diff options
Diffstat (limited to '22688-8.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 22688-8.txt | 1866 |
1 files changed, 1866 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/22688-8.txt b/22688-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8e8072f --- /dev/null +++ b/22688-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1866 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 150, +March 29, 1916, by Various + +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 + + +Title: Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 150, March 29, 1916 + +Author: Various + +Editor: Owen Seaman + +Release Date: September 20, 2007 [EBook #22688] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PUNCH *** + + + + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +PUNCH, + +OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI. + +VOL. 150. + + + +March 29, 1916 + +[Illustration: +_Fond Mother._ "Anything in the paper, dear?" +_Wage-earner (not unkindly)._ "No, Ma--nothing you could understand."] + + +CHARIVARIA. + +"His seventy-one years sit lightly on Mr. GIBSON BOWLES," says the +Special Correspondent of _The Evening News_. No doubt Mr. BOWLES has +some good reason for permitting this familiarity, for he is not a man to +be lightly sat upon. + + *** + +"In particular," says a report on the resources of German East Africa, +"the President of the Silk Association has just directed attention to +the wild silk of the anaphe worm." The animal the great two-horned +silkworm discovered by Sir HARRY JOHNSTON, before whose furious charges, +according to the report of natives, even the elephant will give way. + + *** + +A telegram from Rome states that it is generally believed that Admiral +TIRPITZ resigned because he could not take the German Fleet out. Others +again maintain that it was because he could no longer take the German +people in. + + *** + +It was recently stated in a Parliamentary Report that verminous uniforms +had been purchased by the Government for the sum of £2,650 and +immediately resold for £400. The difference is accounted for by the fact +that they were sold as going concerns. + + *** + +A white rook has been observed at Boston Road, Brentford, and a local +ornithologist writes to say that the bird is probably an accidental +straggler from King's Bishop's Fourth. + + *** + +"To-day in many English homes," says a patriotic contemporary, "alien +birds are carolling all unconscious of their countries' doom." One had +independently noticed how the modulated of the Turkey buzzard had taken +on a mournful tone. + + *** + +"It is not unusual for horses to go to sleep as they walk along," said a +sagacious coroner last week. How often in the old four-wheeler days, +when we were going _ventre a terre_ from Buckingham Palace to the +National Liberal Club, conversation was rendered impossible by the +snores of the flying steed. + + *** + +The price of admission to Kew for perambulators is 3d. on ordinary days, +1s. on student days. The extra charge has been found necessary because +of the fact that large numbers of horticulturists, in order to escape +military service, have taken to travelling in these vehicles. + + *** + +According to the author of _In a College Garden_ "it is not advisable to +encourage any but educated ladies to become gardeners." It is always +pleasant to note the extent to which a simple thing like a potato will +recognise and respond to gentility in those who associate with it. + + *** + + "The Italian Ambassador opened the exhibition of the Royal + Society of Brush Artists at the society's premises in + Suffolk-street." + + _Evening Paper._ + +Mr. Punch welcomes the implicit admission that there are others. + + * * * * * + + "What is needed is that we should have on each of the main lines + of our overseas communications at least one ship that is faster + than anything else afloat."--_Manchester Guardian_. + +Is it not extraordinary that the Admiralty should never have thought of +this simple device? + + * * * * * + +From a theatre programme:-- + + "All the Male Members of the above Company are either attested + under Lord Derby's Scheme, or are otherwise Ineligible for + Service." + +The erroneous impression that to be attested is the short road to +ineligibility has evidently spread from the platform to the stage. + + * * * * * + +FOR THEY ARE JOLLY POOR FELLOWS. + + [The fine example of patriotism shown by the Universities of + Oxford and Cambridge throws into painful relief the action of + some of the obscure remnant, including College Fellows, who have + excused themselves from service or adopted an attitude of + superior detachment in relation to the War.] + + You Intellectuals of Cam and Isis, + Pale phantoms in the dawn of Freedom's light, + And you that in this hour of England's crisis + Haven't the conscience (or the heart) to fight; + + You cosmopolitans without a country, + Who go aloof on philosophic quests, + Sucking the fruit of knowledge from the Hun-tree + And spiritual milk from alien breasts; + + False to that Brotherhood, who for the splendour + Of a great cause, with gallant hearts and gay, + Of youth and youth's high promise made surrender, + Because their courage knew the nobler way; + + I envy not your chance on their returning; + When, scarred with war, they come from overseas, + There should be trouble in those Seats of Learning + Where you sat tight and took your pedants' ease. + + Short shrift you'll get for your convenient scruples; + Conducted thither where the wet stream winds + You shall receive as elementary pupils + An object-lesson good for little minds. + + Somewhere about the Guts of Cam and Isis, + May I be well in front to see you then + Taught by immersion what the local price is + To pay for being prigs instead of men. + +O. S. + + * * * * * + +PHILOGAMUS. + +(_A Socratic Fragment_.) + +"... It is plain, therefore," said Socrates, "that the man whose soul is +afflicted with illness will desire above all things to have it cured as +quickly as possible, and for this purpose he will submit himself to one +who understands the curing of souls. So far, I think, we are agreed, are +we not?" + +"Yes, indeed," said Agathon, "that would appear to be the wisest +course." + +"Then why," said Socrates, "do we find that men who are generally eager +to be cured of an ague are indisposed to take care of their soul when it +is manifestly suffering? You yourself have declared that your soul is +sick within you, yet you consult nobody and take no steps." + +"Nay, nay, Socrates, I cannot allow you to catch me like this. Perhaps I +spoke thoughtlessly when I mentioned my soul just now. Certainly I had +not intended that you should tie me up with your questions and draw +conclusions which it was impossible for me to foresee." + +"Then I suppose the fault must be mine, for in truth I had not designed +to catch anyone, least of all yourself, my dear Agathon. But we will +defer the consideration of the matter to a more favourable time, for I +see Philogamus approaching and, if we may judge by the outward signs, he +seems to be, as one might say, in a terrible state." + +Hereupon we turned to observe Philogamus, to whom indeed something +painful and calamitous must have happened, for his garments were +disarrayed and his hair was unkempt, and anger was seated upon his +frowning brow, and he was muttering to himself and calling the gods to +witness that he was unjustly treated and that no such misfortune had +ever before happened to any other man; and he was beating his hands +wildly together and was forgetting to salute his friends. Seeing him +thus distraught Socrates plucked him by the sleeve as he passed and +addressed him. + +"Hail, Philogamus," he said, "what great misfortune do you announce to +us? Have the Barbarians at last seized upon the Piræus, and are they +even now marching irresistibly on the Acropolis? Are you sent out to +summon us to arms? Here are a few of us who will join with you, laying +aside even their most pressing private business, and will help to defend +the State and themselves to the last gasp. Only do you deliver your +message and let us know." + +"This," said Philogamus, "is no moment for laughing, though in laughter, +O Socrates, you are always easily first, as they say, and the rest +nowhere. But have you not heard what has happened?" + +"No," said Socrates, "and we much desire to know. I can speak +confidently for myself, and Agathon here is, I am sure, in a fever of +impatience." + +"Listen, then, and, by the gods, you shall be made aware of an injustice +that calls for immediate redress. They are even now on the point of +calling up the married men to go to the War." + +"That is very interesting; and what do the married men say to it?" + +"What do they say?" shouted Philogamus. "They say they will not go +unless, according to the promises of Darbius and Ascuthius, all the +unmarried men are taken first;" and he began once more beating his +breast and glaring with his eyes like a dog who has been for long +without water. + +"Softly, my good friend," said Socrates, "softly. As to the promise, I +know it is being rigidly kept. All the willing single men are gone or +going, and the unwilling are being compelled to join as quickly as is +possible. What more can be done?" + +"Something ought to be done." + +"That is very true," said Socrates; "something ought always to be +getting itself done, and the something at this moment is that the +Barbarians ought to be beaten. But tell me, with regard to the married +men, are they not concerned in the safety and welfare of the State?" + +"That, indeed, they are," said Philogamus; "none more so." + +"In that case why do they hang back and complain when the State declares +that its safety and welfare demand that they should be ready to go? +Because one here and there has concealed himself, is it for you, a +married man, to retire when by going you might help to thrust back the +Barbarians? Are you one of those that are called the attested ones?" + +"Yes, that I am," said Philogamus, proudly displaying his brown armlet +with the red crown. + +"Then it is you, as it appears to me, who have given a pledge and made a +promise, and that promise, I am sure, you will fulfil to the best of +your ability. When the time comes it is for you to go at once and not to +weary the market-place with empty noise and murmurs of complaint. For +remember this: the man who has taken a wife and has brought up children +under the State's protection owes more, if it be possible...." + +(_Here the fragment ends._) + + * * * * * + +From a description of the German Crown Prince:-- + + "Before the war he liked to imitate the English, and posed as a + German megalomaniac." + + _Daily News_. + +Yes, we believe there were some English like that--before the War. + + * * * * * + +THE MARKS OF THE BEAST. + +[Illustration: _Imperial Beggar_. "PITY A POOR WAR-LORD WHO HAS LOST +HALF HIS MEN, AND MUST HAVE MORE MONEY IN ORDER TO LOSE THE OTHER +HALF."] + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: _Voice through telephone (to officer dragged up from the +first sleep he's had for two days)_. "Thought I'd better report, +Sir.--we've just got the consignment of footballs up."] + + * * * * * + +THE SCOTTISH REEL THING AT LAST. + +Now that Sir J. M. BARRIE has shown us the Transatlantic kinema man's +idea of the perfect _Macbeth_, it is up to the purveyor of American +films to retaliate by presenting one of his plots for ordinary stage +performance in the Kirriemuir manner. Here and there an inadvertent +touch of Western colour may be anticipated. + +Scene.--_Kensington Gardens. The_ Heroine--_oh, the little love!--is +taking a dander round the "Keep off the Grass" boards. Her feet are +bare, and this is probably the reason why from time to time she dances +among the trees. In the background the Hero, wearing a divided kilt, +rides about on a horse. Having thus given the audience time to settle, +the play starts._ + +_Heroine_ (_perceiving_ Hero). Gee! there's that rube I met up North. +Sic a bonny lad too! (_sighing sadly_). But he hasna much siller, I'm +sair misdootin'. Guess there's no twelve-pound look about him. + +_Hero_ (_dashing up and dismounting_). Wal, I wanter know. Say, ain't +you the peach I useter see from my window in Thrums? + +_Heroine_ (_coyly_). Havers! + +_Hero_ (_not to be outdone_), Dagont! + +[_She strolls away with her chin in the air, her shoes and stockings in +her hands, and the famous red light in her eye. She goes behind a tree, +and the_ Hero, _thinking she has retired there to greet sadly, follows +to console her. However, he discovers that she is merely resuming her +footgear, and he retreats modestly._] + +_Hero_ (_rolling his eyes wildly to denote love_). A snod bit lassie, +that. I mean to say--I--ay! Juist so! Ay, ou ay! + +_Heroine_ (_returning with her shoes on_). For the love of Mike--I mean +Losh keep's!--are you still here? + +_Hero._ That's so. I wanter put you wise about me. I ain't no boob, as +you seemter think. You can bet your rubbers on that. Maybe you're +thinkin' that I'm but a puir laddie. Wal, let _me_ tell _you_ you're +guessin' wrong. I'm an author--I do writin' stunts. And if I don't swell +around in new pants all afternoon it's only because I have to keep all +my cheques among the crumbs in my tobacco pouch. I _have_ to do it. All +the best Scots writers do it. We call it Arcadian Mixture. + +_Heroine._ Guess that rollers out the course of true love some. But let +_me_ tell _you_ there's another feller after me--a puir feckless body of +a villain. And, Losh preserve us, here he comes! + +[_The_ Villain _enters. He looks rather like a revue-producer who has +seen better nights. The_ Hero, _overcome by bashfulness at being +discovered in conversation with a female, conceals himself behind his +accent._] + +_Villain._ See here, gal, you just gotter marry me. + +_Heroine._ Shucks! I should say, Dinna blether, ma mannie. + +[_The_ Hero _creeps cautiously out of ambush._] + +_Villain_ (_caressingly_). I have always loved my little Mary. + +_Hero_ (_subtly ironic_). Imphm! Imphm! Ou ay, imphm! + +_Villain_ (_surprised but finding a way_). Oh, the dears! oh, the +darlings! + +_Hero_ (_bewildered_). What's all that blatherskite, any old way? + +_Villain_ (_privily drawing bludgeon_). It was Sneeky Hobart who never +went to kirk again after they substituted tin plates for the usual cloth +collecting-bags. + +_Hero_ (_perplexed and off his guard_). Guess you've gone bughouse, +sonny. I mean, I'm no quick in the uptak'---- + +_Villain._ Are ye no? (_brandishing bludgeon_). Well, I am! (_He fells +the_ Hero _senseless to the ground._) And noo, lassie, I can sorter +concentrate on you. + +_Heroine_ (_in the most ladylike way_). Help! oh, help! + +_Villain._ Say, you don't seemter freeze on to me, somehow. But you must +and shall be mine! Come awa', lassie. + +[_He seizes her and she resists. Meanwhile the_ Hero, _who fell on to a +clump of genuine thistles, makes a superbly-rapid recovery from his +unconsciousness._] + +_Villain_ (_pausing to mop his brow_). Say, you'll got my goat for sure +if you kick up like this, lassie. + +_Heroine._ Gee! That's a great idea. If only Peter Pan's goat---- + +[_The_ Hero, _inspired, crawls away unnoticed._] + +_Villain_ (_preparing to renew the struggle_). Lassie, I'm quite sweered +o' you. There's an awesome look in your eye. And can ye no be more +ladylike in your fechting? Remember whose heroine you are. + +[_He again strives to bear her off. The_ Hero, _having broken off a +couple of branches and affixed them to his head--a little trick he +learned from the Admirable Crichton--now returns disguised as a goat. He +rushes at Villain, who flees and scales the park railings. But his +overcoat collar catches in the spikes, and he hangs suspended and +helpless. In that position he slowly starves, and dies inconspicuously +as the_ Hero _and_ Heroine _finish the play._] + +_Hero_ (_extending his arms_). Say, is it a deal? I mean, will ye ha'e +us, lassie? + +_Heroine_ (_with little wells of gladness in her eyes_). It's a cinch. +Guess you're Mr. Smart from Smartville. Ay, I'm thinkin' I'll tak' you. +But you men are fickle callants--that's what every woman knows. Come +awa' and let's find a little meenister at once. + +_Hero._ Oh, joy! oh, rapture! oh, rosy rapture! [_They embrace and +exeunt_.] + +_The Audience_. Hoots! + +Curtain. + + * * * * * + +JOURNALISTIC ANTICIPATION. + +"THE COMING GREAT SEA BATTLE. + +EXCLUSIVE PICTURES." + +_"Sunday Herald" Poster._ + + * * * * * + +THE KAISER AND THE DECLINING MARK. + +A now version has recently been discovered of the old Pickwickian +inscription:-- + + + + B I L S T + U M + P S H I + S. M. + A R K + +It runs as follows:-- + + H I S M A + R K S + T U M + P S + B I L + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: _The Vicar._ "These Salonikans, Mrs. Stubbs, are of +course the Thessalonians to whom St. Paul wrote his celebrated letters." + +_Mrs. Stubbs._ "Well, I 'ope 'e'd better luck with 'is than I 'ave. I +sent my boy out there three letters and two parcels, and I ain't got no +answer to 'em yet."] + + * * * * * + +AT THE FRONT. + +The subtlety of the Military mind beats and will beat me to the end. +Yesterday we lived in a row of earthen dwellings in a depression in the +ground, which anyone might be excused for referring to, if not as +trenches, at least as dugouts. These alone of all the marvels of +military engineering I have observed during the War admitted of being +shelled with equal exactitude from due in front and due in rear; and +water seemed to have been laid on throughout. Taking all these things +into consideration some Authority labelled them, once for all, +"Billets." + +Last night we moved into a commodious cellar of a house which still +leans against the next. It is only five minutes from town, and tramlines +pass the door. Nay more, they stop abruptly at the door--such are the +improvements effected by R.E. Inside the cellar are three bits of +chairs, a table-top on boxes, and an inimitable ancestral smell that no +deodorizer known to modern warfare can cope with. And all this is called +"Trenches!" Our servants do their best to support the official illusion +by neglecting to clean our boots and regarding with surprise and some +little sadness any tendency on our part to wash. + +But you must not imagine that life here is all honey. Even here we do a +bit for our eight-and-sixpence. Every evening there comes down from the +front line a report that our men there want more food. A stricter or +less beneficent C.O. than ours might at once institute a court of +inquiry into what has happened to all the food we gave them last night. +But not so with us. "The boys want food," he says to the Adjutant, "and, +by Heaven, the boys shall have it." + +No sooner said than handed on to someone else to do. The Adjutant works +off a little bit of his strong personal dislike for me in a note, +couched, if you please, in the most friendly terms, intimating that he +has raised heaven and earth to get me off, but the C.O. insists that I +(as the only competent officer for the task) shall supervise the conduct +of our rations to the front, middle and back lines to-night. He adds +that the Intelligence Corps report that information received from +deserters leads us to suppose that Fritz intends to strafe all roads and +communication trenches in our sector to-night. + +The carrying party is supplied by a sister battalion, and makes the +night thoroughly well acquainted with its views about a unit that can't +supply blanks to carry their blanked rations for their blanked selves. +Sometimes a second or a third trip may be necessary, and then the +carriers' patriotic fervour expresses itself in terms almost potent +enough to do the carrying for them. For some reason or other the R.E., +who design material for our porterage, consider its end and not its +portability. Their special line of ready-made wire entanglements would +entangle a hippopotamus; and when it comes to carrying one a +mile-and-a-half you find it has no wheels, no handles, and simply won't +fold up into the pocket. The usual procedure is for a man or two to roll +on one of these barbed-wire death-traps until they are well stuck on +them and then crawl to the point of delivery. + +Sometimes, of course, we have accidents. Last night, for instance, two +men were proceeding (by the way the great point about being a soldier is +that you never walk, run or otherwise ambulate--you proceed, or proceed +at the double, which of course is much nicer for you)--yes, were +proceeding, one at each end of an entanglement, along the top of a +slope, when the leader missed his footing altogether and rolled down to +the morass below. The second, after a brief struggle, followed with the +entanglement. This movement involved not only the man behind, who was +bearing a footboard, but also the remainder of the section. The entire +avalanche was precipitated on to the leaders, and remained there +struggling like the population of a fly-paper until a squad arrived with +wire-cutters. When the R.E. heard of it they wanted the episode +published in Corps Orders as a testimonial. But what the men wanted done +about the R.E. I dare not tell you. + + * * * * * + +THE TRUTH ABOUT CINEMALAND. + +A DISTINGUISHED neutral observer, who has just returned from a visit to +Cinemaland, has furnished our representative with the following +interesting account of his experiences and conclusions. + +One of the first things (he says) that impressed me was that in the +great cities of Cinemaland there is, outwardly at least, little or no +sign of scarcity. On the contrary, at the various hotels and +restaurants, as well as several private entertainments that came under +my observation, a note of almost wanton luxury appeared to be aimed at. +Evening dress is worn whenever possible, and the costumes of the ladies +are invariably the last word in ultra-fashionable extravagance. Food is +as yet obviously plentiful; what is not consumed being frequently flung +about, especially by the humorous elements of the population, and wasted +with reckless prodigality. + +In spite however of this ostentation signs are not wanting that the true +condition of the country is increasingly precarious. Crime of all sorts +is rampant. Judging even by what I myself witnessed within a short +period, the detectives of Cinemaland must all be working overtime. Quite +recently a gang, under the leadership of a ruffian who elected to be +known as The Clutching Hand, made large sums of money by working upon +the terrors of its victims. + +Another significant symptom is that respect for law and authority as +such appears to be almost non-existent. The police force of Cinemaland +is a body of men who are most of them of conspicuously full habit. I can +vouch for it that the appearance of these officials is almost invariably +greeted with derision; and should they (as frequently happens) incur +physical maltreatment or other misfortune in the exercise of their +duties popular sympathy is almost always on the side of their opponents. + +A notable exception to this feeling is found in the attitude of the +populace towards their chosen ruler, the Emperor, or Film-Lord, +Charlemagne-Chaplin. It is only fair to record that recent spectacular +(and carefully stage-managed) appearances of the monarch have been +greeted with every demonstration of unswerving loyalty and affection. + +More significant perhaps to an outside spectator is the undeniable fact +that the Wild Western portions of Cinemaland are to-day in a state of +turbulence bordering upon anarchy. The Cowboys, who are its chief +denizens, would seem, so far as my experience goes, to spend their +entire time in exploits of murderous violence; though here (as elsewhere +among this remarkable people) the influence of sentiment is often +unexpectedly potent. It can hardly be doubted that a populace so +emotional and ill-balanced as that of Cinemaland will have little power +to withstand the strain of disaster. + +Despite my apparent freedom from restraint I am persuaded that I was +kept under the observation of a number of uniformed officials during the +whole course of my stay in Cinemaland; and I am bound to confess that my +departure, which was made under cover of darkness, was not unattended +with a sense of personal relief. + + * * * * * + +PARABLES FOR BOSCHES. + +Once upon a time there was a Father who was devoted to his child. He fed +it and nursed it and watched it grow and gave it toys to play with--both +soldiers and boats. Also he made it promises that some day he would +extend their house and garden until no house and garden were bigger. +Every year he took it to the top of a high precipice and showed it +beautiful lands and water which should some day be theirs. + +The child had heard this promise so often that it used to ask, "When? +when?" And always the answer was, "Some day, some day." + +And then at last the day came, and the Father took the child to the high +precipice yet once more, but behold it chanced that they both fell over +and were smashed, the Father hopelessly and the child very, very badly, +so that it would for long years or perhaps for evermore be a cripple. + + * * * * * + +ONE OF OUR ALLIES. + +Somewhere in France--no, let me be bold and say in Paris--there is a +young French soldier named Charles. Less than two years ago he was a +plumber and whole; to-day he has but one arm, his left; the other and a +piece of his shoulder with it having gone in saving his country from the +foe. + +Charles is shy and very modest, and no bigger than so many French +youths--he is only twenty-two--with dark-brown hair and blue eyes with +very black centres, and a moustache that never succeeds in looking more +than three weeks old. Being, however, brave, he does not let his maimed +condition unduly trouble him, but runs his errands (all that he can now +do) and whistles as he runs, and is glad to be alive at all, instead of +dead, as so many of his comrades are and as his Colonel is, as I shall +tell. + +At the Front Charles's duties were these. A despatch--a _pli_, as they +call it--would be given him either back of the lines to deliver in the +trenches, or in the trenches to deliver back of the lines, and in order +to get there, if fighting was in progress, it was necessary for him to +crawl for perhaps one or two kilometres on his stomach. On a certain day +of intense activity, Charles in his trench was handed one of these +critical missives for the commanding officer, who was a kilometre or so +behind, and this he placed in his satchel and then began the hazardous +journey. + +No one ever knows when the supreme moment of his life is coming; nor did +Charles, but it was then. + +This being a terrific day--as a matter of fact it was during the famous +battle for the Maison du Passeur, when the French and Germans were +losing and retaking trenches for hours--he had to crawl all the way, +only to come suddenly upon the body of the commanding officer himself +stretched dead in a carrot field. + +To Charles's mind there was then but one thing to do, and that was, as +he had been unable to deliver the message, to take it back to the +sender. He therefore started on the return journey, and was only a few +yards from his trench, and still un-hit, when he found a wounded officer +on the ground. Here was a new problem, but necessarily having to stand +up and throw aside all precautions, Charles got him as well as he could +on his back and, still un-hit, half carried, half supported, him to the +trench, and was at once away again with his despatch. It was at this +moment that an exploding shell hurled the satchel from big hands and +flung it on the open ground between the French trenches and the enemy's, +which were here separated only by a few yards. At any cost the despatch +must not fall into German hands, and Charles, who miraculously had not +been injured by the explosion, began instantly to climb out of the +trench to recover it, and this in spite of a sergeant, who called to him +to keep under cover. But Charles, having one idea and one only, and that +was to save from the foe the despatch that had been entrusted to him, +succeeded in reaching it and securing it; and then came another shell +that shattered his arm. + +That is all he remembers; but he must have rolled back to the bottom of +the trench, where he was found, two days later, still clutching the +satchel. And after that, although he remembers the coffee he was given +to drink, all is a haze until he came fully to himself in hospital and +found that no longer had he a right arm. + +Such is the story of Charles's effort for his country. + +Now I do not claim for Charles that he is any braver or has a finer +sense of duty than many another French soldier; but this I know, that +when he recovered he was summoned to the Invalides to receive not only +the _Croix de Guerre_ but the _Médaille Militaire_ with the palm, which +corresponds to our Victoria Cross, and that now, although, having left +the Army, he no longer wears uniform but merely such poor civilian +clothes as he can afford as a messenger, when he walks along the +Boulevards--which he does as seldom as he can, so shy is he--there is +not an officer, seeing the ribbons on his coat, who does not salute this +little plumber with as much punctilio as though he were General JOFFRE +himself; and, blushing crimson, Charles returns the salute. + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: _Patriotic Scots Lady_ (_patrolling Victoria main-line +station to assist any of her stranded countrymen arriving from the +Front_). "Can I help you in any way?" + +_Perplexed Scot._ "Thank you, Mam. Is the toon far frae the station?"] + + * * * * * + + "Mrs. Humphry Ward seems to have gone for inspiration to + contemporary characters, and now in 'Tasker Jevons' it is + difficult not to find the lineaments of a well-known writer." + + _Evening Standard._ + +Quite so: and Miss MAY SINCLAIR made _A Great Success_ of it. + + * * * * * + +NURSERY RHYMES OF LONDON TOWN. + +II.--King's Cross. + + King's Cross! + What shall we do? + His purple robe + Is rent in two! + Out of his crown + He's torn the gems! + He's thrown his sceptre + Into the Thames! + The Court is shaking + In every shoe-- + King's Cross! + _What_ shall we do? + _Leave him alone + For a minute or two._ + +III.--Bishopsgate. + + Bishopsgate Without, + Bishopsgate Within! + What a clamour at the gate, + O what a din! + Inside and outside + The Bishops bang and shout, + Outside crying, "Let me in!" + Inside, "Let me out." + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: "Look here, confound you! What do you mean by your +'disclosures'? There's nothing here that wasn't in the morning papers." + +"I'm sorry you're disappointed, Sir. At the same time I must point out +to you that my connection with the paper gives me abserlootly no +influence with the editorial department."] + + * * * * * + +THE ADJUTANT. + + In that great Room which military error + Has miscalled Orderly (for it is not, + But full of tumult and debate and terror, + And worried writers growing rather hot, + For ever floundering in seas of chits + And forms and counterfoils and wrathful writs), + Alone unfevered mid the storm he sits + And tells them all exactly what is what. + + Who so alert to solve the frequent riddle, + To judge if Jones should have his train-fare free, + Whether the band requires another fiddle, + And which is senior, Robinson or me? + Who shall indite such circulars as his + To Officers Commanding Companies + About their musketry, or why it is + So many men take sugar in their tea? + + And when at times he shuns the sacred table + And like some eagle swoops upon parade, + Men mark his coming and there bursts a babel + As with new zeal the subalterns upbraid, + Lecture and illustrate, and on the right + Form sullen squads, and hope they're being bright-- + Save those white-livered ones who at the sight + Hide their commands in some convenient glade. + + For he is terrible; and few folk relish + The words of doom which shake his diaphragm; + Yet is the heart of him not wholly hellish, + But in his playing-hours he's like a lamb; + And who'd have said that one so skilled to strafe + And, when I err, too truculent by half, + Could own so rich, so rollicking a laugh, + Would see so well how humorous I am? + + Yet if with leave unasked I quit the barrack, + Ever behind I dread that he will call, + Speed up the street in some avenging Darracq + Or on the Underground retrieve his thrall; + Nor in my home can quite escape the spell + But freeze with horror at the front-door bell, + For fear the parlour-maid may speak my knell, + May knock and say that _he_ is in the hall. + + And, sleeping, still I have to brook his blusters; + A monstrous Adjutant is always nigh + At dream-reviews and endless dreamy musters, + Laden with lists and schemes and syllabi; + And, though he find no failing anywhere, + But all are present and correct and fair, + _I_ never fail to make the fellow swear, + _I_ always seem to catch his horrid eye. + + * * * * * + +TO THE GLORY OF FRANCE. + +[Illustration: VERDUN, FEBRUARY-MARCH, 1916.] + + * * * * * + +ESSENCE OF PARLIAMENT. + +[Illustration: FUNK-HOLES FOR MINISTERS. + +Designed for protection against raids by our air-experts.] + +_Tuesday, March 21st._--Returning from Westminster this afternoon I +stumbled in Whitehall upon a Member whom I had not seen in his place +this Session. "Going down to the House?" I asked. "What, is it sitting?" +he replied; and then it appeared that he was just home on short leave +after working hard "somewhere on the Continent," and had no present +interest in political controversy. As I reflected on a speech I had just +listened to, it occurred to me that the attitude of some of the +stay-at-home Members towards the War is much the same as that of my hon. +friend towards the House. "What, is it still going on?" + +If the Germans were in occupation of the Black Country, if Oxford were +being daily shelled, as Rheims is, and if with a favouring breeze London +could hear the dull rumble of the bombardment, as Paris can, I wonder if +Members would still be encumbering the Order-paper with the sort of +trivialities that now find place there. + +An exception may be made in favour of Mr. JOE KING. He has discovered a +little late in the day that a war is going on in Europe, and that it +affects a little country called Belgium, whose neutrality was guaranteed +by the Powers. He was anxious to know whether Belgium had formally +renounced her neutrality, and was no doubt greatly surprised to learn +from Sir EDWARD GREY that, owing to one of the guaranteeing Powers +having invaded her, Belgium had become a belligerent. + +I do not know whether Mr. PRINGLE was in the House when this +announcement was made. But if so it evidently created no impression on +his mind. In the debate on the Army Estimates he followed Captain TRYON, +who had delivered an urgent appeal to the Government from the text, "A +strong Army and a shorter War." Mr. PRINGLE'S ideal is just the reverse. +In his view the Army is too big already, and is taking too great a toll +from our industrial and commercial population. The great men who won the +Napoleonic War--after twenty-three years--had not a big army; and the +consequence was that, while it was going on, British trade expanded by +leaps and bounds. To-day, owing to our disastrous military policy the +demands upon our tonnage were so heavy that people had to go short of +sugar and tobacco. Let us conserve our resources and be ready to dictate +terms when Germany has been financially ruined. When Mr. PRINGLE at last +sat down after three-quarters of an hour of this sort of thing I longed +for ten minutes of Mr. BALFOUR at his best. But he was not present, and +Mr. LONG was so much occupied in defending the Government against the +charge of having broken faith with the married men that Mr. PRINGLE +never got the trouncing he deserved. + +_Wednesday, March 22nd._--One of the most cherished beliefs of the House +of Commons is that upon the Second Reading of the Consolidated Fund Bill +anything under the sun may be discussed. Colonel YATE was justly +surprised, therefore, when the SPEAKER ruled that he was out of order in +criticising the Indian Government for its conduct of the Mesopotamian +Expedition, and advised him to reserve his remarks for the Indian Budget +discussion--equivalent in these times to the Greek Kalends. + +Mr. CHAMBERLAIN was surprised too, but, regardless of the ruling, +proceeded to make a carefully-prepared reply to the speech which the +Hon. and gallant Member had not been allowed to deliver. He frankly +admitted that there had been a lamentable breakdown of the hospital +arrangements, but steps had been taken to improve them, and a telegram +from General LAKE showed that the treatment of the men wounded in the +recent engagement was satisfactory. + +Mr. PEMBERTON-BILLING essayed another and a longer flight to-day, but +had a good deal of engine trouble. His Parliamentary friends ought to +have warned him that the House does not care to listen to a man reading +extracts from his own leading articles, however prophetic they may have +been; that the constant reiteration of a phrase such as "I would like to +suggest, Mr. SPEAKER," soon becomes tiresome, and that to call somebody +else "the De Rougemont of the air" is to invite the _tu quoque_. Members +became more and more impatient as the orator became more and more +dogmatic; and when he rhetorically demanded the name of "one man to whom +we could turn to solve the problem" they derisively chorused, "BILLING!" +Mr. TENNANT, recognising the feeling of the House, did not spend much +time in refuting Mr. BILLING's wild assertions, but devoted most of his +speech to replying to Mr. JOYNSON-HICKS, who had pleaded that the +East-Coast towns should be more promptly warned of approaching +air-raids. He had personally investigated the arrangements and was +positively "staggered" at "the wonderful network that had been set up," +and he invited Mr. JOYNSON-HICKS to come with him privately and share +his amazement. Mr. ELLIS GRIFFITH was not convinced. He thought that +there were still too many strands of red tape in the network, and +reiterated the hope that the DERBY Committee would soon develop into a +Ministry of the Air. + +_Thursday, March 23rd._--A distressing report in the papers this +morning, that the _Galloper_ had been blown up by the Germans, made the +friends of Sir FREDERICK SMITH anxious. Had he, on one of his periodical +visits to the trenches to see Friend WINSTON, stumbled across an enemy +mine? Happily the report was grossly exaggerated. The _Galloper_ was +only a light-ship, and had not been destroyed by the enemy but merely +withdrawn by the Trinity House; and on the Treasury Bench this afternoon +there was the ATTORNEY-GENERAL very much alive. + +Mr. TREVELYAN had a motion on the paper condemning the administration of +the Defence of the Realm Act, and in support of it produced a sheaf of +cases, in which he said the Government had abused its powers. Among +other acts of vile oppression they had ravished from her home, on +September 1st, while her father was away shooting partridges, and had +subsequently interned without trial, a young lady against whom no charge +had been formulated. It sounded very dreadful, and someone called out, +"Is this a Russian case?" + +Then arose Sir F. E. SMITH, and with a few forensic gestures demolished +the house of cards that Mr. TREVELYAN had so laboriously erected. Most +of his cases were out of court because they had already been in court, +the decisions he impugned being those of the magistrates. As for the +daughter of the partridge-slayer she was an associate of a notorious +German spy, and had come back from Switzerland with a message for one of +his agents. As her case had been fully considered by the late HOME +SECRETARY he suggested that Mr. TREVELYAN should talk to him about it. + +This was the most pungent speech of the afternoon. The most amusing was +that of Mr. GINNELL, who kept the House in fits of laughter for ten +minutes while in his most rasping tones he jerked out epigrams against +"this thing calling itself a Government." The Coalition was described as +"two poisons blended, which could not make a wholesome drink." Never +before has he had such a success. I only hope it will not turn his head +and encourage him to attempt conscious humour. + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: _Veteran_ (_instructing "Bantam" in his duties as +sentry_). "You look over there--there's the Germans. Don't you worry +about them--_they_ won't 'urt you. But you watch those blinking rats. +_They'll_ get you by the back of the leg and pull you off the bloomin' +fire-step in no time!"] + + * * * * * + + "The World at War at ---- Theatre Only." + + _Advt. in Evening Paper._ + +We are relieved to find that the area of conflict has been so much +restricted. + + * * * * * + +FROM SOMEWHERE IN AFRICA. + +We have just returned from another of those little expeditions which are +becoming almost a habit with the ---- Frontier Force when in search of +an enemy whose discretion is only rivalled by that of the German High +Seas Fleet. We moved out four days ago with all the pomp of war--horse, +foot and guns, ambulances and long trains of transport waggons, the +fierce vivid fighting of the desert before us. We rode seventeen miles +that day and camped at some wells. As we rolled ourselves in our +blankets round the camp-fires to rest for the glorious contest of the +morrow our hearts should have been filled with dreams of undying fame. +But we were really wondering when the squadron transport would arrive +with our porridge and sausages for breakfast. + +Next morning we were in the saddle by 3 A.M., and after some ten or +twelve hours of unbroken and undisputed progress we captured two Arab +shepherds in charge of as many as eight sheep. This _succès fou_ was the +cause of justifiable satisfaction. + +In the first place we scented liver and bacon for breakfast. In the +second place it seemed to promise a settlement of the long-standing +dispute between me and the General. The General has a preposterous +theory about the existence and hostility of a vast number of mythical +Arabs in our immediate neighbourhood. Now this is obviously absurd. With +the exception of three palm-trees, which belong to us, there is nothing +but sand for about two hundred miles in all directions, and even an Arab +cannot subsist entirely on sand. Of course, if there were any Arabs near +us, they would be so enraged at finding themselves at a spot two hundred +miles from anything except sand that they would be violently hostile to +anyone, especially to the people who had engaged the only three +palm-trees in the neighbourhood. But it is their existence that I +dispute with the General. It is true he took a most unfair dialectical +advantage, about a fortnight ago, by having a large battle. But my +contention is that the enemy on this occasion were merely orange-sellers +from the nearest town, hired by the General for the purpose of argument. + +These two shepherds, however, did seem to support his theory of the +existence of Arabs, but as to their hostility there was still room for +doubt. They were both extraordinarily old and unbelievably dirty. Also +they were, as was very natural, extremely frightened. Seeing that they +knew themselves to be the only living people for quite a number of miles +round, it must have appeared to them that the entire ---- Frontier Force +had come out solely for the purpose of capturing them, and that, as it +had ridden some forty miles to do it, it would not be in a good temper. +It was therefore rather hard to judge of their hostility, because as +soon as they were confronted with the General and the interpreter they +gave one yell of "Allah!" and fell flat, face downwards, in the sand, +from which position they refused to move. They would not even budge when +the interpreter took all their clothes off with a view to searching +them. They probably thought this was merely a preliminary to skinning +them. When they were finally induced to speak, I believe they were +understood to say that we were the first men they'd seen for eight +years. I don't wonder they were frightened. If you have lived all your +life all alone in the middle of a howling desert with Grandfather it's a +very frightening thing when a complete Frontier Force marches forty +miles for the sole purpose of capturing you. + +But the day's excitement was not over yet. Towards evening I took my +troop off at a gallop in person and captured a camel. It was a very +young camel, hardly bigger than a sheep on stilts, and it cried like a +child at the sight of me. This, I hope, was not so much due to my +frightful appearance in my red moustaches as to the fact that it had +probably never seen a man at all (not being eight years old), let alone +an army. + +The curious aversion which it conceived for my moustache threatened to +hold up the entire Frontier Force for the rest of the day, for it would +neither be led nor driven. Fortunately, however, we had a very black +Soudanese camel-driver with us as guide, and he came and spat at it, +which soothed it considerably, and it followed him like a lamb. We got +it back to camp next day and it is tied up near my tent. It has +apparently made up its mind to waive the moustache question, and we now +spit at one another in the friendliest fashion whenever I pass. I hope +in time to train it to bring up my bath water in the morning from the +three palm-trees. + +_Later._--The camel was the last episode of the campaign, and we +returned to ---- yesterday. The total bag of a four days' expedition +was--sheep, 8; shepherds, 2; camel, 1. The human section was +subsequently released on the grounds that their political views were +satisfactory. + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: A well-known octopus family, having heard of the undersea +photography, decides to pose.] + + * * * * * + +ON THE MENACE OF HOME-BAKERY. + + ["Women _can_ bake bread if they will. It is much easier than + trimming hats."--_"Housewife," in "The Daily News."_] + + Aminta, be not led away + By words that sanguine women say; + Though simpler be the baking bread + Than trimming gear for your fair head, + Let your concern remain, I ask, + The sterner and the nobler task. + + The nobler task: I'll tell you why. + Shall Bloggs, our baker, wilt and die + For loss of trade, his brood of eight + Left destitute and desolate? + And must _I_ perish 'neath the stress + Of culinary frightfulness? + + No, dear. The millinery art + Is where I'd have you play your part; + For, though your hats may work intense + Despite on my aesthetic sense, + Whatever pain their crudeness brings + At least I needn't eat the things. + + * * * * * + +COMMERCIAL CANDOUR. + + "You never know your luck when you get our FRUIT."--_Advt. in + Irish Paper._ + + * * * * * + + "_Mr. Hayes._ Certainty is defined in Webster as the maximum of + our expectations. (Loud laughter.) + + _The Judge_ (_laughing_). Let us get on. This is more like + _Punch_ than anything else. (Laughter.)"--_Pall Mall Gazette._ + +It will now have to be called the Supreme Court of Punch and Judicature. + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: _Dear Old Lady._ "It must be a great strain for the man +up the periscope." + +_Nephew._ "Yes, he has a thin time."] + + * * * * * + +PULP FAMINE NOTICES. + +(_A Hint to Reviewers._) + +A WRITER in a recent issue of _The Daily Chronicle_ prefaces a column of +novel notices with the following remarks: "The smaller papers consequent +upon the famine in 'pulp' have made the reviewing of the new novels +rather a job, but at least it is possible to give news of them." + +But the writer tackles his job in a half-hearted manner, using such +ponderous polysyllables as "international" and "acquisition." Now Mr. +Punch, always ready to lend a hand in a good cause, has instructed one +of his young men to rewrite two of _The Chronicle_ reviews in words of +one syllable, and presents them to his contemporary as models for +imitation in the future. + +I.--Mrs. Ward. + +A GREAT HIT. By Mrs. Hump. Ward. Lond., Smith, Eld., _3s. 6d._ net. + +For the most part Mrs. WARD writes long yarns, and those who read her +books look to her for more than five score thou. words. Here she gives +us a short tale in which the three chief _rôles_ are filled by a man who +earns lots of dibs by his pen, his wife, and their, or his, friend--a +peer's wife, who takes him up for her own ends. She tries in her hard +bright way to shape his course as she views it, which means a place in +the sun for _her_. The wife, who has brains as well as a warm heart, +will not be robbed of her man like this, puts up a good fight, and in +the end has the best of the bout with the pale witch with dark eyes who +had waved her wand o'er the knight of the pen. It is not poss. to deal +with all the points of Mrs. HUMP. WARD's book in words of one syll., but +we can at least say here is a good tale to speed the flight of the hours +of eve. + +II.-The Bills. + +THE SHOP GIRL. By C. N. and A. M. Sons o' Bill. Lond., Meth., _6s._ + +_Miss Child_ is a nice sweet girl with lots of sense who goes to the +land of the Yanks and makes things hum a bit in a nice sweet way. She +meets her fate on board the big ship on the way out; but a long and +bright yarn has to be read ere she makes the Port of Joy. We see a Yank +store in full swing, learn much of the way it is worked, and the folk +who run it are well drawn. To be frank one could scarce think that so +_chic_ a tale could be made out of the prose of New York. But to the +Bills--if I may so call them--all the world is a stage, and they see +through the heart of the New Eve with a gaze that is quite weird. In +fine this is a tale in which the Bills, while they take new ground, +write with all their old _flair_ and charm. + + * * * * * + +FORAIN. + +When M. RAEMAEKERS went to Paris the other day to receive his decoration +and be fêted for his fine pro-Ally spirit, it was M. FORAIN, as the head +of living French cartoonists, who received him in the name of France and +conferred the Order. M. FORAIN'S public appearances are nowadays few and +far between, but he still wields--and none more searchingly--a pencil +keen and swift as a sword, and he never takes it in hand but to create +something memorable. A selection of his recent work is now on view in +London at 22, Montagu Square, the residence of Mr. CAMPBELL DODGSON, the +Keeper of the Prints at the British Museum, the proceeds of the entrance +fees being intended for a hospital for French wounded soldiers at +Arc-en-Barrois. The little exhibition, which should be seen by all who +love great draughtsmanship and France, remains open until April 1. + + * * * * * + +AT THE PLAY. + +"The Barton Mystery." + +One of the most difficult feats of juggling is, I understand, the deft +tossing up and catching of a heavy weight (say a dumb-bell), a very +light weight, such as a champagne cork, together with any old thing of +irregular shape, a bedroom candlestick, for instance. Mr. WALTER +HACKETT'S _The Barton Mystery_ is a most ingenious turn of this sort. + +The _fiancé_ of the sister of the wife of _Richard Standish, M.P._, is +under sentence of death for the murder of _Mr. Barton_. He happens to be +innocent, though he admits at the trial that he quarrelled violently +with and even threatened _Barton_ on the night of the murder, and his +revolver has been found by the dead man's side. That vindictive relict, +_Mrs. Barton_, is holding back some material evidence which could save +the condemned man, or so _Standish_ thinks, and she is adamant. Now +_Barton_ was unquestionably a bad egg, but the widow doesn't want the +whole world to know it--at least not till she finds the woman. Some +woman, who had incidentally written some, shall we say, very impetuous +love letters, is being shielded. Who is she? Is it _Standish's_ wife, +for instance? Ah!... This is the dumb-bell. + +A _Lady Marshall_, the wife of a _Sir Everard Marshall_, a comic +scientist in perpetual flight from his overwhelming spouse, is one of +the sort that finds a new religion every few months and is now in the +first fast furious throes of her latest, which is some form of +psychomania, whereof the high priest is one _Beverley_, a plausible +ringletted charlatan of alcoholic tendencies (_Sludge the Medium_, +without his cringe and snarl), who ekes out his spasmodic visitations of +genuine psychic illumination with the most shameless spoof. This is the +cork. + +The candlestick is the dream _motif_, always a ticklish business to +handle, and in this particular case--well, no, I won't be such a +spoil-sport as to go into that, for the chief pleasure of this kind of +an entertainment is the succession of pleasant unexpected shocks which +are deftly administered to the audience by the author. + +There were times indeed when the latter nearly dropped his +dumb-bell--times when it was in imminent peril of barging into the cork; +and most certainly the candlestick very nearly slipped out of his hand. +But it just didn't, so you will see that it was really a most +exceptional piece of jugglery. Of course I will admit you have to +swallow the robust assumption that into a household over which the +shadow of death in its ugliest form hovers so threateningly two fatuous +people, to wit the scientist and his wife, can come and babble about +their own trivial domestic troubles or their latest philosophy of life. +But then mystery plays always are like that, and this is a jolly good +one of its kind--a kind which it pains me, as a superior person, to +confess that I liked enormously. + +[Illustration: THE MEDIUM AND THE PALMIST. + +_Beverley_ ... Mr. H. B. Irving. + +_Sir Everard Marshall_ ... Mr. Holman Clark.] + +Mr. H. B. IRVING as the preposterous _Beverley_ was in his very best +form. _Beverley_ is really a creation. How much the author's and how +much the player's it would be an impertinence to inquire. This +imperturbable trickster with his thin streak of genuine sensitiveness to +psychic influence; his grotesquely florid style--the man certainly has +style; his frank reliance on apt alcohol's artful aid; his cadging +epicureanism; his keen eye for supplementary data for his inductions and +prophecies; his cynical candour when detected, is presented to us with +Mr. IRVING'S rich-flavoured and most whimsical sense of comedy, with all +his exuberant abundance of gracious or fantastic gesture and resourceful +business. In the trances, sometimes real, sometimes simulated, he gives +you a plausible sketch of how a modicum of psychic power (whatever that +may be), laced with whisky neat, might colour a séance. Mr. _Hackett_, +by way of showing that he has not ignored the literature of his subject, +has adapted from the admirable, but, I regret to say, entirely +untrustworthy, because incurably original, MAETERLINCK an entirely new +definition of psychometry. But we certainly will not go into that. + +Mr. HOLMAN CLARK as the sceptical _Sir Everard_, completely spoofed by +_Beverley_ in the end, with an elaborate make-up ruthlessly reminding us +of our simian ancestry, potters cleverly about the stage with that +admirable and amiable craft which he has at such easy command. Miss +MARIE ILLINGTON as _Lady Marshall_, the seeker after light, kept the +burlesquerie of her part skilfully within bounds--indeed this matter of +key was extraordinarily well handled by the three players entrusted with +what I have ventured to call the cork _motif_. + +As to the more serious business, Mr. H. V. ESMOND seemed to behave very +much as one would imagine a decent M.P. behaving in such embarrassing +circumstances. He suspected his wife with all the ardour which public +men on the stage always exhibit. His little turn of desperate tragedy +carried conviction--almost too much conviction, as you will find--but I +won't explain. + +Miss JESSIE WINTER, as his wife, very adroitly contrived an ambiguous +effect of likely guilt but possible innocence. She more than fulfils the +promise of her last performance in this theatre, but she must (may I +tell her?) arrest the development of "the Fatal Cæsura," that +exasperating histrionic device whereby every salient phrase is broken up +for no conceivable reason into two halves. In the secondary stages there +is but slender hope of a cure; in the tertiary there is none. + +Miss DARRAGH was, as required, the vindictive widow to the life (this +kind of life, you understand), and Miss HILDA BAYLEY played very +charmingly the little wilful _fiancée_ who--but no, I must keep my +promise. + +With much less evidence than the applause and generally keyed-up +attitude of the Savoy audience afforded me, I could risk a psychic +communication in the authentic manner of a Beverley séance. "All is +dark.... It is getting light.... I see a man.... He leans eagerly to a +telephone.... He thrusts something into envelopes. He goes on thrusting +things into envelopes. The telephone keeps ringing.... It is.... Can it +be? Yes, it _is_ a Box Office." An institution which at the Savoy should +be busy for many months to come. + +T. + + * * * * * + +A MISNOMER. + + "In memory of the name of the late Dr. F. C. Batchelor it is + proposed that the name of the Forth Street Maternity Hospital + (Dunedin) be altered to that of the Batchelor + Hospital."--_Southland Times_ (_N.Z._) + + * * * * * + +[Illustration] _Mother._ "Did you remember to pray for everybody, dear?" + +_Daughter._ "Well, Mummy, I prayed for you, but Jack prayed for Daddy. +He's looking after him just now."] + + * * * * * + +MUSIC IN WAR TIME. + +The Converted Collector. + +(_An Order in Council prohibits the importation of all musical +instruments._) + + In ancient, peaceful _ante-bellum_ days-- + Now far remote as HANNIBAL'S or HANNO'S-- + I had a weakness, possibly a craze, + For buying Hun pianos. + + I let no patriotic sentiment + My honest inclination curb or fetter; + On foreign articles my cash I spent, + Because I liked them better. + + Nor would I now proscribe Germanic Art, + Their one surviving claim to lasting glory, + Or bar BEETHOVEN, WAGNER, BACH, MOZART-- + STRAUSS is another story. + + But while our enemy unshattered stands + In any single theatre or sector, + I take no interest in German "grands," + As player or collector. + + I will not have them broken up or burned, + Although they cease to give me delectation, + That mean to keep them suitably interned + Throughout the War's duration. + + But now the Board of Trade, those lynx-eyed gents, + Our economic needs severely scanning, + The importation of all instruments + Have just resolved on banning. + + No matter; I possess a set of pipes + Made in the land whose emblem is the Thistle; + Three Indian tom-toms of peculiar types + And a Bolivian whistle. + + I've a Peruvian nose-flute, made of bone, + A war-conch brought me from the South Pacific, + Which, by a leather-lunged performer blown, + Is really quite horrific. + + I have some balalaikas, few though fit, + Whose strings I have acquired some skill in tweaking; + And several pifferi, whose tubes emit + A most unearthly squeaking. + + I am, alas! too old and weak to fight, + But on these non-Teutonic pipes and tabors + I hope a martial spirit to incite + In "conscientious" neighbours. + + And when my time, as soon it must, shall come, + My epitaph perhaps might thus begin well: + "He 'did his bit' upon the Indian drum; + He played the mandolin well. + + Others who stayed at home to criticize + More vocal proved; he, on a falling rental, + In furthering the cause of the Allies + Was always instrumental." + + * * * * * + +In an account of a BURNS' celebration given by the _North Battleford +News_ (Saskatchewan), it is remarked that "the absence of any kind of +spirituous liquors around the festive board and the fact that the ladies +were present" were unique features of the entertainment. But, according +to the same report, there was yet another: "'The Immoral Memory' was +given by Rev. D. Munro." + + * * * * * + +OUR BOOKING-OFFICE. + +(_By Mr. Punch's Staff of Learned Clerics._) + +It is a tragic coincidence that, just as RUPERT BROOKE'S now famous +sonnets were published in volume form after his own death, the +appearance of his _Letters from America_ (SIDGWICK AND JACKSON) follows +immediately upon the death of Mr. HENRY JAMES, who had written the +preface to them. Thus in one book we have the last work of two writers, +widely separated in age and circumstance, but united by a very real bond +of artistic and personal sympathy. How generous was the elder man's +appreciation of the younger may be seen in this preface; it is at its +best and simplest in dealing with that charm of personality by which all +who knew RUPERT BROOKE will most vividly remember him. Elsewhere it must +be confessed that the preface is by no means easy reading, so that one +emerges at last a little breathless upon the transparent and sunlit +stream of the _Letters_ themselves. Many who recall these from their +publication in _The Westminster Gazette_ will be glad to meet them +again. Those who knew the writer only as the poet of 1914 will perhaps +wonder to find him the whimsical and smiling young adventurer who moves +with such boyish enjoyment through these pages. There is holiday humour +in them, even in the occasional statistics--holiday tasks, these latter; +and everywhere the freshness of an unclouded vision. "Only just in +time," one thinks, sharing the happiness that his _Letters_ reflect, and +grateful for it as for a beautiful thing snatched so narrowly from fate. + + * * * * * + +Mrs. BELLOC LOWNDES has written a story of the War that has at least the +distinction of being absolutely fair. She has indeed got so far away +from the perhaps excusable error of painting Germans uniformly black +that her Huns in _The Red Cross Barge_ (SMITH, ELDER) are made upon the +average quite as attractive as their enemies. This by way of warning, so +that if you are in no mood to look for pearls amid swine you may avoid +some impatience and a feeling that impartiality can be carried too far. +Not by any means that _The Red Cross Barge_ is a pro-German book.... +There is an attractive sense of atmosphere about Mrs. LOWNDES' picture +of the little French town in which a group of Germans are left during +what appears to them the triumphal march to Paris. Here _Herr Doktor Max +Keller_ meets and falls in love with a French girl who is looking after +certain wounded of both nations. The peaceful and picturesque air of the +little place during this quiet occupation is well contrasted with the +horrors that befall it when the draggled and drink-sodden soldiery come +surging back in their retreat from the Marne. Eventually, just as the +Germans are leaving, _Keller_ is fatally wounded, and dies holding the +hand of the enemy who has become so dear to him. One can hardly call the +tale anything but sentimental, but it is sentiment of a fragrant and +wholesome kind. In the years to come such stories will no doubt multiply +indefinitely, but there will be few more gracefully and gently told. + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: _Corporal (alluding to knock-kneed man)._ "It's no good; +'e never looks smart. Look at 'im now--the top 'alf of 'is legs standing +to attention and the bottom 'alf standing at ease!"] + + * * * * * + +Mr. RICHARD PRYCE, true to the fashion of describing the childhood of +heroes at great length, has in _David Penstephen_ (METHUEN) +out-COMPTONED MACKENZIE. _David_ in fact dallied so persistently in the +nursery that I began to wonder if he would ever emerge; but, when he +does get a move on, his story is strangely appealing. His father and +mother, having ideas of their own, had excused themselves from the +formalities of wedlock, and before _Mrs. Penstephen_ broke down under +the strain of this omission _David_ and his sister, _Georgiana_, were +born. Subsequently the parents were married, and had another son. But +before this legitimate addition to the family a boating accident had +deprived the world of two cousins of _Penstephen père_, and in +consequence he inherited a baronetcy. This change of fortune affected +his views, and as time passed by he became as orthodox a baronet as any +you could wish to find in _Burke_. All of which was galling to _David's_ +mother, who loved and was jealous for those children who were born to +suffer for their parents' original morals. The situation required very +delicate handling, and Mr. PRYCE is to be congratulated warmly upon the +manner in which he has developed it. Perhaps a little more humour would +have added salt to the tale, but however that may be we have a careful +study of a boy and an exquisitely sympathetic portrait of a mother. The +latter part of the book is admirable both in what it tells and in what +it merely suggests. More is the pity that Mr. PRYCE has weighed down +_David's_ childish back with too heavy a load of detail. My advice to +you is to skip some of the earlier pages, and so husband your strength +for the better enjoyment of the remainder. + + * * * * * + +_The Duel_ (ALLEN AND UNWIN) is a study in the GORKY tradition, by +ALEXANDER KUPRIN, of life in an obscure Russian regiment and an +out-of-the-way provincial town before the great awakening that followed +Mukden and Port Arthur purged away much dross and prepared the way for +these latter days of sacrifice and heroism. It is a mournful document, a +piece of devil's advocacy, a Russian counterpart of Lieutenant BILSE'S +_Life in a Garrison Town_, identical in temper and astonishingly similar +in some of its detail. It is clear that the author, who was for seven +years an infantry lieutenant and probably little fitted for the military +life even at its best, endured much unhappiness, for the marks of +suffering have burnt themselves into the book so savagely that the +English translation, though characterized by a crudity which might +reasonably be expected to accomplish much in the way of eliminating the +personality of the author, cannot quite rob his work of its impression +of power and intimate tragedy. Those who are not in search of light +refreshment and who will remember that this last decade of Russian +national regeneration and reorganisation has rooted up the incompetence, +the false standards, the irregular discipline and the inhuman barriers +between officers and men here commented upon, may read these bitter +chapters with profit. As for the translator, he might do well to study +one of the GARNETT TURGENIEFFS, and see how this kind of thing should be +done. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. +150, March 29, 1916, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PUNCH *** + +***** This file should be named 22688-8.txt or 22688-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/2/6/8/22688/ + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +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. + + + +*** 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 +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +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 http://www.pglaf.org. + + +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. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. 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 http://pglaf.org + +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 http://pglaf.org + +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 checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is 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. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +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. |
