>Yet meanwhile I have lost some of my illusions about this
+ race. I have a boat myself; I myself have rowed all over the
+ course in my boat. It is only ten feet long, but it is very,
+ very heavy. Still, I have rowed in it all over the
+ course&mdash;with ease. Yet people talk as if it was a
+ marvellous thing for eight men to row a light boat over the
+ same water. Why is that? It is because the ignorant land-lubber
+ regards the river Thames as a pond; or else he regards it as a
+ river flowing always to the sea. He forgets about the tide. The
+ Boat-Race is rowed <i>with the tide</i>; they deliberately
+ choose a moment when the tide is coming in, and hope nobody
+ will notice; and nobody does notice. The tide runs about three
+ miles an hour, sometimes more; if they just sat still in the
+ boat they would reach Mortlake eventually, and the crowd would
+ get a good look at them, instead of seeing them for ten
+ seconds. The race ought to be rowed <i>against</i> the tide.
+ Then it really would be a feat of strength; then it really
+ would take ten years off their lives&mdash;perhaps more. Then
+ perhaps small boys would drop things on them from the bridges,
+ as they do on me. I wonder they don't try to do that now. There
+ is a certain quiet satisfaction in dropping things on people,
+ especially if they are labouring under Hammersmith Bridge
+ against the tide, and I should imagine that the temptation to
+ drop things on a University crew would be almost irresistible.
+ It is not everyone who can look back and say, "In 1890 I hit
+ the Oxford stroke in the stomach with a stone." As it is,
+ though, I suppose they go too fast for that kind of thing.</p>
+
+ <p>But apart from the small boys on the bridges, the present
+ system is most unsatisfactory for people who know "a man in the
+ boat." Even in a football match it is possible for an aunt
+ occasionally to distinguish her nephew and say, "Look, there is
+ Edward." But if she says, "Look, there is Edward," meaning No.
+ 5 in the Cambridge boat, you know she is imagining. All she
+ sees is a vague splashing between two bowler-hats, or possibly
+ the Oxford rudder moving at high speed through a horse's legs.
+ If the race were rowed against the tide we should all get our
+ money's worth; and the oars-men could then put more realism
+ into their "After-the-Finish" attitudes. As it is, they roll
+ about in the boat with a praiseworthy suggestion of fatigue,
+ but nobody really believes they are tired&mdash;nobody at least
+ who has rowed on the Thames with the tide.</p>
+
+ <p>No, I am afraid the actual race is a sad hypocrisy. But the
+ training must be terrible. Think of it. They started practising
+ in the second week in January: they row the race in the fourth
+ week in March. For ten weeks and more they have been "getting
+ those hands away" and driving with those legs and not
+ washing-out. For ten weeks horrible men with huge calves have
+ shouted at them and cursed them and told them their sins, like
+ a monk telling his beads&mdash;"Bow, you're late; Two, you're
+ early; Three, you're bucketing; Four, you're not bucketing
+ enough." I listen painfully, hoping against hope that at least
+ one of the crew may be left out of the catalogue, that Stroke
+ at least may be rowing properly. But no, Stroke is not
+ forgotten, and even Cox doesn't always give complete
+ satisfaction.</p>
+
+ <p>Sometimes I feel that I ought to <span class=
+ "pagenum"><a name="page209"
+ id="page209"></a>[pg 209]</span> row out in my little boat
+ and offer to tow the incompetents back to Putney. Yet they
+ seem somehow to travel very easily and well. But, however
+ harmoniously they swing past "The Doves" or quicken to
+ thirty-five at Chiswick Eyot, I know that in their hearts
+ they are hating each other. Goodness, how they must hate
+ each other! For ten weeks they have been rowing together in
+ the same boring boat, behind the same boring back. I read
+ with grim interest about the periodical shiftings of the
+ crew, how Stroke has moved to the Bow thwart, and Bow has
+ replaced Number Three, and Number Three has shifted to the
+ Stroke position. They may pretend that all this is a
+ scientific matter of adjustment, of balance and weight and
+ so forth. I know better. I know that Stroke is fed up with
+ the face of Cox, and that the mole on Number Two's neck has
+ got thoroughly on Bow's nerves, and that if Number Three has
+ to sit any longer behind Number Four's expanse of back he
+ will go mad. That is the secret of it all. But I suppose
+ they each of them hate the coach, and that keeps them
+ together.</p>
+
+ <p>Of all these sufferers perhaps Cox is most to be pitied.
+ They all have to eat what they're told, no doubt, yards and
+ yards of beefsteak, and so on. In the old days rowing men had
+ to drink beer at breakfast; I can't think of anything worse,
+ except, perhaps, stout. But Cox doesn't eat anything at all. He
+ has to get thinner and thinner. And if there is one thing
+ worse, than eating beefsteak at breakfast it must be watching
+ eight rowing men eating beefsteak at breakfast and not eating
+ anything yourself.</p>
+
+ <p>Yes, beyond question Cox is the real hero. I watch him
+ dwindling, day by day, from nine stone to eight stone, from
+ eight stone to seven stone twelve, and my heart goes out to the
+ little fellow. And what a job it is! If anything goes wrong,
+ Cox did it. He kept too far out or he kept too far in, or too
+ much in the middle. But who ever heard of Cox doing a brilliant
+ piece of steering, or saving the situation, or even rising to
+ the occasion? His highest ambition is for <i>The Times</i> to
+ say that he did his work "adequately"&mdash;like the <i>Second
+ Murderer</i> in <span class="sc">Shakspeare</span>.</p>
+
+ <p>And at the finish he can't even pretend that he's tired,
+ like the other men; even if there was any spectacular way of
+ showing that he was half-frozen he couldn't do it, because he
+ alone is responsible if one of the steamers runs over them and
+ they are all drowned. We ought to take off our hats to Cox;
+ though, of course, if we did, Stroke would think it was
+ intended for him.</p>
+
+ <p>But indeed I take off my hat to all of them; not because of
+ the race, which, as I say, is a piece of hypocrisy, being rowed
+ with the tide, but because of the terrible preparation for the
+ race. I wonder if it is worth it. It is true that they have
+ lady adorers on the towing-path at Putney, and it is even
+ rumoured that they receive anonymous presents of chocolates.
+ But presumably they are not allowed to eat them, so that these
+ can do little to alleviate their sufferings. It is true also
+ that for ever after (if their wives allow it) they can hang an
+ enormous oar on the wall and contemplate it after dinner. But,
+ after all, I can do that too, if I like; for I too have rowed
+ over the course.</p>
+
+ <p>And <i>I</i> shall have a free view of the race. But none of
+ them will see it at all. They will all be looking at the back
+ of the man in front, except Stroke, whose eye will be riveted
+ on the second button of Cox's blazer. What a life!</p>
+
+ <p class="author">A.P.H.</p>
+ <hr />
+
+ <div class="figcenter"
+ style="width:100%;">
+ <a href="images/209.png"><img width="100%"
+ src="images/209.png"
+ alt=
+ "&lt;i&gt;Shortsighted and quick-tempered Master of Hounds.&lt;/i&gt;" /></a>
+
+ <p><i>Shortsighted and quick-tempered Master of Hounds.</i>
+ "<span class="sc">Hi! What d'ye mean by heading my hounds
+ with that infernal car? How the deuce can you hunt in a
+ thing like that, Sir</span>?"</p>
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+
+ <blockquote class="note">
+ <p>"To Let, permanent, Furnished Sitting-Boots (size 6);
+ 20<i>s.</i>"&mdash;<i>Local Paper</i>.</p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <p>No, thanks; we already have a pair that are no good for
+ walking.</p>
+ <hr />
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="page210"
+ id="page210"></a>[pg 210]</span>
+
+ <div class="figcenter"
+ style="width:100%;">
+ <a href="images/210.png"><img width="100%"
+ src="images/210.png"
+ alt="Enthusiastic Lady (at Musical At Home)." /></a>
+
+
+ <p><i>Enthusiastic Lady (at Musical At Home)</i>.
+ <span class="sc">"Do you remember what this tune is out of,
+ Doctor? Used to be all the rage when we were in our 'teens.
+ Tum&mdash;tum&mdash;tum&mdash;tum&mdash;tum&mdash;tum&mdash;tum&mdash;tum?"</span></p>
+
+ <p><i>Eminent Dyspepsia Specialist</i>. <span class=
+ "sc">"The words are familiar."</span></p>
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+
+ <h3>THE SECOND TIME OF ASKING.</h3>
+
+ <p>(<i>The advancing price of rice has occupied much space in
+ the papers of late.</i>)</p>
+
+ <div class="poem">
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>Maud, when you turned me down (a year
+ to-morrow),</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Bidding me rise from off my suppliant
+ knee,</p>
+
+ <p>And, while regretful if you caused me sorrow,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Murmured, "Sebastian, it can never
+ be,"</p>
+
+ <p>I did not lay aside my fond ambition;</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">I told myself, in spite of what
+ occurred,</p>
+
+ <p>"This is her lunch or three o'clock edition,</p>
+
+ <p class="i10">And not her final word."</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>I merely marvelled at your eccentricity,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Feeling convinced amid my blank amaze</p>
+
+ <p>That, though you might "absent you from felicity</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Awhile," 'twas but a temporary phase;</p>
+
+ <p>Convinced the mood impelling you to stifle</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">The aspirations that I'd dared
+ outline</p>
+
+ <p>Was simply due to some extraneous trifle,</p>
+
+ <p class="i10">Not any flaw of mine.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>A chill or toothache might have vexed you
+ greatly;</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Perhaps you had a corn inclined to
+ shoot,</p>
+
+ <p>Or possibly the sugar shortage lately</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Had proved itself abnormally acute;</p>
+
+ <p>In short, I felt that, though unkindly treated,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">A happier time to me would surely
+ come,</p>
+
+ <p>When my request (impassioned) would be greeted</p>
+
+ <p class="i10">With no down-pointing thumb.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>Maud, it occurs to me you shunned a marriage</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Because that function, otherwise "quite
+ nice,"</p>
+
+ <p>Involved the facing of a friendly "barrage"</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Mainly composed of valedictory rice,</p>
+
+ <p>Stinging the cheek and nestling in the clothing;</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">If that was so, I share the feeling,
+ sweet;</p>
+
+ <p>For rice in puddings I've no special loathing,</p>
+
+ <p class="i10">But I detest it neat.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>If such your reason was, there 's no material</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Objection to our union to-day;</p>
+
+ <p>No risk remains of that offensive cereal</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Being employed in such a reckless
+ way;</p>
+
+ <p>You can say "Yes" without one apprehensive</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Thought that your brother is, a deadly
+ shot;</p>
+
+ <p>Rice as a missile now is too expensive.</p>
+
+ <p class="i10">Anything doing&mdash;what?</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+
+ <blockquote class="note">
+ <p>"According to a Paris report, an Anglo-British force of
+ 50,000 are on their way to occupy
+ Constantinople."&mdash;<i>Daily Paper</i>.</p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <p>It is, no doubt, the peculiar composition of this force that
+ has aroused the apprehensions of French chauvinists.</p>
+ <hr />
+
+ <blockquote class="note">
+ <p>"Denikin's troops are fleeing partly in steamers, partly
+ along the coast, leaving a large booby." <i>"Planters and
+ Commercial Gazette" (Mauritius).</i></p>
+
+ <p>"A Bolshevist wireless says the Reds captured Tagonrog,
+ Denikin's former headquarters, taking a huge
+ booby."&mdash;<i>Same Paper</i>.</p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <p>The booby prize has apparently been awarded to the Reds, but
+ we feel that our contemporary might have put in a claim.</p>
+ <hr />
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="page211"
+ id="page211"></a>[pg 211]</span>
+
+ <div class="figcenter"
+ style="width:100%;">
+ <a href="images/211.png"><img width="60%"
+ src="images/211.png"
+ alt="THE FORGOTTEN CAUSE." /></a>
+
+
+ <h3>THE FORGOTTEN CAUSE.</h3>
+
+ <p><span class="sc">Man in the Street</span>. "WELL, IF THE
+ OTHER ALLIES SAY SO TOO, THERE MUST BE SOMETHING IN IT. BUT
+ <i>I</i> ALWAYS UNDERSTOOD THE <i>GOVERNMENT</i> WAS TO
+ BLAME FOR EVERYTHING."</p>
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+ <!--page 212 blank-->
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="page213"
+ id="page213"></a>[pg 213]</span>
+
+ <h2>ESSENCE OF PARLIAMENT.</h2>
+
+ <p><i>Monday, March 8th</i>.&mdash;I should hesitate to call
+ Sir <span class="sc">Hamar Greenwood</span> the <i>Pooh-Bah</i>
+ of the Ministry, though he has something of that worthy's
+ sublime self-confidence and his capacity for taking any number
+ of posts. The House, which knows him both as Under-Secretary
+ for Foreign Affairs and Secretary to the Overseas Trade
+ Department of the Board of Trade, was surprised to hear him
+ answering questions relating to the nascent oil-wells in the
+ United Kingdom, and to learn that he had become "Minister for
+ Petroleum Affairs." But there the likeness ceases to be exact.
+ <i>Pooh Bah's</i> interest was in palm-oil.</p>
+
+ <div class="figright"
+ style="width:50%;">
+ <a href="images/213-1.png"><img width="100%"
+ src="images/213-1.png"
+ alt="CARRYING ON." /></a>CARRYING ON.
+
+ <p><span class="sc">Mr. Neal caddies for Sir Eric
+ Geddes</span>.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <p>A few days ago the <span class="sc">Chancellor of the
+ Exchequer</span> facetiously compared the critics of the
+ Government to the poet of <i>Rejected Addresses</i> who
+ declared that it was <span class="sc">Buonaparte</span> "who
+ makes the quartern loaf and Luddites rise." Out of the
+ Government's own mouth the critics are now, at any rate,
+ partially justified, for the <span class="sc">Prime
+ Minister</span> announced that the bread subsidy was to be
+ halved, and that on and after April 12th the quartern loaf
+ would rise&mdash;he did not quite know where.</p>
+
+ <p>In view of the occasional rumours of friction between
+ Government departments it is pleasant to record that the
+ Ministry of Transport and the War Office are on the friendliest
+ terms. Invited to abolish, in the interests of the taxpayer,
+ the cheap railway tickets now issued to soldiers, Mr.
+ <span class="sc">Neal</span> said it was primarily a question
+ for the War Office, as in this matter Sir <span class="sc">Eric
+ Geddes</span> would wish to move in harmony with Mr.
+ <span class="sc">Churchill</span>. As the <span class="sc">War
+ Secretary</span> promptly announced his intention of doing his
+ best to maintain the soldiers' privilege it is conjectured that
+ he will return from the ride with Sir <span class=
+ "sc">Eric</span> inside.</p>
+
+ <p>The new Member for Paisley delivered his maiden speech
+ to-night, and acquitted himself so well that in the opinion of
+ Members many months his senior he is likely to go far. The
+ Government had proposed to "guillotine" the remaining
+ Supplementary Estimates in order to get them through before
+ March 31st. Some ardent economists, mainly drawn from the
+ Coalition, while ready to concede the end, protested against
+ the means, and proposed that the House should make its own
+ arrangements.</p>
+
+ <div class="figright"
+ style="width:50%;">
+ <a href="images/213-2.png"><img width="100%"
+ src="images/213-2.png"
+ alt=
+ "&lt;i&gt;RARA AVIS IN TERRIS&lt;/i&gt;." /></a><i>RARA
+ AVIS IN TERRIS</i>.
+
+ <p>"Never since the days of Icarus had there been an
+ aviator quite like the right hon. gentleman [Mr.
+ <span class="sc">Winston Churchill</span>]. He had
+ displayed much sympathy with the Air Force and had almost
+ been one of its martyrs."&mdash;<i>Lord <span class=
+ "sc">Hugh Cecil</span></i>.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <p>Mr. <span class="sc">Bonar Law</span> promptly perceived the
+ advantage of transferring from the Government to the House a
+ disagreeable responsibility. Forgetting that he was cast for
+ the executioner, not the hero, he murmured, "It is a far, far
+ better thing," and graciously accepted the proposed
+ alternative. Mr. <span class="sc">Asquith</span>, not unwilling
+ to help in establishing a precedent which some day he himself
+ may find useful, backed him up, and the House, as a whole,
+ congratulating itself on its escape from the public
+ executioner, cheerfully proceeded to commit
+ <i>harakiri</i>.</p>
+
+ <p><i>Tuesday, March 9th</i>.&mdash;Mr. <span class=
+ "sc">Shortt</span> relieved our apprehensions by stating that
+ the few spurious "Bradburys" in circulation are of home
+ manufacture, and that, while a few specimens emanating from
+ Russia had been sent here for identification, they were so
+ poorly executed that they would scarcely pass muster in this
+ country. It is comforting to think that there is one British
+ industry which has nothing to fear from foreign dumping, but is
+ cheerfully forging ahead.</p>
+
+ <p>The <span class="sc">Home Secretary</span> also denied that
+ there had been any remarkable increase in pocket-picking or
+ that schools existed for the training of young criminals. As
+ Sir <span class="sc">Maurice Dockrell</span> pointed out, there
+ is indeed no need for them so long as the cinemas provide their
+ present facilities. <i>Fagin</i> has been quite knocked out by
+ the film.</p>
+
+ <p>The Parliamentary vocabulary extends apace. Mr.
+ <span class="sc">Rendall</span>, whose motion on divorce
+ had been postponed under the new arrangements for
+ business until after Easter, complained that Sir
+ <span class="sc">Frederick Banbury</span> had "done him
+ down."</p>
+
+ <p>Part of the evening was devoted to the bread-subsidy. The
+ debate incidentally illustrated the intellectual independence
+ of Ministers. A few days ago Mr. <span class="sc">Lloyd
+ George</span>, in advocating the resumption of trade with
+ Russia, declared that "the corn-bins of Russia were bulging
+ with grain." To-night Mr. <span class="sc">McCurdy</span> told
+ the House that, according to his information, the resumption of
+ trade <span class="pagenum"><a name="page214"
+ id="page214"></a>[pg 214]</span> With Russia was not likely
+ to open up any large store of wheat or grain in the near
+ future. Possibly there is no real incongruity. The grain may
+ be there, but the Russians, greedy creatures, may be going
+ to eat it themselves.</p>
+
+ <p><i>Wednesday, March 10th</i>.&mdash;Even in the gloomy
+ atmosphere of the Upper Chamber the subject of divorce lends
+ itself to humour. Lord <span class="sc">Buckmaster</span>, who
+ introduced a Bill founded on the recommendations of the Royal
+ Commission, performed his task with due solemnity, but some of
+ the noble Lords who opposed it were positively skittish. Lord
+ <span class="sc">Braye</span>, for example, thought that, if
+ the Bill passed, <i>Who's Who</i> would require a supplement
+ entitled <i>Who's Who's Wife</i>; and Lord <span class=
+ "sc">Phillimore</span> illustrated the effects of easy divorce
+ by a story of a Swiss marriage in which the bride-elect was
+ attended by four of the happy man's previous spouses. He also
+ told another of an American judge who, having explained that in
+ this department of his duties he was "very strict," added, "Of
+ course I make no difficulty the first time, but if they come
+ again within twelve months I want a good reason."</p>
+
+ <p>Mr. <span class="sc">Hogge</span> led a vigorous attack on
+ the Ministry of Transport, which he seemed to think had done
+ very little for its money except to divert the omnibuses at
+ Westminster and so make it more difficult for Members of
+ Parliament to get to the House. Mr. <span class="sc">Kennedy
+ Jones</span>, who was responsible for the innovation, rather
+ hinted that in the case of some Members this might not be
+ altogether an objection. The brunt of the defence fell upon Mr.
+ <span class="sc">Neal</span>, owing to the regretted absence of
+ his chief, who had been ordered away by his doctor for a
+ much-needed holiday and was reported to be recruiting himself
+ on the golf-links. If exercise is what he needs he could have
+ got plenty of it in the House to-night. Thanks to a persistent
+ minority, Members were kept tramping through the Lobbies for
+ the best part of five hours, and did not complete the full
+ round of eighteen divisions until 2.15 A.M.</p>
+
+ <p><i>Thursday, March 11th</i>.&mdash;Possibly the news of
+ "direct action's" heavy cropper at the Trade Union Conference
+ had reached the Front Bench before the <span class="sc">Prime
+ Minister</span>, in reply to a question regarding the shortage
+ of labour in the building trades, bluntly attributed it to the
+ stringency of the Trade Union regulations. When Mr.
+ <span class="sc">Adamson</span> attempted to shift the
+ blame on to a Government Department Mr. <span class=
+ "sc">Lloyd George</span> retorted that he would be
+ perfectly ready to deal with any peccant official if the
+ Labour Leader for his part would deal with the Trade
+ Unions.</p>
+
+ <p>General <span class="sc">Seely</span> repeated his familiar
+ arguments in favour of an independent Air Ministry, and Mr.
+ <span class="sc">Churchill</span> once more defended his
+ position, urging that it was better for the Air Service to have
+ half a Minister in the Cabinet than none at all. To a
+ suggestion that the lives of the Armenians might have been
+ saved if we had sent more aeroplanes to Asia Minor, Mr.
+ <span class="sc">Churchill</span> replied that unfortunately
+ the Armenian and Turkish populations were so intermingled that
+ our bombs would be dropping indiscriminately, like the rain,
+ "upon the just and unjust feller."</p>
+ <hr />
+
+ <div class="figcenter"
+ style="width:100%;">
+ <a href="images/214.png"><img width="100%"
+ src="images/214.png"
+ alt=
+ "'Tut, tut, Ma! Cease your apologies. What if there is but twopennyworth of fish and chips? Bring it forth. This is Bohemia!'" /></a>
+
+ <p><i>Actor</i> (<i>who has brought friend in for
+ supper&mdash;to lodging-house keeper</i>).
+ "<span class="sc">Tut, tut, Ma! Cease your apologies.
+ What if there is but twopennyworth of fish and chips?
+ Bring it forth. This is Bohemia</span>!"</p>
+
+ <p><i>Ma</i> (<i>politely bowing to stranger</i>).
+ "<span class="sc">How d'ye do, Sir</span>?"</p>
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="page215"
+ id="page215"></a>[pg 215]</span>
+
+ <h3>BUBBLE AND SQUEAK.</h3>
+
+ <div class="poem">
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>(<i>By a Grateful Student of the New English
+ Dictionary</i>.)</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>I can conjugate the modern verb "to wangle,"</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">And, if required, translate it into
+ Greek;</p>
+
+ <p>I can even tell a wurzel from a mangel;</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">But I cannot tell a bubble from a
+ squeak.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>I still can march eight furlongs at the double,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Although I shall be seventy next
+ week;</p>
+
+ <p>I can separate a bubble from a bubble;</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">But I cannot tell a bubble from a
+ squeak.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>I know a catfish differs from a seamew;</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">I don't expect Bellaggio at Belleek;</p>
+
+ <p>I know a cassowary from an emu;</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">But I cannot tell a bubble from a
+ squeak.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>I'm acquainted with the works of <span class=
+ "sc">Henry Purzell</span></p>
+
+ <p class="i2">(My mastery of spelling is unique);</p>
+
+ <p>I repeat, I know a mangel from a wurzel;</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">But I cannot tell a bubble from a
+ squeak.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>I'm proficient both in jotting and in tittling;</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">I know a certain cure for boots that
+ creak;</p>
+
+ <p>I can see through Mr. <span class="sc">Keynes</span>
+ and <i>Mr. Britling</i>;</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">But I cannot tell a bubble from a
+ squeak.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>I can always tell a <i>hari</i> from a
+ <i>kari</i></p>
+
+ <p class="i2">("<i>Harakiri</i>" is a silly pedant's
+ freak);</p>
+
+ <p>I can tell the style of <span class=
+ "sc">Caine</span> from that of <span class=
+ "sc">Marie</span>;</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">But I cannot tell a bubble from a
+ squeak.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>I never take a <span class="sc">Deeley</span> for a
+ <span class="sc">Dooley</span>;</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">I never take a putter for a cleek;</p>
+
+ <p>I never talk of <span class="sc">Healy</span>,
+ meaning <span class="sc">Hooley</span>;</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">But I cannot tell a bubble from a
+ squeak.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>I understand the sense of "oils are spotty";</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">I know the height of Siniolchum's
+ peak;</p>
+
+ <p>I know that some may think my ditty dotty;</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">But I cannot tell a bubble from a
+ squeak.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p class="i10">P.S.</p>
+
+ <p>I know the market price of eggs in Surrey,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">The acreage of maize in
+ Mozambique&mdash;</p>
+
+ <p>And now at last, thanks to immortal
+ "<span class="sc">Murray</span>,"</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">I've learned to tell a bubble from a
+ squeak.</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="figcenter"
+ style="width:65%;">
+ <a href="images/215.png"><img width="100%"
+ src="images/215.png"
+ alt=
+ "'Oh, George we must have stepped off with the wrong foot!'" /></a>"<span class="sc">
+ Oh, George we must have stepped off with the wrong
+ foot</span>!"
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+
+ <p>THE CONSERVATISM OF THE LIBERAL PARTY.</p>
+
+ <p><span class="sc">Dear Mr. Punch</span>,&mdash;I know you
+ take no sides in party politics, but I still think you would
+ like to hear why it is that I have gone over to the Independent
+ Liberals. No, it has nothing to do with Mr. <span class=
+ "sc">Asquith's</span> triumphal procession and still less with
+ the <span class="sc">Northcliffe</span> Press. The fact is that
+ till quite recently I belonged to the true blue Tory
+ school&mdash;was indeed probably the last survivor of the Old
+ Guard&mdash;and I found myself out of touch with the
+ progressive tendencies of modern Toryism, its deplorable way of
+ moving with the times, its hopeless habit of discarding what it
+ would call the old shibboleths when it wrongly imagined them to
+ be outworn. My decision to leave a party that has long ceased
+ to deserve its honoured name was immediately due to a Liberal
+ Paper which editorially ridiculed the Liberty League, formed
+ for the defeat of Bolshevist propaganda, and pooh-poohed the
+ idea of the existence of dangerous Bolshevist elements in the
+ country. This attitude attracted me enormously; for I recalled
+ the standpoint of the same paper in the days before the
+ War&mdash;how it ridiculed the alleged German menace and
+ pooh-poohed the idea of the existence of hostile German
+ elements in our midst. Here, I said, is the party for me; here
+ is your authentic Bourbon spirit&mdash;the type that learns
+ nothing and forgets nothing; that in the midst of a changing
+ world remains immovable as a rock. Yes, Sir, for a Tory of the
+ old school there is no place to-day except in the ranks of
+ Liberalism.</p>
+
+ <div class="poem">
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>Yours faithfully,</p>
+
+ <p class="i10"><span class="sc">Semper
+ Eadem</span>.</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="page216"
+ id="page216"></a>[pg 216]</span>
+
+ <div class="figcenter"
+ style="width:100%;">
+ <a href="images/216.png"><img width="100%"
+ src="images/216.png"
+ alt="MODERN DRAMA BELOW STAIRS." /></a>
+
+
+ <h3>MODERN DRAMA BELOW STAIRS.</h3>THE "MAID'S" HOSPITALITY
+ TO "ROBERT."
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+
+ <h2>RATES OF EXCHANGE.</h2>
+
+ <p>Jones was reading his morning paper in the opposite corner
+ seat with unusual attention, and he disregarded my
+ greeting.</p>
+
+ <p>"Why this absorption?" I inquired. "Usually you come to the
+ station with a piece of toast behind one ear, fastening your
+ boots as you run, and wake us all up with your first fine
+ morning rapture."</p>
+
+ <p>"I was just taking a look at the exchanges," he replied.
+ "The mark's about the same price as fly-paper, and, judging by
+ the news from New York, your chewing-gum is going to cost you
+ more shortly. Do you know anything about the money market?"</p>
+
+ <p>"I occasionally see it stated that 'money is plentiful' in
+ it," I returned. "I should think it must be an ideal
+ place."</p>
+
+ <p>"The most gorgeous thing in the world is to make a bit on
+ exchange," he said. "There's such a splendid feeling of not
+ having earned it, you know."</p>
+
+ <p>"I understand exactly," I replied. "Cox once credited me
+ with an extra month's pay by mistake. But I didn't realise that
+ you ever had to think about money matters after having run our
+ Mess in France."</p>
+
+ <p>He appeared to take no offence. His capacity for being
+ insulted in that direction had probably been exhausted during
+ the period in point.</p>
+
+ <p>"I know quite a lot about exchange," he remarked with a
+ reminiscent smile. "You remember that when I got pipped in
+ France in '15, they sent me out next time to Salonica. I hadn't
+ been there very long before the question of exchange cropped
+ up. In the early days most of us had English money only, and
+ the villagers used to rook us frightfully changing it. I
+ remember sending my batman, MacGusgogh, to a place for eggs,
+ and he came back with the change for my Bradbury in nickel. I
+ had a good look at it, and on each coin was the mystic
+ inscription, 'DIHAP,' which is pronounced 'dinar.'</p>
+
+ <p>"'MacGusgogh,' I said, 'you pretend to be a Scotsman and yet
+ you've been diddled. This is Serbian money, and not worth a
+ bean.'</p>
+
+ <p>"'Oh the deceitfu' deevils,' said he, 'there's neither truth
+ nor honesty in the leein' buddies, Sir. But here's your
+ Bradbury, an', at onny rate, we hae the eggs, Sir, for I paid
+ for them wi' a label off yin o' they Japaneesy beer bottles. It
+ seemed an awfu' waste to spend guid siller on folk that dinna
+ ken when they see it.'"</p>
+
+ <p>I began to see the possibilities of the money market.</p>
+
+ <p>"I was round about there till the Armistice," Jones went on,
+ "then I drifted by stages to South Russia. All the Eastern
+ countries live by exchange. Practically the only trade they
+ have is playing tennis with each others' currency, and the
+ headquarters of the industry in 1918 was South Russia. I
+ thought I'd seen the limit of low finance when I'd experienced
+ the franc, lira, drachma, dinar, lev and piastre; but they were
+ all child's play to the rouble in 1918."</p><span class=
+ "pagenum"><a name="page217"
+ id="page217"></a>[pg 217]</span>
+
+ <p>"I thought Russian money was all dud before that," I
+ remarked.</p>
+
+ <p>"Not a bit of it," said Jones. "You see, it's not as if
+ there were one breed, so to speak, of rouble. There were
+ <span class="sc">Kerensky</span> roubles, and Duma roubles, and
+ <span class="sc">Nicholas</span> roubles, and every little town
+ had a rouble-works which was turning out local notes as hard as
+ they, could go. I missed a fortune there by inches."</p>
+
+ <p>"Tell me," I said, in response to his anecdotal eye.</p>
+
+ <p>"I had a job there which consisted of going backwards and
+ forwards on the railway between Otwiski and Triadropoldir in
+ the Caucasus, a six days' trip. The possibilities of the
+ situation never struck me till one day I, asked a shopman in
+ Triadropoldir to give me my change in Otwiski
+ roubles&mdash;both towns had their own currency, of course. He
+ gave me five Otwiski roubles for one of his own town. I thought
+ a bit about that, and when I got back to Otwiski I tried the
+ same thing, and found I could get three Triadropoldir roubles
+ there for one Otwiski."</p>
+
+ <p>"I see," I remarked, as the beauty of this arrangement
+ dawned upon me.</p>
+
+ <p>"All I had to do therefore was to change my money in Otwiski
+ for three times as much Triadropoldir currency, and then go up
+ the line to the other place and change it back again, making
+ fifteen hundred per cent, on the round trip. Of course you
+ couldn't always change the full amount, but in a couple of
+ months I had sixty thousand roubles&mdash;my valise was crammed
+ with them&mdash;and I was only waiting to get down to the Field
+ Cashier to change out and make my fortune."</p>
+
+ <p>"And did you?" I asked.</p>
+
+ <p>"No, I didn't. One morning the Reds arrived in
+ Triadropoldir, and my servant and I only just got away with the
+ valise on one of those inspection cars which you propel by
+ pulling a handle backwards and forwards. A section of Red
+ Cavalry came after us, and we took it in turns to work the
+ handle."</p>
+
+ <p>"Your servant won't ever be short of a job," I commented.
+ "He ought to take to film-acting after that like a duck to
+ water."</p>
+
+ <p>"We soon finished my servant's ammunition and they were
+ closing in on us fast. My hair had appreciably lifted my tin
+ hat when I had a brain-wave and threw out a double handful of
+ rouble notes. It worked like a charm; they all stopped to
+ collect the money, and we had gone quite a distance before they
+ caught us up again, I threw out more notes at intervals, and
+ the last thousand roubles went just as we came in sight of
+ <span class="sc">Denikin's</span> outposts fifteen miles down
+ the line. We were saved, but I had lost my fortune, for there
+ was no chance of repeating the operation."</p>
+
+ <p>I sighed. Then, without any regard for the conclusions of my
+ fellow-passengers, I silently raised both my hands above my
+ head.</p>
+ <hr />
+
+ <div class="figcenter"
+ style="width:65%;">
+ <a href="images/217.png"><img width="100%"
+ src="images/217.png"
+ alt=
+ "&lt;i&gt;Ordinary Man&lt;/i&gt; (&lt;i&gt;to well-fed friend&lt;/i&gt;). 'Hullo! How are things with you? Making lots of money, I suppose?'" /></a>
+
+ <p><i>Ordinary Man</i> (<i>to well-fed friend</i>).
+ "<span class="sc">Hullo! How are things with you? Making
+ lots of money, I suppose</span>?"</p>
+
+ <p><i>Yorkshireman</i>. "<span class="sc">No. We don't
+ <i>make</i> money at Bradford&mdash;we just pick it
+ oop</span>."</p>
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+
+ <blockquote class="note">
+ <p>"She had her hair cut short, and claimed to be a member
+ of a tilted family."&mdash;<i>Provincial Paper</i>.</p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <p>One with a bend sinister, we presume.</p>
+ <hr />
+
+ <div class="poem">
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>A leader of fashion at Ely</p>
+
+ <p>Whose clothes were a bit down-at-heely</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">Was quite overcome</p>
+
+ <p class="i4">When he found he'd the sum</p>
+
+ <p>That would buy him a Mallaby-Deeley.</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+
+ <blockquote class="note">
+ <p class="center">"BLACK CATS' STRIKE THREAT."</p>
+
+ <p><i>Heading in a Sunday Paper of a report of a demand
+ made by Viennese clerks for doubled salaries.</i></p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <p>For "<span class="sc">Cats</span>'," read
+ "<span class="sc">Coats</span>'." <i>O</i> the diff! as
+ <span class="sc">Wordsworth</span> said.</p>
+ <hr />
+
+ <blockquote class="note">
+ <p>"Retriever Wanted; steady good worker: retrieve feather
+ or fur, land or water."&mdash;<i>Provincial Paper</i>.</p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <p>The exile of Amerongen could do with one of this breed.</p>
+ <hr />
+
+ <blockquote class="note">
+ <p>"The act of the donor suggests the lines:</p>
+
+ <div class="poem">
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>"'How far doth that little candle throw its
+ beams</p>
+
+ <p>On like a good deed in a naughty world.'"</p>
+
+ <p class="i10"><i>Daily Graphic</i>.</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <p>The author's name is not given, but we do not think he has
+ improved much on <span class="sc">Shakspeare</span>.</p>
+ <hr />
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="page218"
+ id="page218"></a>[pg 218]</span>
+
+ <h3>THE YEOMAN TRANSFORMED.</h3>
+
+ <blockquote class="note">
+ <p>[In accordance with the new Territorial organisation
+ some famous Yeomanry Regiments are to become Motor
+ Machine-Gun Units.]</p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <div class="poem">
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>Can a horseman turn from his heart's desire at the
+ stroke of a statesman's pen?</p>
+
+ <p>Can we learn to fight from a motor-car&mdash;we who
+ were mounted men?</p>
+
+ <p>In a petrol-tank and a sparking-plug shall we strive
+ to put our trust,</p>
+
+ <p>And hang our spurs as a souvenir to gather
+ reproachful rust?</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>Shall we never again ride knee to knee in the pomp
+ of squadron line,</p>
+
+ <p>With head-ropes white as a mountain drift and curb
+ chains all a-shine?</p>
+
+ <p>Will they dawn no more, those glorious days when the
+ world seemed all our own,</p>
+
+ <p>Who rode as scouts on an errant quest, alive, alert,
+ alone?</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>Can a man be made by a motor-car as a man is made by
+ a horse,</p>
+
+ <p>With strength in his back and legs and arms, and a
+ brain of swift resource?</p>
+
+ <p>We cared for our mounts before ourselves, their
+ thirst before our thirst;</p>
+
+ <p>Shall we come to learn, with the same content, to
+ think of an engine first?</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>Grousing enough. Though times have changed a man may
+ be needed yet.</p>
+
+ <p>Shall we stand aloof in an idle dream to nourish a
+ vain regret?</p>
+
+ <p>Whatever England may ask of us our service must be
+ hers;</p>
+
+ <p>And a horseman's quality 's in his heart and not in
+ a pair of spurs.</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+
+ <p class="author">W.K.H.</p>
+ <hr />
+
+ <h3>THE GREAT MUTTON CAMPAIGN.</h3>
+
+ <p>The recent disclosures concerning the enormous stocks of
+ frozen mutton held by the Ministry of Food&mdash;some of it
+ killed two years ago&mdash;have put the Government on their
+ mettle, and a vigorous campaign is now in preparation with the
+ object of inducing the public to assist in the disposal of
+ these overgrown supplies. Mr. Punch, being in touch with
+ sources of information not accessible to the general Press, has
+ been able to secure an advance copy of a popular appeal Which
+ is about to be issued broadcast by the Government. It runs as
+ follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+ <p>"Men, Women and Children of the United Kingdom!"</p>
+
+ <p>"The time has now arrived when each one of you is privileged
+ to illumine these drab days of peace with a show of patriotism
+ no less brilliant than that which lit up the dark years of war.
+ The task that is demanded is a simple one, and no heavy price
+ is exacted; all that is required is a single-minded
+ concentration upon the one essential need of the moment.</p>
+
+ <p>"Your Government, solicitous as always for your welfare, has
+ during the past two years accumulated a vast store of
+ nutritious mutton to safeguard you against the peril of
+ starvation. That danger being happily averted, it is now up to
+ you to eat the stuff. This is not a problem that can be tackled
+ by half-measures. If you desire to preserve the financial
+ stability of the Empire, and if you do not wish to go on eating
+ antiquated corpses of Australasian sheep for the rest of your
+ lives, you must set your teeth in grim earnest, eating against
+ time and chewing over time. You must consume mutton for
+ breakfast, mutton for luncheon, mutton for tea and mutton for
+ dinner. In fact, each one of you must in the interests of the
+ State become a mutton glutton.</p>
+
+ <p>"Do you shrink from the task? Do you shirk the chop now that
+ you know what is at stake? An army marches on its stomach; the
+ nation's well-being hangs on yours. Henceforth, until the
+ 'Cease Fire' sounds, you must fall upon the domestic enemy as
+ our gallant soldiers fell upon the alien foe. No quarter must
+ be given, no quarter, fore or hind, be permitted to escape.
+ Beef must be banned and veal avoided as the plague; no Briton
+ worthy of the name will claim a fowl.</p>
+
+ <p>"What are you going to do about it? Do you intend (to borrow
+ a Trans-atlantic phrase) to give the frozen mitt to the frozen
+ mutt? Or are you going to take it to your bosom and give it
+ there, or thereabouts, the home for which it has so long been
+ vainly seeking?</p>
+
+ <p>"Do it now and do it always. Let your daily motto
+ be&mdash;'<i>Revenons à nos moutons</i>.'"</p>
+
+ <p>In addition to the foregoing, every British housewife is to
+ be supplied with a valuable booklet containing a number of
+ official recipes for dealing with mutton. Among the tasty
+ dishes thus described may be mentioned Whitehall Hash,
+ Ministerial Mince, Reconstruction Rissoles, Control Cutlets and
+ Separation Stew.</p>
+
+ <p>Mr. Punch also learns that in honour of the campaign the
+ Yeomen of the Guard are henceforth to be popularly known as the
+ "Muttoneaters."</p>
+ <hr />
+
+ <h3>WHAT OF THE DUMPS?</h3>
+
+ <blockquote class="note">
+ <p>["We repeat our question, therefore, and expect a 'Yes'
+ or 'No' answer: <i>Have all the dumps been sold, or have
+ they not</i>?"&mdash;<i>Daily Mail</i>.]</p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <div class="poem">
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>While wealth untold lies heaped in idleness</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">We will not see the nation go to pot;</p>
+
+ <p>We ask you (kindly answer "No" or "Yes"):</p>
+
+ <p class="i2"><i>Have all the dumps been sold, or have
+ they not</i>?</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>By many a shell-torn desolate chateau</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Stand monumental piles of martial
+ store</p>
+
+ <p>Reared up long since to stem a savage foe</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">By labours of the Army Service Corps;</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>And day by day, in spite of our advice,</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">They linger wastefully to rust and
+ rot;</p>
+
+ <p>We ask (and let your answer be concise):</p>
+
+ <p class="i2"><i>Have all the dumps been sold, or have
+ they not</i>?</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>No more may <span class="sc">Kellaway</span> in
+ bland retort</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">Disguise the truth with verbal
+ circumstance;</p>
+
+ <p>Our special correspondents still report:</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">"Entrenching tools obscure the face of
+ France.".</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <div class="stanza">
+ <p>The case is plain; the issue is distinct;</p>
+
+ <p class="i2">You either answer now or out you trot</p>
+
+ <p>(And kindly make that answer quite succinct):</p>
+
+ <p class="i2"><i>Have all the dumps been sold, or have
+ they not</i>?</p>
+ </div>
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+
+ <blockquote class="note">
+ <h4>"WEDDING ROMANCE.</h4>
+
+ <p>"The acquaintanceship soon developed into a house where
+ Miss &mdash;&mdash; was living."&mdash;<i>Daily
+ Paper</i>.</p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <p>The chief obstacle to matrimony being thus removed, there
+ could, of course, be only one end to the story.</p>
+ <hr />
+
+ <blockquote class="note">
+ <p>"The Committee has decided to call the contest the
+ 'Golden Apple Challenge,' having in mind the legend of
+ Paris giving a golden apple to Helen of Troy as the fairest
+ of the three beautiful women who came to ask his
+ judgment."&mdash;<i>Daily Mail</i>.</p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <p>Personally we never attach much importance to these Paris
+ legends.</p>
+ <hr />
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="page219"
+ id="page219"></a>[pg 219]</span>
+
+ <div class="figcenter"
+ style="width:100%;">
+ <a href="images/219.png"><img width="100%"
+ src="images/219.png"
+ alt="MORE ADVENTURES OF A POST-WAR SPORTSMAN." /></a>
+
+
+ <h3>MORE ADVENTURES OF A POST-WAR SPORTSMAN.</h3>
+
+ <p><i>Master</i>. "<span class="sc">Hi! you! 'Ware beans.
+ Don't you know beans when you see 'em</span>?"</p>
+
+ <p><i>P.-W.S.</i> "<span class="sc">They're the little
+ things they puts in tins with pork, ain't they</span>?"</p>
+ </div>
+ <hr />
+
+ <h2>OUR BOOKING-OFFICE.</h2>
+
+ <p class="center">(<i>By Mr. Punch's Staff of Learned
+ Clerks</i>.)</p>
+
+ <p>During the past few years the plays and stories, especially
+ the stories, of <span class="sc">Anton Tchehov</span> have so
+ triumphantly captured English-speaking readers that there must
+ be many who will welcome with eagerness the volume of his
+ <i>Letters</i> (<span class="sc">Chatto and Windus</span>).
+ This happy chance we owe, of course, directly to Mrs.
+ <span class="sc">Constance Garnett</span>, who here proves once
+ again that in her hands translation ranks as a fine art. Both
+ the <i>Letters</i> and the Biographical Sketch that precedes
+ them are of extraordinary charm and interest. Because
+ <span class="sc">Tchehov's</span> stories are so conspicuously
+ uncoloured by the personality of their writer (his method
+ being, as it were, to lead the reader to a window of absolute
+ transparency and bid him look for himself), it comes almost as
+ a shock to find how vivid and many-hued that personality in
+ fact was. Nor is it less astonishing to observe a nature so
+ alive with sympathy expressing itself in an art so detached.
+ More than once his letters to literary friends are concerned
+ with a defence of this method: "Let the jury judge them; it's
+ my job simply to show what sort of people they are." They are
+ filled also with a thousand instances of the author's delight
+ in nature, in country sights and scents, and of his love and
+ understanding for animals (from which of the Tales is it that
+ one recalls the dog being lifted into the cart "wearing a
+ strained smile"?) Throughout too, if you have already read the
+ eight little volumes that contain the stories&mdash;which I
+ certainly advise as a preliminary&mdash;you will be continually
+ experiencing the pleasure of recognising the inspiration for
+ this or that remembered scene. In short, one of the most
+ fascinating books that has come my way for a long time.</p>
+
+ <p>I needn't pretend that <i>Bed and Black</i>
+ (<span class="sc">Methuen</span>), by <span class=
+ "sc">Grace S. Richmond</span>, is what is known to the
+ superior as a serious work of art or that the men
+ (particularly) of her creating are what would be called
+ likely. But there's a sincerity about the writing which
+ one has to respect. Of her two heroes, <i>Red</i> is
+ <i>Redfield Pepper Burns</i>, the rude and rugged doctor,
+ and <i>Black</i> is the <i>Rev. Robert McPherson
+ Black</i>, the perfect paragon of a padre in an American
+ provincial town. The author's main thesis is that padres
+ are made of the right stuff. <i>Black</i>, who was all
+ for getting into the War from the beginning, rushes off
+ to Europe as chaplain with the first American drafts,
+ gets wounded, decorated and married. The conversion of
+ <i>Red Pepper</i>, the doctor, and of <i>Jane Ray</i>,
+ who became <i>Mrs. Black</i>, is a little too easily
+ contrived to be very convincing. But this is a simple
+ work for simple souls who like a wholesome tale with a
+ distinct list to the side of the angels. Such untoward
+ conduct as here appears is not put in for its own
+ interesting sake, but merely to bring out the
+ white-souled nobility of the principals.</p>
+ <hr class="short" />
+
+ <p>If I had to select an author likely to win the long-distance
+ dialogue race of the British Isles I should, after reading
+ <i>Uncle Lionel</i> (<span class="sc">Grant Richards</span>),
+ unhesitatingly vote for Mr. S.P.B. <span class=
+ "sc">Mais</span>. It is not however so much the verbosity as
+ the gloom of Mr. <span class="sc">Mais's</span> characters that
+ leaves me fretful. Nowadays, when a novel begins with a married
+ hero and heroine, we should be sadly archaic if we expected the
+ course of their conjugal love to run smoothly; but I protest
+ that <i>Michael</i> and <i>Patricia</i> overdid their quarrels,
+ or, at any rate, that we are told too many details about them.
+ And when these people were nasty to each other they could be
+ very horrid. All which would not trouble me half
+ <span class="pagenum"><a name="page220"
+ id="page220"></a>[pg 220]</span> so much if I were not sure
+ that Mr. <span class="sc">Mais</span>, in his desire to he
+ forceful and modern, is inflicting a quite unnecessary
+ handicap upon himself. At present he is in peril of wrecking
+ his craft upon some dangerous rocks which (though I know
+ it's not the right name for rocks) I will call "The
+ Doldrums." My advice to him is to cheer up. And the sooner
+ the better, for all of us.</p>
+ <hr class="short" />
+
+ <p>There be novelists so fertile in literary resource or so
+ catholic in their choice of subject that the reader is never
+ sure, when he picks up their latest masterpiece, whether he is
+ to have a comedy of manners, a proletarian tragedy, a tale of
+ Court intrigue or a satire on the follies of the age. To the
+ steady-going devotee of fiction&mdash;the reader on the Clapham
+ omnibus&mdash;this versatility is a source of annoyance rather
+ than of attraction, and I accordingly take pleasure in stating
+ that by those who like a light narrative, in which mystery and
+ romance are pleasingly blended, the author of <i>The Pointing
+ Man</i> can be relied upon to rill the bill every time.
+ Conformity to type is a strong point with this author as far as
+ the mystery and romance are concerned, but within those limits
+ he (or she) provides an admirable range of scene, character and
+ plot. In <i>The Further Side of the Door</i>
+ (<span class="sc">Hutchinson</span>), the once handsome
+ and popular hero emerges from a war-hospital badly
+ disfigured and is promptly jilted by his fiancée and
+ avoided, or so he thinks, by his acquaintances. Disgusted
+ he buries himself in an old haunted house in the wilds of
+ Ireland and abandons himself to the practice of magic.
+ The result is highly successful, for he raises, not a
+ spirit indeed, but something much more desirable to a
+ lonely young man who has been contemplating suicide. So
+ much for the romance. The mystery is provided by a
+ villain, an enterprising young married woman, and the
+ sinister denizens of a creepy boarding-house. I heartily
+ recommend <i>Punch</i> readers who like a mystery to buy
+ the book and find out what happens.</p>
+ <hr class="short" />
+
+ <p>The publishers of <i>Sir Limpidus</i> (<span class=
+ "sc">Collins</span>) call it, in large print, a "new and
+ amusing novel," but I am not confident about your subscription
+ to the latter part of that statement; for Mr.
+ <span class="sc">Marmaduke Pickthall's</span> irony is
+ either so subtle or so heavy (I cannot be positive which)
+ that one may well imagine a not too dull-witted reader
+ going from end to end without discovering the hidden
+ intent. The subject of the tale, which has no special
+ plot, is a numbskull landowner, <i>Sir Limpidus</i>, son
+ of <i>Sir Busticus</i>, lord of Clearfount Abbey, and
+ type (according to Mr. <span class="sc">Pickthall</span>)
+ of the landowning class that he evidently considers ripe
+ for abolition. As propaganda to that end he conducts his
+ hero through the usual career of the pre-war aristocrat,
+ sending him to public school and Varsity (those
+ sufficiently broad targets), giving him a marriage,
+ strictly <i>de convenance</i>, with the daughter of a
+ peer, and finishing him off as a member of the
+ Government, alarmed at Socialist hecklers and welcoming
+ the War as likely to give a new direction to forces that
+ threaten to become too strong for his well-meaning
+ incompetence. "It would rouse the ancient spirit of the
+ people and dispel their madness.... Even defeat as a
+ united nation would be better than ignoble peace with the
+ anarchic mob supreme." Of course this may be highly
+ amusing, but&mdash; The fact is that, with a
+ disappointment the greater from having genial memories of
+ a former book of his, I have to confess myself one of the
+ dullards for whom Mr. <span class="sc">Pickthall's</span>
+ satirical darts fall apparently pointless. I am
+ sorry.</p>
+ <hr class="short" />
+
+ <p>I am feeling a little peevish about <i>Ladies in Waiting</i>
+ (<span class="sc">Hodder and Stoughton</span>), because Miss
+ <span class="sc">Kate Douglas Wiggin</span> has often charmed
+ me by her writing in the past, and now she has disappointed me.
+ Her latest book contains five stories, all nicely written and
+ set in charming scenes; but their innocent sweetness is very
+ nearly insipid, and the fact that Miss <span class=
+ "sc">Wiggin's</span> only concern has been to find suitable
+ husbands for her six heroines (there are two in one story)
+ makes them curiously unexciting. Of course we all know that in
+ American fiction the hero and heroine will in the end marry, to
+ their mutual satisfaction; but unless the author can contrive
+ <i>en route</i> a few obstacles which will intrigue the reader
+ a marriage announcement in the newspapers would be more
+ economical and quite as interesting. It is difficult to be
+ "nice" and "funny," I know, and it was very noble of Miss
+ <span class="sc">Wiggin</span> if one quality had to be left
+ out to cling to the niceness; but I hope that in her next book
+ she will manage to be both.</p>
+ <hr class="short" />
+
+ <p>While reading <i>With the Mad 17th to Italy</i>
+ (<span class="sc">Allen and Unwin</span>) I could not
+ help feeling sorry that the public's appetite for
+ war-literature is reported to have become a little jaded
+ for anything that is not a book of revelations; and this
+ because Major B.H. <span class="sc">Hody</span>, who was
+ in command of the 17th Divisional Supply Column,
+ describes his trek from Flanders to Italy with uncommon
+ zest. It is an admirable account of an achievement well
+ worth recording, and the author in his advice to C.O.'s,
+ which seems to me full of wisdom and sound common-sense,
+ explains how it was that "the mad 17th" were from first
+ to last "a happy family." There is cause for deep sorrow
+ in the thought that Major <span class="sc">Hody</span>
+ died suddenly at Cologne only a few weeks after his
+ preface was finished. He has left behind him a book which
+ will be valued not less for what it contains than for the
+ sake of the man who wrote it.</p>
+ <hr class="short" />
+
+ <p>In <i>Songs of the Links</i> (<span class=
+ "sc">Duckworth</span>) Mr. Punch commends to his readers the
+ work of two of his contributors, Mr. R.K. <span class=
+ "sc">Risk</span> and Mr. H.M. <span class=
+ "sc">Bateman</span>.</p>
+
+ <div class="figcenter"
+ style="width:60%;">
+ <a href="images/220.png"><img width="80%"
+ src="images/220.png"
+ alt=
+ "GENTLEMAN (LATE OF PARACHUTE SECTION, R.A.F.)
+ AFTER A BAD WEEK'S RACING LEAVES HIS HOTEL WITHOUT
+ UNNECESSARY OSTENTATION." /></a><br />
+
+ <p>GENTLEMAN (LATE OF PARACHUTE SECTION, R.A.F.) AFTER A
+ BAD WEEK'S RACING LEAVES HIS HOTEL WITHOUT UNNECESSARY
+ OSTENTATION.</p>
+ </div>
+ <hr class="full" />
+<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI, VOL. 158, MARCH 17, 1920***</p>
+<p>******* This file should be named 15615-h.txt or 15615-h.zip *******</p>
+<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br />
+<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/6/1/15615">https://www.gutenberg.org/1/5/6/1/15615</a></p>
+<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.</p>
+
+<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.</p>
+
+
+
+<pre>
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+<a href="https://gutenberg.org/license">https://gutenberg.org/license)</a>.
+
+
+Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See
+paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works. See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+ the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+ you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is
+ owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+ has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+ Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments
+ must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+ prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+ returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+ sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+ address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+ the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+ you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+ does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+ License. You must require such a user to return or
+ destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+ and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+ Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+ money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+ electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+ of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+ distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS,' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf.
+
+
+Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at https://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact
+
+For additional contact information:
+ Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+ Chief Executive and Director
+ gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including including checks, online payments and credit card
+donations. To donate, please visit:
+https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate
+
+
+Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+Each eBook is in a subdirectory of the same number as the eBook's
+eBook number, often in several formats including plain vanilla ASCII,
+compressed (zipped), HTML and others.
+
+Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks replace the old file and take over
+the old filename and etext number. The replaced older file is renamed.
+VERSIONS based on separate sources are treated as new eBooks receiving
+new filenames and etext numbers.
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">https://www.gutenberg.org</a>
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+
+EBooks posted prior to November 2003, with eBook numbers BELOW #10000,
+are filed in directories based on their release date. If you want to
+download any of these eBooks directly, rather than using the regular
+search system you may utilize the following addresses and just
+download by the etext year.
+
+<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext06/">https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext06/</a>
+
+ (Or /etext 05, 04, 03, 02, 01, 00, 99,
+ 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90)
+
+EBooks posted since November 2003, with etext numbers OVER #10000, are
+filed in a different way. The year of a release date is no longer part
+of the directory path. The path is based on the etext number (which is
+identical to the filename). The path to the file is made up of single
+digits corresponding to all but the last digit in the filename. For
+example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at:
+
+https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/0/2/3/10234
+
+or filename 24689 would be found at:
+https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/6/8/24689
+
+An alternative method of locating eBooks:
+<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL">https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL</a>
+
+*** END: FULL LICENSE ***
+</pre>
+</body>
+</html>
diff --git a/15615-h/images/201.png b/15615-h/images/201.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9d305cf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/15615-h/images/201.png
Binary files differ
diff --git a/15615-h/images/203.png b/15615-h/images/203.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4c7fb2f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/15615-h/images/203.png
Binary files differ
diff --git a/15615-h/images/204.png b/15615-h/images/204.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9ccf44f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/15615-h/images/204.png
Binary files differ
diff --git a/15615-h/images/205.png b/15615-h/images/205.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cc657d8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/15615-h/images/205.png
Binary files differ
diff --git a/15615-h/images/207.png b/15615-h/images/207.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0b6a584
--- /dev/null
+++ b/15615-h/images/207.png
Binary files differ
diff --git a/15615-h/images/208.png b/15615-h/images/208.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ebaf380
--- /dev/null
+++ b/15615-h/images/208.png
Binary files differ
diff --git a/15615-h/images/209.png b/15615-h/images/209.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4dab5d9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/15615-h/images/209.png
Binary files differ
diff --git a/15615-h/images/210.png b/15615-h/images/210.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c4fdb2d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/15615-h/images/210.png
Binary files differ
diff --git a/15615-h/images/211.png b/15615-h/images/211.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7ef0338
--- /dev/null
+++ b/15615-h/images/211.png
Binary files differ
diff --git a/15615-h/images/213-1.png b/15615-h/images/213-1.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..28aee74
--- /dev/null
+++ b/15615-h/images/213-1.png
Binary files differ
diff --git a/15615-h/images/213-2.png b/15615-h/images/213-2.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c3ca5de
--- /dev/null
+++ b/15615-h/images/213-2.png
Binary files differ
diff --git a/15615-h/images/214.png b/15615-h/images/214.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5017b2b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/15615-h/images/214.png
Binary files differ
diff --git a/15615-h/images/215.png b/15615-h/images/215.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8da6f85
--- /dev/null
+++ b/15615-h/images/215.png
Binary files differ
diff --git a/15615-h/images/216.png b/15615-h/images/216.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..09ba6c5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/15615-h/images/216.png
Binary files differ
diff --git a/15615-h/images/217.png b/15615-h/images/217.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4f187fc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/15615-h/images/217.png
Binary files differ
diff --git a/15615-h/images/219.png b/15615-h/images/219.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a145ab3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/15615-h/images/219.png
Binary files differ
diff --git a/15615-h/images/220.png b/15615-h/images/220.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7f7dca2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/15615-h/images/220.png
Binary files differ