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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 146,
+June 17, 1914, by Various, Edited by Owen Seaman
+
+
+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. 146, June 17, 1914
+
+
+Author: Various
+
+Editor: Owen Seaman
+
+Release Date: January 29, 2008 [eBook #24453]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI,
+VOL. 146, JUNE 17, 1914***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Jane Hyland, Malcolm Farmer, and the Project Gutenberg
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net)
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+ file which includes the original illustrations.
+ See 24453-h.htm or 24453-h.zip:
+ (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/4/5/24453/24453-h/24453-h.htm)
+ or
+ (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/4/5/24453/24453-h.zip)
+
+
+
+
+
+PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI
+
+VOL. 146
+
+JUNE 17, 1914
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHARIVARIA.
+
+
+"The Pocket Asquith" is announced, and we are asked to say that the
+pocket in question is not Mr. REDMOND'S.
+
+ ***
+
+The discovery of gold particles in a duck's gizzard has, we are told,
+caused a rush of mining prospectors to Liberty Township, Ohio. It is
+expected that the duck will shortly be floated as a limited liability
+company.
+
+ ***
+
+The Valuation Department has discovered at Llangammarch Wells,
+Brecknockshire, 50 acres of land for which no owner can be found.
+Anyone, therefore, who has lost any land is recommended to communicate
+at once with the Department.
+
+ ***
+
+The ASTRONOMER-ROYAL, in reading his annual report at the Royal
+Observatory last week, said that the mean temperature of the year 1913
+was 50.5 degrees. Seeing that this temperature was one degree above the
+average for the 70 years ended 1910, we consider that the epithet was
+undeserved.
+
+ ***
+
+We hesitate to suggest that _The Times_ is catering for cannibals, but
+it is certainly curious that a recent issue should have contained the
+following headlines:--
+
+"PREPARED FOODS. INFANTS, CHILDREN & INVALIDS."
+
+ ***
+
+By the way, the little essay on "Foods of Antiquity" omitted to mention
+that these may still be picked up by curio-hunters at certain railway
+buffets.
+
+ ***
+
+What has become of all the cabs which have been displaced by the taxis?
+is a question which is often asked. It has now been partially answered.
+According to a cable published last week, "The steamer _Rappahannock_
+reports the presence of numerous icebergs and 'growlers' on the North
+Atlantic steamship routes."
+
+ ***
+
+At last there are signs of a reaction against under-dressing on the
+stage. The producers of a new revue advertise:--
+
+50 REAL LIVE PERFORMERS. OVER 250 PARISIAN MODEL FROCKS AND HATS.
+
+ ***
+
+Mr. H. CSCINSKY, the author of the standard work, _English Furniture of
+the Eighteenth Century_, says that 999 out of every 1,000 pieces of old
+oak furniture in the present day are forgeries. The only way, therefore,
+to ensure that you get a genuine specimen is to order 1,000 pieces, and
+the furniture trade trusts that all collectors will take this elementary
+precaution when purchasing.
+
+ ***
+
+The abandonment of the scheme for the rebuilding of the Lambeth Police
+Court has caused some disappointment among local criminals, some of
+whom, we are glad to hear, are ashamed to be seen in the present
+structure.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+[Illustration: "Wotcher bin doin'--fightin'?"
+
+"NO--BOOHOO--I BIN FOUGHT!"]
+
+ * * * * *
+
+Being convinced that Germany possesses too many Leagues and Associations
+the town of Seesen, in the Harz, has established an "Association for
+Combating the Mania for the Formation of Leagues and Associations"--not
+realising until too late that they have thereby formed one more.
+
+ ***
+
+"Keep your arms" is Sir EDWARD CARSON'S latest advice to the Ulster
+volunteers--and they have kept their heads so well that they should have
+no difficulty in this respect.
+
+ ***
+
+An American clergyman got into trouble last week for holding up his hand
+and trying to stop the traffic in the Strand. The sky-pilot found out
+pretty soon that he was out of his element.
+
+ ***
+
+A man placed a bank paper bag containing £63 10s. on the counter at the
+chief post-office in Swansea, one day last week, while he changed a
+postal order. When he turned to pick up the bag it had disappeared. The
+local police incline to the view that someone must have taken it.
+
+ ***
+
+A muddle-headed correspondent writes to express surprise on learning
+that the day devoted to collections for the charities connected with the
+Variety Stage should be known as "Tag Day." The old fellow had always
+imagined that "Tag Day" was a toast on German war vessels.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+A TIME EXPOSURE.
+
+ I turned the family album's page
+ And noted with a smile
+ The efforts of a bygone age
+ At photographic style;
+ There, pegtopped, grandpa could be seen,
+ While grandma beamed, contented
+ To know her brand-new crinoline
+ The latest thing invented.
+
+ And there Aunt Mary's looks belied
+ Her gravity of dress;
+ That great poke-bonnet could not hide
+ Her youthful comeliness;
+ There, too, was father when a boy,
+ And elsewhere in the series
+ A youthful cousin (Fauntleroy),
+ An uncle in Dundrearies.
+
+ And then before my scornful eye
+ A smirking youth appeared,
+ Flaunting a loose ęsthetic tie
+ And embryonic beard;
+ With laughter I began to shake,
+ Noting the watch-chain (weighty)
+ And all the things that went to make
+ A "nut" in 1880.
+
+ I looked upon the other side,
+ Still tittering, to see
+ What branch the fellow occupied
+ Upon our family tree;
+ A name was scrawled across the card
+ With flourishes in plenty,
+ And lo! it was the present bard
+ Himself at five-and-twenty.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+The Sprinter.
+
+From a testimonial to a system of health culture:--
+
+ "I think I have never felt so glorious as I do this morning. At
+ 4.30 I woke up after a wet waist pack, got hot water, cleaned
+ myself, took a glass of lemon juice, exercised, and for the last
+ three-quarters of an hour I have been running through your notes."
+
+He mustn't take _too_ much exercise.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+THE COMPLETE DRAMATIST.
+
+III. MEALS AND THINGS.
+
+In spite of all you can do in the way of avoiding soliloquies and
+getting your characters on and off the stage in a dramatic manner, a
+time will come when you realise sadly that your play is not a bit like
+life after all. Then is the time to introduce a meal on the stage. A
+stage meal is popular, because it proves to the audience that the
+actors, even when called GEORGE ALEXANDER or ARTHUR BOURCHIER, are real
+people just like you and me. "Look at Sir HERBERT eating," we say
+excitedly to each other in the pit, having had a vague idea up till then
+that an actor lived like a god on praise and grease-paint and his
+photograph in the papers. "Another cup, won't you?" says Miss GLADYS
+COOPER; "No, thank you," says Mr. DENNIS EADIE--dash it, it's exactly
+what we do at Twickenham ourselves. And when, to clinch matters, the
+dramatist makes Mr. GERALD DU MAURIER light a real cigarette in the
+Third Act, then he can flatter himself that he has indeed achieved the
+ambition of every stage writer, and "brought the actual scent of the hay
+across the footlights."
+
+But there is a technique to be acquired in this matter as in everything
+else within the theatre. The great art of the stage-craftsman, as I have
+already shown, is to seem natural rather than to be natural. Let your
+actors have tea by all means, but see that it is a properly histrionic
+tea. This is how it should go:--
+
+_Hostess._ You'll have some tea, won't you? [_Rings bell._
+
+_Guest._ Thank you.
+
+_Enter_ Butler.
+
+_Hostess._ Tea, please, Matthews.
+
+_Butler_ (_impassively_). Yes, m'lady. (_This is all he says during the
+play, so he must try and get a little character into it, in order that
+"The Era" may remark, "Mr. Thompson was excellent as _Matthews_."
+However, his part is not over yet, for he returns immediately, followed
+by three footmen--just as it happened when you last called on the
+Duchess--and sets out the tea._)
+
+_Hostess (holding up the property lump of sugar in the tongs)._ Sugar?
+
+_Guest (luckily)._ No, thanks.
+
+_Hostess replaces lump and inclines empty teapot over tray for a moment,
+then hands him a cup painted brown inside--thus deceiving the gentleman
+with the telescope in the upper circle._
+
+_Guest (touching his lips with the cup and then returning it to its
+saucer)._ Well, I must be going.
+
+_Re-enter Butler and three Footmen, who remove the tea-things._
+
+_Hostess_ (to Guest). Good-bye; so glad you could come. [_Exit_ Guest.
+
+His visit has been short, but it has been very thrilling while it
+lasted.
+
+Tea is the most usual meal on the stage, for the reason that it is the
+least expensive, the property lump of sugar being dusted and used again
+on the next night. For a stage dinner a certain amount of genuine
+sponge-cake has to be made up to look like fish, chicken or cutlet. In
+novels the hero has often "pushed his meals away untasted," but no stage
+hero would do anything so unnatural as this. The etiquette is to have
+two bites before the butler and the three footmen whisk away the plate.
+The two bites are made, and the bread is crumbled, with an air of great
+eagerness; indeed, one feels that in real life the guest would clutch
+hold of the footman and say, "Half a mo', old chap, I haven't _nearly_
+finished;" but the actor is better schooled than this. Besides, the
+thing is coming back again as chicken directly.
+
+But it is the cigarette which chiefly has brought the modern drama to
+its present state of perfection. Without the stage cigarette many an
+epigram would pass unnoticed, many an actor's hands would be much more
+noticeable; and the man who works the fireproof safety curtain would
+lose even the small amount of excitement which at present attaches to
+his job.
+
+Now although it is possible, in the case of a few men at the top of the
+profession, to leave the conduct of the cigarette entirely to the actor,
+you will find it much more satisfactory to insert in the stage
+directions the particular movements (with match and so forth) that you
+wish carried out. Let us assume that _Lord Arthur_ asks _Lord John_ what
+a cynic is--the question of what a cynic is having arisen quite
+naturally in the course of the plot. Let us assume further that you wish
+_Lord John_ to reply, "A cynic is a man who knows the price of
+everything and the value of nothing." It has been said before, but you
+may feel that it is quite time it was said again; besides, for all the
+audience knows, _Lord John_ may simply be quoting. Now this answer, even
+if it comes quite fresh to the stalls, will lose much of its effect if
+it is said without the assistance of a cigarette. Try it for yourself.
+
+_Lord John._ A cynic is a man who, etc....
+
+Rotten. Now try again.
+
+_Lord John._ A cynic is a man who, etc.... (_Lights cigarette_).
+
+No, even that is not good. Once more:--
+
+_Lord John (lighting cigarette)._ A cynic is a man who, etc.
+
+Better, but leaves much too much to the actor.
+
+Well, I see I must tell you.
+
+_Lord John (taking out gold cigarette case from his left-hand upper
+waistcoat pocket)._ A cynic, my dear Arthur (_he opens case
+deliberately, puts cigarette in mouth, and extracts gold match-box from
+right-hand trouser_) is a man who (_strikes match_) knows the price of
+(_lights cigarette_)--everything, and (_standing with match in one hand
+and cigarette in the other_) the value of---- pff (_blows out match_) of
+(_inhales deeply from cigarette and blows out a cloud of
+smoke_)--nothing.
+
+It makes a different thing of it altogether. Of course on the actual
+night the match may refuse to strike, and _Lord John_ may have to go on
+saying "a man who--a man who--a man who" until the ignition occurs, but
+even so it will still seem delightfully natural to the audience (as if
+he were making up the epigram as he went along); while as for blowing
+the match out he can hardly fail to do _that_ in one.
+
+The cigarette, of course, will be smoked at other moments than
+epigrammatic ones, but on these other occasions you will not need to
+deal so fully with it in the stage directions. "_Duke (lighting
+cigarette)._ I trust, Perkins, that ..." is enough. You do not want to
+say, "_Duke (dropping ash on trousers)._ It seems to me, my love ..."
+or, "_Duke (removing stray piece of tobacco from tongue)._ What Ireland
+needs is ..."; still less "_Duke (throwing away end of cigarette)._ Show
+him in." For this must remain one of the mysteries of the stage--What
+happens to the stage cigarette when it has been puffed four times? The
+stage tea, of which a second cup is always refused; the stage cutlet,
+which is removed with the connivance of the guest after two mouthfuls;
+the stage cigarette, which nobody ever seems to want to smoke to the
+end--thinking of these as they make their appearances in the houses of
+the titled, one would say that the hospitality of the peerage was not a
+thing to make any great rush for....
+
+But that would be to forget the butler and the three footmen. Even a
+Duke cannot have everything. And what his _chef_ may lack in skill his
+butler more than makes up for in impassivity.
+
+A. A. M.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+From a column headed "Crimes and Tragedies" in _The Western Weekly
+Mercury_:--
+
+ "Sir J. W. Spear, M.P., has consented to become patron of the
+ newly-formed Highampton Rifle Club."
+
+And we are left wondering which it is.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+[Illustration: REFRESHING THE FRUIT.
+
+MR. JOHN BURNS. "PERFECT! PERFECT! BUT JUST WANTS THE MASTER'S TOUCH."
+
+(_Gives it._)]
+
+ * * * * *
+
+[Illustration: _Cheery Passenger (in non-stop express)._ "WELL, I MUST
+SAY IT'S QUITE A RELIEF TO ME TO 'AVE A GENTLEMAN IN THE CARRIAGE. IT'S
+TWICE NOW I'VE 'AD A FIT IN A TUNNEL."]
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ROOSEVELT RESURGIT
+
+ Once more the tireless putter-right of men,
+ Our roaring ROOSEVELT, swims into our ken.
+ With clash of cymbals and with roll of drums,
+ Reduced in weight, from far Brazil he comes.
+ What risks were his! The rapids caught his form,
+ Upset his bark and tossed him in the storm.
+ Clutching his trumpet in a fearless hand,
+ The damp explorer struggled to the land;
+ Then set the trumpet to his lips and blew
+ A blast that echoed all the wide world through,
+ And in a tone that made the nations quiver
+ Proclaimed himself the finder of a river.
+ Maps, he declared, were made by doddering fools
+ Who knew no better or defied the rules,
+ While he, the great Progressive, traced the course
+ Of waters mostly flowing to their source.
+ Emerged at last and buoyed up with the sure hope
+ Of geographic fame, he made for Europe;
+ Flew to Madrid, and there awhile he tarried
+ Till KERMIT went (good luck to K!) and married.
+ Next London sees him, and with loud good will
+ Yields to the mighty tamer of Brazil,
+ And hears and cheers the while by his own fiat he
+ Lectures our Geographical Society.
+ Soon to his native land behold him go
+ To take a hand in quelling Mexico.
+ Does WILSON want him? Well, I hardly know.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+IN THE NAME OF PEACE.
+
+SIR,--I read with intense satisfaction that at the Peace Ball at the
+Albert Hall last week the lady representing Britannia carried a palm
+branch in place of the customary trident. This, I venture to think, is a
+step in the right direction. For many years, from the pulpits and
+platforms not only of our own land but of America, I have advocated a
+substitution of peaceful objects for the weapons of bloodshed with which
+so many of our allegorical figures are encumbered. I still wait for some
+artist to depict the patron saint of this fair land of ours, not
+attacking the dragon with a cruel sword, but offering it in all
+brotherliness an orange, let us say, or a bath bun.
+
+But, Sir, one feature of this ball (putting aside for a moment the many
+reprehensible characteristics of all such entertainments) I must and do
+protest against. What do I read in the daily press? When it was desired
+to clear the floor, "a brigade of Guards, by subtle movements, drove the
+masqueraders, who were to form the audience, behind the barricades."
+Now, were I a member of the House of Commons--as some day I may be--I
+would make it my business to stand up in my place and fearlessly demand
+of the Minister for War an explanation as to how these men of blood came
+to be admitted to a Peace festival. Was it with his knowledge that they
+were present? and, if so, was it with his consent? I should also desire
+to know whether the cost of the expedition would fall upon the British
+tax-payer.
+
+I am, Sir, Yours, etc., (Rev.) AMOS BLICK.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+AMENDING A BILL.
+
+As the drought wore on to its third day I began to perceive that
+siphoning the pinks with soda-water out of the dining-room window was
+insufficient to meet the crisis. I rang up the nearest fire station and
+told them in my most staccato tones that the garden was being burnt to a
+cinder and would they please--but they rang off suddenly without making
+a reply. It was then that I had a bright idea--so bright that the
+thermometer which was hanging near my head went up two degrees higher
+still.
+
+"Araminta," I cried (she was out on the lawn tantalising a rose-bush
+with a kind of doll's-house watering-can),--"Araminta, where does one go
+to get hose?"
+
+Araminta bridled.
+
+"I didn't mean that," I said, hastily coming out of the French-window to
+explain. "I meant the kind of long wiggly thing you fix on to a tap at
+one end and it squirts at the other."
+
+She unbridled prettily. "Oh, that!" she said. "Altruage's have them, I
+suppose. Altruage's have everything. But I shouldn't get one if I were
+you. I believe they're fearfully expensive, and I'm going to buy a
+proper watering-can this morning."
+
+My mind, however, was made up. "Expense," I thought, "be irrigated!" I
+said nothing about it to Araminta, but I decided to act.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+The sun was still blazing with abominable ferocity at half-past twelve
+when I crossed the threshold of the Taj Mahal Stores and button-holed
+the first peripatetic marquis I could find.
+
+"I want," I said, mopping my brows with the disengaged hand, "to see
+some hose."
+
+"Certainly, Sir," he replied with a beaming smile. "For wear on the
+feet, I presume?"
+
+"Not at all," I replied as coolly as possible. "For shampooing the
+head."
+
+He looked puzzled.
+
+"I want it to water my pinks with," I explained.
+
+A look of divine condescension overspread his features. "Ah, you require
+our horticultural department for that, Sir," he said. "Fourth to the
+left, fifth to the right, and ask again." And with an infinitely
+horticultured gesture of the hand he motioned me on.
+
+After a long and adventurous Odyssey and fifteen fruitless appeals I
+sighted a kind of green island shore, where a young man stood in an
+attitude of _hauteur_, surrounded by a number of pink and grey snakes
+and brightly coloured agricultural machines.
+
+Making my way to him I sank exhausted into a wheel-barrow and murmured
+my request again.
+
+"About what size is your garden?" he asked me when I had partially
+recovered.
+
+"Slim," I said, "slim and graceful, but not really tall. _Petite_ I
+believe is the technical term. What sizes have you got in stock?"
+
+"Perhaps about forty yards would do, Sir," he suggested, uncoiling a
+portion of one of the reptiles at his feet. "I can recommend this as a
+strong and thoroughly reliable article. Then you will want a union, I
+suppose, and a brass nozzle and a drum."
+
+"We all want union nowadays so much in everything, don't we?" I agreed
+pleasantly, "but I'm not so sure about the drum. You see the baby makes
+a most infernal noise as it is with a----"
+
+He interrupted me to explain the uses of these things. The union, it
+seemed, was a kind of garter to attach the hose to the tap, and the drum
+was where the snake wound itself to sleep at night. "And the little
+pepper-castor, of course," I said, "is what one puts at the end to make
+it sneeze. I understand completely. If you will have them all sent round
+to me to-morrow I will pay on delivery."
+
+ * * * * *
+
+When I got out into the street I found that a great change had taken
+place. The sky overhead was black with imminent rain. A sharp shower
+pattered at my heels as I sprinted for the 'bus, and when I disembarked
+from it the gutters were gurgling with ill-concealed delight. As I
+walked up the garden I noticed that the majority of the pinks were lying
+in a drunken stupor upon their beds.
+
+Araminta met me at the door. "Why, you must be wet through," she said.
+"Go up and change instantly. And aren't you glad now you haven't got a
+silly old hose after all?"
+
+"I am indeed," I replied.
+
+Whilst I changed I thought deeply, and after dinner I sat down and wrote
+politely to Messrs. Altruage as follows:
+
+"Mr. Hopkinson regrets that through inadvertence he ordered a quantity
+of hose this afternoon in Messrs. Altruage's horticultural department
+instead of their foot-robing studio. If Messrs. Altruage will kindly
+cancel this order Mr. Hopkinson will call in the morning and select six
+pairs of woollen socks."
+
+In a climate like ours, I reflected as I posted the letter, there is a
+good deal to be said for these mammoth stores.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+[Illustration: _Hodge._ "THAT'S THE BEST OF COMIN' EARLY, MARIA. WE'VE
+GOT THE BEST SEATS IN THE 'OUSE!"]
+
+ * * * * *
+
+IN THE PARK.
+
+ (_Souvent femme varie._)
+
+ Little girls in June attire,
+ Grumbling to your governesses,
+ What is it that you desire--
+ Chocolates or satin dresses,
+ Jewels, or a tiny hound,
+ All your own, to drag around?
+
+ Governesses who betray
+ Little love for your employment,
+ If a fairy bade you say
+ What would give you most enjoyment,
+ Would your fancy not pursue
+ Unsubstantial shadows too?
+
+ "Fleeting joys have little use"--
+ So, as teachers, you endeavour
+ In your charges to induce
+ Virtues which will last for ever;
+ But, as women, you resent
+ Anything so permanent!
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ "A half followed, which made Vardon dormy 3, and another half at
+ the 16th, where he made a brilliant recovery after he had hit a
+ spectator, gave him the match by 3 and 2."
+
+ _Times._
+
+The recovery of the spectator wouldn't matter so much.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ "A man who gave the name of James DewTJnamedhiskmhmhfr mhafr awdih
+ acsih frdw hurst was remanded at Doncaster to-day charged with
+ attempting to pass a worthless cheque for 30s."--_Liverpool
+ Express._
+
+As soon as the cashier saw the first eighteen inches of the name at the
+bottom of the cheque he had his suspicions.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+[Illustration: THE LAW OF THE AIR.
+
+_"Suburbia" writes:_ "My neighbour says the air is free and nobody can
+claim it. Granted. But what I say is--ought my neighbour, considering
+the narrowness of his garden, to be allowed to erect what is called a
+giant-stride for the amusement of his sons and their young friends? When
+will this dilatory Government take such matters in hand?"]
+
+ * * * * *
+
+THE YOUNG EVERYTHING.
+
+Under this comprehensive title Messrs. Byett and Prusit have arranged
+for a new series of books for the youth of both sexes, the aim of which
+is to provide instruction in a number of the most desirable and
+profitable walks of life. The principle of the work is that it is never
+too soon to end. The General Editor will be that profound and
+encyclopędic scholar and publicist, Mr. ANTHONY ASQUITH, who will be
+assisted by some of the ablest pens in the country.
+
+
+THE YOUNG BANKRUPT, by Sampson Waterstock.
+
+An exhaustive treatise on the right mismanagement of one's affairs, with
+hints on the best method of bringing about a meeting of creditors. Among
+the chapters are the following: "The Way to Carey Street;" "How to
+settle things on one's Wife;" "Eccentric Bankrupts who have subsequently
+paid in full, with Interest."
+
+
+THE YOUNG BOOKMAKER, by Sharkey Hawker.
+
+A complete guide to the Turf, than which few professions offer a more
+exciting opening to a boy. How to calculate odds; how to cultivate the
+voice; how to concentrate public attention on the wrong horse--these and
+other topics are dealt with by competent hands.
+
+
+THE YOUNG FILBERT, by Gilbert Hallam.
+
+In this entertaining volume the complete art of youthful boredom and
+ornamental and expensive sloth is exploited. Where to get clothes; how
+much to owe for them; how soon to discard them and get others; what
+adjectives to use; and where, the best nut food may be obtained--all is
+told here.
+
+
+THE YOUNG CENTENARIAN, by S. W. Calceby.
+
+Hints on regimen by one of the most lucid and distinguished salubrists
+of the day. Everything that can assist a boy or girl quickly to attain
+to the status of honourable and decrepit old age is here carefully set
+forth. The author guarantees that if his instructions are carried out
+the conditions of centenarianism can be reached in ten years. "Lobster
+salad for new-born babes" is one of his more original ideas.
+
+
+THE YOUNG AUTHOR, by Brompton MacGregor.
+
+This illuminating treatise contains the fullest directions yet given for
+the securing of a mammoth circulation and a corresponding revenue. How
+to exasperate Mrs. Grundy; how to secure testimonials from Bishops and
+Archdeacons; how to get banned by the libraries--these and other
+passports to fame and fortune are set forth with the utmost
+particularity in this marvellous manual.
+
+
+THE YOUNG COMPOSER, by Eric Kornstein.
+
+This fascinating _brochure_ gives in a succinct and animated form
+absolutely infallible instructions for storming the citadel of musical
+fame. The enormous importance of capillary attraction, sartorial
+extravagance and controversial invective are duly dwelt on, while the
+charming tone and temper of the work may be gathered from the headings
+of some of the chapters: "The Curse of Conservatoriums;" "The Tyranny of
+Tune;" "The Dethronement of WAGNER;" "_A bas_ BEETHOVEN."
+
+
+THE YOUNG AMERICAN, by Dixie Q. Peach.
+
+In this priceless work everything that is most characteristic of the
+great American nation is invitingly spread before the English youth, so
+that in a few weeks he will be so well equipped with Transatlantic
+details as (if he wishes) to be mistaken for a real inhabitant either of
+a big London hotel or a Bloomsbury boarding-house.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+MR. B.
+
+To the list of signally good men must now be added Mr. B. I do not say
+that he should be included in any extension of _The Golden Legend_, but
+no catalogue of irreproachables, beyond the wiles of temptation, can
+henceforth be complete without him, and as a model of rectitude in
+business his portrait should be on the walls of every commercial school.
+I can see him as the hero of this tract and that, and in course of time
+his early life may be written and circulated: _The Childhood of Mr. B.,
+or, The Boy Who Took the Right Turning._
+
+And who is Mr. B.? All that I know of him I find in an Eastern sheet
+which I owe to the kindness of a friend--_The Bangkok Times Weekly
+Mail_. Glancing through this minute and compact little paper, which is
+as big as any paper ought to be, my eye alighted upon an extract from
+_The North China Daily News_, and it is here that Mr. B. shines forth.
+
+A certain dealer, it seems, had received an order for a machine, but,
+being unable to deliver it, and wishing to avoid the penalties attending
+a breach of the contract, he had to resort to guile. The following
+letter to a confederate at once displays him as a Machiavellian and
+introduces us to that inconvenient thing, a Far Eastern incorruptible:--
+
+ "Regarding the matter of escaping the penalty for non-delivery of
+ the Bar Machine, there is only one way, to creep round same by
+ diplomat, and we must make a statement of strike occur our factory
+ (of course big untrue) and please address person on enclosed form
+ of letter, and believe this will avoid the trouble of penalties of
+ same.
+
+ "Mr. B. is most religious and competent man, also heavily upright
+ and godly, it fears me useless apply for his signature. Please
+ attach same by Yokohama Office, making forge, but no cause for fear
+ of prison happenings as this is often operated by other merchants
+ of highest integrity.
+
+ "It is the highest unfortunate Sir. B. is so godlike and excessive
+ awkward for business purposes."
+
+So there you have Mr. B. Some day, perhaps, he may read this letter and
+realise how extremely awkward an inflexible standard of morality can
+make things for one's neighbours. The last sentence of all has a
+pathetic ring, as of a Utopian throwing up the sponge: "I think much
+better to add little serpent-like wisdom to upright manhood and thus
+found good business edifice."
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ "£1 down secures a ---- bicycle for you in time for Whitsuntide."
+
+ _Advt. in "Yorkshire Observer, June 9."_
+
+So if you are in a hurry and want it by next Christmas you had better go
+somewhere else.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+THE MAN OF THE EVENING.
+
+To be perfectly fair, it was not that Dorice gave me too few
+instructions, but rather too many.
+
+"I'm over at Naughton," she said through the telephone; "I'm staying
+with some people named Perry."
+
+"How ripping of you to ring me up!" I said, flattered; "it's heavenly to
+hear your voice, even if I can't see you."
+
+It was a pretty little speech, but Dorice ignored it.
+
+"There is a dance on here, to-night," she continued hastily, "and at the
+last minute they are short of men, so I've promised to get them
+someone."
+
+I gripped the receiver firmly and groaned. I knew what was coming.
+
+Dorice proposed that I should leave the office _instantly_ and catch the
+next train to Naughton.
+
+She adopted rushing tactics with which it was practically impossible to
+cope.
+
+All the time I was explaining to her how busy I was, and how I found it
+out of the question even to think of leaving the office, she kept on
+giving me varied and hurried directions.
+
+I was to be sure to remember the steps she had taught me last time.
+
+I was not to take any notice of a dark girl in a red dress, because she
+wasn't the slightest bit nice when you really got to know her.
+
+I was to drive straight to the hall, where Dorice would be looking out
+for me.
+
+"And now I can't stay any longer, and you must fly and catch the train,
+and so 'good-bye,' and I'll keep some dances for you!"
+
+"Half a minute," I protested. "Where do I----? What is the name of----?"
+
+But Dorice, with that delightful suddenness which is one of her most
+charming characteristics, had rung off, leaving my destination a
+mystery.
+
+However, there was no time to worry about details. I told a dreadful lie
+to a man with whom I had an appointment, left the office and did
+wonderful things in the way of changing my clothes, packing my bag, and
+boarding a moving train.
+
+At Naughton station I engaged a cab.
+
+"Where to?" asked the driver, as he readied down for my bag.
+
+It was the question I had been asking myself all the way in the train.
+
+"That's just it," I said miserably, "I don't know."
+
+He was a sympathetic-looking cabman--not one of the modern type, but the
+aged director of a thin horse and a genuinely antique four-wheeler.
+
+"It's rather an awkward situation," I explained doubtfully; "you see,
+Dorice forgot--I mean I'm supposed to be going to a dance somewhere
+round here. I was told to drive straight to the hall--I don't know
+_what_ hall."
+
+"That's all right, Sir," answered the sympathetic cabman encouragingly;
+"you were told to drive straight to the 'all; that'll be Naughton 'All."
+
+He proceeded to awaken the thin horse.
+
+"There is a big do on there to-night, Sir. It's a fair way out, but I'll
+'ave yer there in no time."
+
+"My dear good man," I remonstrated nervously, "for heaven's sake don't
+rush at things like that. Is this particular dance you wish to take me
+to given by some people named Perry?"
+
+"Perry? Lord! no! Sir John Oakham, lives at Naughton 'All. It's '_is_
+party."
+
+The sympathetic cabman was a little pained at my ignorance.
+
+Dorice had not said who was actually giving the dance.
+
+With vague misgivings I climbed into the cab.
+
+"Go ahead," I said, with my heart in my boots; "drive away and let's get
+it over."
+
+It was a long drive, and more than once I was nearly killed through
+hanging my body from the cab window in a vain attempt to catch a glimpse
+of Dorice in one or other of the motors that passed us on the road.
+
+At Naughton Hall I looked out for her expectantly.
+
+There was not a soul in the room that I knew. In a fit of dreadful panic
+I began to search desperately. Dorice was nowhere to be found, and the
+hand started upon the first waltz.
+
+To me it was like a nightmare.
+
+One thing I remember was finding myself dancing with a Miss Giggleswick.
+
+I don't pretend to explain how it happened. As far as I can make out,
+some hospitably disposed person decided that he was expected to know me
+and find me a partner.
+
+Anyhow, I danced with a Miss Giggleswick, and also I talked to her.
+
+I asked her very seriously if she knew anything of Dorice.
+
+Miss Giggleswick thought I was referring to some new authoress.
+
+"Yes--yes," she said thoughtfully, "I must have read some of them, but I
+can't remember which ones--I'm so silly about names."
+
+After a time I pulled myself together, and somehow escaped from Miss
+Giggleswick. I made my way to the cloakroom, grabbed my coat and bag,
+and rushed for the front door.
+
+Once outside I ran for my life.
+
+I ran down the drive and along the road towards Naughton.
+
+I floundered on blindly through thick mud and pools of water.
+
+"A fine night!" shouted a cheerful ass as I struggled past him.
+
+I pulled up sharply and peered at him through the darkness.
+
+"A fine night? Oh, yes, it's a fine night," I laughed wildly; "but just
+tell me one other thing. Is there any other hall in this district except
+Naughton Hall?"
+
+"Noa--unless of course yer mean Naughton _Parish_ 'All," he added after
+deep consideration.
+
+"Has anybody ever been known to give a dance there?"
+
+"Ay, I dare say."
+
+With grim determination I clutched my bag and trudged on.
+
+It was late when I crawled up the steps of Naughton Parish Hall.
+
+I threw my things in a corner, scraped some of the mud off my trousers,
+removed my bow from the back of my neck, and staggered in the direction
+of the music. A one-step was just over, and the dancers were crowding
+the foyer.
+
+Dorice appeared with her partner.
+
+I went and stood before her.
+
+"Dorice," I stammered brokenly, "I--I've come."
+
+Dorice excused herself from her partner and took me into a corner.
+
+"Hear me first," I pleaded, utterly crushed. "Hear me first, Dorice.
+I've done my best. I went to the wrong place. You rang off without
+giving me the proper address. A blundering villain of a cabman took me
+to--Naughton Hall. They made me dance with somebody named Giggleswick. I
+escaped as soon as I could and came here. I ran a lot of the way."
+
+I looked up at her beseechingly.
+
+Then I discovered that my life was not blighted for ever.
+
+Dorice was smiling upon me--yes, smiling! She leant forward eagerly and
+touched my hand.
+
+"_You've been to Naughton Hall!_" she whispered delightedly; "but, my
+dear old boy, it's simply _the_ dance of the season round here! All
+these people would do anything to get invited. The Perrys only gave this
+dance so that they could use it as a sort of excuse for not being seen
+at the Naughton Hall one!"
+
+"Anybody could have gone in my place," I murmured; "I didn't enjoy it at
+all."
+
+Dorice got up and took hold of my arm.
+
+"Come on," she said with suppressed excitement, "this is splendid!"
+
+She took me through a crowd of people and introduced me to Mr. and Mrs.
+Perry.
+
+Then she raised her voice.
+
+"He's sorry to be so late," she apologised as loudly as possible, "but
+you see he was forced to look in at the Naughton Hall ball. However, he
+got away as soon as he could and came on to us."
+
+Mrs. Perry received me almost with open arms.
+
+"We must try and find you some really good partners," she announced
+enthusiastically.
+
+"_Rather!_" echoed Mr. Perry.
+
+It was then close upon midnight. For the two hours of the dance that
+remained I was the man of the evening.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+[Illustration: WHAT LANCASHIRE THINKS.
+
+_Old Lancashire Lady_ (_to young lady friend who has expressed her
+intention of going by an excursion to the Metropolis_). "DOAN'T THEE GOA
+TO LONDON; THEE STOP IN OWD ENGLAND."]
+
+ * * * * *
+
+Rumoured Mutiny in the Navy.
+
+ "The destroyers patrolling the Irish coast are being boarded and
+ searched for rifles by order of the Admiralty."--_Daily Express._
+
+ * * * * *
+
+[Illustration: _Little Maid_ (_to new owner of country cottage_) "OH, IF
+YOU PLEASE, SIR, HERE'S THE CHAIRMAN OF THE LITTLE CHIPPINGHAM AND WEST
+HAMBLETON STREET LIGHTING COMMITTEE." (_Confidentially_) "IT'S REALLY
+ONLY MR. BINKS, THE BUTCHER."]
+
+ * * * * *
+
+THE CALL OF THE BLOOD.
+
+ Happy the man who brushes up his topper
+ And sallies forth to call upon a maid,
+ Knowing his converse and his coat are proper,
+ That, come what may, he will not be afraid,
+ Not lose his nerve, and yawn, or tell a whopper,
+ Or drop the marmalade.
+
+ Not such the bard; not thus--but Clotho (drat her)
+ Was wakeful still, and plied a hostile loom--
+ I sought Miss Pritt. She mooted some grave matter
+ And looked for light; my lips were like the tomb,
+ Sealed, though they say they heard my molars chatter
+ Up in the smoking-room.
+
+ Cold eyes regarded me. My front-stud fretted;
+ A stiff slow smirk belied my deep unrest;
+ My tea-cup trembled and my cake was wetted;
+ My beauteous tie worked round toward the West;
+ My brow--forgive me, but it really sweated;
+ I did not look my best.
+
+ To Zeus, that oft would make a mist and smother
+ Some swain beset, and screen him from the crowd,
+ I prayed for vapours; but his mind was other:
+ Yet was I answered, though the god was proud,
+ For, anyhow, I trod on Miss Pritt's mother
+ And left beneath a cloud.
+
+ Not to return. O'er fair free hills and valleys
+ I can converse and carry on _ad lib._;
+ On active tennis-courts (between the rallies)
+ I can be confident, and none more glib;
+ But not in drawing-rooms my bright star dallies--
+ I'm not that sort of nib.
+
+ We'll meet no more; but I shall send some token
+ Of what I'm worth outside the world of teas--
+ A handsome photograph, some smart things spoken,
+ A few sweet verses (not so bad as these),
+ And hockey-groups that show me stern and oaken
+ And nude about the knees.
+
+ It may be, though she deemed me dunder-headed,
+ She'll sometimes take them from her chamber-wall,
+ Or where they lie in lavender embedded,
+ And tell her family about them all--
+ About the gentleman she might have wedded,
+ Only _he could not call_.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ "John William Burrow, of Overton, who is about 16 years old, caught
+ six salmon in the heave net last week, their respective weights
+ being 9 lbs., 28 lbs., 5-1/2 lbs., 12 lbs., 22 lbs., 13 lbs., a
+ total of 89-1/2 lbs. Last season, when between 13 and 14 years old,
+ he caught three salmon. His record is probably unique for inshore
+ fisher boys."--_Lancaster Guardian._
+
+Anyhow the rate at which he grows up is.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+[Illustration: THE TRIUMPH OF THE VOLUNTARY SYSTEM.
+
+LORD HALDANE. "GROSSLY ILLEGAL AND UTTERLY UNCONSTITUTIONAL!--AS I SAID
+THE OTHER DAY AT OXFORD; BUT TO THE HEART OF AN EX-WAR-LORD, HOW
+BEAUTIFUL!"]
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ESSENCE OF PARLIAMENT.
+
+(EXTRACTED FROM THE DIARY OF TOBY, M.P.)
+
+_House of Commons, Tuesday, June 9._--Recorded in Parliamentary history
+how a debate on Budget of the day a great statesman began his speech by
+utterance of he word "Sugar." Contrast of imposing personality of the
+Minister and sonorousness of his voice with commonplace character of
+utterance tickled fancy of House, then as now almost childishly eager to
+be amused. The great man looked round with stern glance that cowed the
+tittering audience. "Sugar," he repeated amid awed silence, and
+triumphantly continued his remarks.
+
+It wasn't sugar that occupied attention of House on resuming sittings
+after Whitsun recess. It was Milk. Naturally Bill dealing with subject
+was in hands of the INFANT SAMUEL. Debate on Second Reading presented
+House in best form. Impossible for most ingenious and enterprising
+Member to mix up with milk the Ulster question or hand round bottles
+accommodated with india-rubber tubes and labelled Welsh Church
+Disestablishment. Consequence was that, in Second Reading debate on Bill
+promoted by Local Government Board, Members on both sides devoted
+themselves to single purpose of framing useful measure.
+
+[Illustration: THE INFANT SAMUEL.]
+
+Animated debate on another Bill in charge of JOHN BURNS amending
+Insurance Act in direction of removing administrative difficulties and
+diminishing working costs. Nothing to complain of in way of acerbity.
+Second Reading stages of both measures passed without division, and
+House adjourned before half-past ten.
+
+At Question time peaceful prospect momentarily ruffled. The SAHIB REES,
+taking advantage of absence of SPEAKER, prolonging his holiday amid
+balmy odours of Harrogate Pump Room, was in great form. With extensive
+view he surveyed mankind from British Columbia to the Persian Gulf, just
+looking in at Australasia to see what IAN HAMILTON has lately been up to
+in matter of compulsory military service.
+
+It was in Persian Gulf that squall suddenly threatened. SAHIB wanted to
+know whether HIS MAJESTY'S ships in that quarter of the world "had been
+engaged with gun-runners."
+
+BYLES OF BRADFORD, seated on Front Bench below Gangway, pricked up his
+baronial ears. What! More gun-running and nobody either hanged or shot?
+On closer study of question perceived that use of ambiguous word misled
+him. When the SAHIB enquired whether HIS MAJESTY'S ships had been
+"engaged" with gun-runners he did not mean that they had rendered
+assistance in illegal enterprises, nocturnal or other. On the contrary,
+word had directly opposite meaning.
+
+BYLES OF BRADFORD accordingly abandoned intention of putting
+Supplementary Question, reserving his energy for his own searching
+inquiry, which appeared lower down on paper, impartially denouncing
+importation of arms "whether by the Ulster Volunteers or the National
+Volunteers, or both."
+
+[Illustration: "Who said 'gun-running'?"
+
+(_With acknowledgments to a popular picture._)
+
+("BYLES OF BRADFORD pricked up his baronial ears.")]
+
+_Business done._--National Insurance Act Amendment Bill, and Milk and
+Dairies Bill read a second time.
+
+_Wednesday._--Attendance still small, especially on Opposition Benches.
+Hapless Ministerialists, warned by urgent summons hinting at surprises
+in store in the Division Lobby, loyally muster. Nothing happened;
+perhaps in other circumstances something might.
+
+Whilst the Benches are half empty Order Book is crowded. To-day's list
+catalogues no fewer than 142 Bills standing at various stages awaiting
+progress. Thirty-five are Government measures. The rest proofs of the
+energy and legislative capacity of private Members.
+
+Of course at this stage of Session only small proportion of Government
+Bills are likely to reach the Statute Book; those in hands of private
+Members have no chance whatever. Still, imposing display looks well on
+paper. In its various developments adds considerably to amount of
+stationery bill.
+
+_Business done._--In Committee of Supply on Post Office Vote, a trifle
+of £26,151,830, the Holt Report on postmen's demand for higher wages
+discussed.
+
+_Thursday._--Walking down Victoria Street on way to House of Commons,
+as is my custom of an afternoon, I come upon my old friend the
+sandwich-board man. He stands in the shadow of Westminster Abbey
+panoplied back and front with boards making the latest announcement of
+newcomers to Madame Tussaud's. Morning and afternoon, all day long, he
+stands there, the life of London surging past. We generally have a
+little chat, and occasionally he gets a cigar.
+
+One mystery that long piqued me he solved. If you chance upon
+sandwich-board men marching to head-quarters, like old _Kaspar_ at his
+garden gate their day's work done, you will notice they always carry
+their boards upside down. The passer-by, consumed by desire to know what
+truth these proclaim, must needs assume inverted attitude in order to
+profit by announcement. Why do they so scrupulously observe that custom?
+
+"Point of honour," says my sandwich-board man. "What you call class
+interests. We are paid little enough for so many hours' tramp. When the
+hour of deliverance strikes we turn the board upside down. So we do when
+we sit down by crowded thoroughfare to eat our mid-day bread-and-cheese,
+or bread without cheese as may happen. Not going to give the master more
+than he pays for."
+
+What specially attracted me to-day was communication received from
+MEMBER FOR SARK. Says he hears that WINTERTON is about to be added to
+Madame Tussaud's!
+
+[Illustration: THE WINTERTON WAX-WORK.]
+
+Suppose this, next of course to Westminster Abbey, is highest compliment
+possible for public man. On reflection I say not quite. LULU stands on
+triple pinnacle of fame. On one or other the New Zealander, bored with
+the monotony of the ruins of London Bridge, sure to hap upon his name
+writ large.
+
+There is the Harcourt Room in House of Commons, a spacious dining-hall
+cunningly contrived with lack of acoustical properties that make it
+difficult to hear what a conversational neighbour is saying. In time of
+political stress this useful, as preventing lapse into controversy at
+the table. Homeward bound from his last Antarctic trip, ERNEST
+SHACKLETON discovered three towering peaks of snow and ice. One he named
+Mount Asquith; another Mount Henry Lucy; a third Mount Harcourt.
+
+Now a great shipping company, having business on the West Coast of
+Africa, making welcome discovery of a deep water port in the estuary of
+the Bonny River, have named it Port Harcourt.
+
+This concatenation of circumstance more striking than the lonely
+eminence of a pitch in the hall of Madame Tussaud, and a name flaunting
+on her sandwich-board. Moreover than which, as grammarians say, SARK has
+evidently been misinformed. My sandwich-board man has heard nothing of
+reported addition to our Valhalla. Certainly his boards do not confirm
+the pleasing rumour.
+
+_Business done._--HOME SECRETARY announces intention of Government to go
+to fountain-head of trouble with Militant Suffragists. Will proceed by
+civil or criminal action directed against the persons who subscribe
+sinews of war. Loud cheers from both sides approved the plan. Followed
+at short interval by sharp report distinctly heard in Lobby. Was it echo
+of the strident cheer? No. It was the ladies demonstrating afresh their
+eligibility for exercise of the suffrage by attempting to blow up the
+Coronation Chair in Westminster Abbey.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ "Candidates for divinity degrees at Cambridge should, it is
+ proposed, be required to give evidence of a competent general
+ knowledge of Christian theology."--_Times._
+
+Every now and then the authorities get these bright ideas, and thus our
+old Universities keep up to date.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+From a list of entries for the golf championship:--
+
+ "Geo. Oke (Honor Oke)."--_Dundee Courier._
+
+We will if he wins.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ "How can you have precisely the same cottage on the north and the
+ south side of a road? In the one case the larder is to the south,
+ and the butler is melting."
+
+ _Manchester Guardian._
+
+He should return to the wine cellar.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+RED HEAD AND WHITE PAWS.
+
+[_Why should the popular magazines monopolise all the tragic animal
+sketches? Mr. PUNCH'S menagerie is just as ferocious._]
+
+Silence reigned in the woods! Silence! Deep silence! Save for the
+chortle of the night-jar, the tap of the snipe's beak against the
+tree-trunks, the snores of a weary game-keeper, the chirp of the
+burying-beetle, the croak of the bat, the wild laughter of the owl and
+the boom, boom of the frog, deep silence reigned. The crescent moon
+stole silently above the horizon. Wonderful, significant is that silent,
+stealthy approach of the moon. Red Head lumbered from his lair and
+crouched beside the shimmering fire of the furze. A startled grass-snake
+strove to leap out of the way of the monarch of the woods--- a hurried
+crunch and a string of thirty white eggs was left motherless, forlorn.
+
+A careless cock-pheasant gurgled on a bough. In a moment Red Head had
+silently scaled the tree. Two tail feathers alone remained to show an
+awed game-keeper that Red Head had passed that way. A woodcock floated
+silently on the bosom of the tiny lake. He did not note the ripple which
+showed that a powerful animal was swimming towards him. A scream, and
+the woodcock, trumpeting shrilly, is drawn into the depths.
+
+[_Editor._ But what is Red Head?
+
+_The Expert._ I am not quite sure whether he is a tree-climbing fox or a
+swimming badger. Anyhow he might have escaped from a menagerie.]
+
+Peace reigned in the hole of the bumble-bee. Weary with culling sweets
+from the lime-trees, the heather-bloom, the apple-blossom and the
+ivy-flower be had sought his humble couch. Suddenly great claws tear
+away his roof-tree. Red Head is at work. Bees and honey make his nightly
+meal.
+
+White Paws had listened from his burrow. All seemed well. He darted
+forth and bathed in the bright light of the full moon.
+
+[_Editor._ Wasn't it a crescent moon?
+
+_The Expert._ You must make allowances for development in the course of
+a story. Suppose we say it was a full-sized crescent.]
+
+Then White Paws, standing on his hind-legs, danced for sheer joy of
+life.
+
+A leaf bitten from a bough by a sturdy green caterpillar fell suddenly
+to the ground. Like lightning White Paws darted to the top of an
+immemorial elm. In a moment he was reassured and returned to his
+graceful dance in the bosky dell.
+
+But what is this? A hideous red head emanates slowly from a bush. A
+protruding tongue vibrates in the pale moonlight. Weak, curious White
+Paws wonders what this strange thing is. Beware, White Paws! Think of
+thy tender mate and innocent cubs.
+
+Drawn by a fatal curiosity he advances towards it. The awful glimmer of
+Red Head's eye fascinates him. He must see. Nearer he draws and nearer.
+A sudden plunge from the bush--a sickening crunch. Red Head has dined
+for the fifth time in one evening.
+
+Death and Silence reign in the woods. Save for the chortling of the
+night-jar, the chirp of the burying-beetle, the snores of the
+gamekeeper, etc., etc. (see above) one might imagine oneself in the
+solemn stillness of Piccadilly Circus at midnight.
+
+Death and Silence.
+
+[_Editor._ "Yes, but the identity of the protagonists in this Sophoclean
+tragedy is still a little in doubt."
+
+_The Expert._ "Any nature sketch ends satisfactorily with a meal."]
+
+All this time the crescent moon has been swelling silently under the
+watchful stars. It is now at the full. So is Red Head. He has dined five
+times. He sleeps.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+[Illustration: (_Lady Bountiful is entertaining some slum children at
+her lovely place in the country._)
+
+_Sister (to small brother who has just picked a daisy)._ "NAR VEN, 'ERB!
+THE LIDY WON'T ARST YER AGINE IF YER GOW A-PICKIN' 'ER FLOWERS LIKE
+THET!"]
+
+ * * * * *
+
+THE ROCK GARDENESS IN LONDON.
+
+ (_A Ballad of Labels._)
+
+ Dame Fashion, when she calls the tune,
+ Must surely crave my pardon
+ For prisoning me in leafy June
+ Far from my Alpine garden.
+
+ So that in crowded square or street
+ My Fancy's playful mockery
+ Plants all the pavement at my feet
+ With favourites from the rockery.
+
+ And so that, heedless to the claims
+ Of passing conversation,
+ I murmur to myself their names
+ By way of consolation.
+
+ The thread of compliment may run
+ Through many ball-room Babels--
+ I have one language, only one,
+ The language of the labels.
+
+ In Kedar's tents are festive hours,
+ The _noctes_ and the _coenę_;
+ My heart is where _RETUSA_ flowers,
+ And crimson-starred _SILENE_.
+
+ I see the grey stones overhung
+ With lilac and laburnum;
+ I hear the drone of bees among
+ Blue depths of _LITHOSPERNUM_.
+
+ And in the box on opera nights
+ Between each thrilling scene I
+ Recall the miniature delights
+ Of _MENTHA REQUIENII_;
+
+ Admirers find me deaf and dumb
+ To all their honeyed wheedling,
+ I muse on _LONGIFOLIUM_
+ And dream of _STORMONTH SEEDLINGS_.
+
+ And, when they come to hint their loves
+ Through all the usual stages,
+ I wish I were in gardening gloves
+ Among my Saxifrages.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+More Russian Methods.
+
+ "EAST-END DEPUTATION RECEIVED BY WHIP."
+
+ _Daily News and Leader._
+
+ * * * * *
+
+_The Daily News_, in describing an adventure between the CROWN PRINCE of
+Germany (in a motor) and a peasant of Saarbrücken, ventures (with a
+knowledge of the Saarbrücken dialect which we ourselves cannot claim) to
+give the peasant's actual words:--
+
+ "'Ain't 'eard nowt,' said the peasant; 'the lane be narrow like.
+ You must just wait till I be druv ahead.'"
+
+Its likeness to the Loamshire dialect of England will interest the
+philologist.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+AT THE PLAY.
+
+"AN INDIAN SUMMER."
+
+We plunged into the action quickly enough. A breakfast-gong--a sip of
+coffee--a bite of toast--and _Nigel Parry_ locks up his morning's
+love-correspondence; _Helen_, his wife, breaks open the drawer and
+peruses the damning letter; _Nigel_ returns and catches her red-handed.
+After this we took a long breath and lingered over the moral aspect of
+the situation. Indeed, during the next ten years nothing occurred except
+the separation of the couple; the reported decease of the other woman
+(whom we never saw, dead or alive), and the marriage of the boy _Parry_
+with an actress bearing the ascetic name of _Ursula_. We now left the
+old trail in pursuit of this red herring; and for the rest of the play,
+up to the last moment, our attention was concentrated on the attitude of
+the elder heroine to her daughter-in-law, to whom she had taken a
+profound dislike at sight.
+
+But something had to happen if the author was to bring about a
+reconciliation of the original pair and so justify the symbolic title of
+her play. Thinking it out, she seems to have recalled that it is
+customary in these cases to let an accident occur to some junior member
+of the family, over whose prostrate body the old ones may kiss again
+with tears. Accordingly, no sooner had mention been made, quite
+arbitrarily, of an automatic pistol, alleged to be unloaded, than old
+stagers knew by instinct that _Ursula_ would shoot herself
+inadvertently. This occurred with such promptitude that even the author
+recognised that we should not be satisfied with so ingenuous an episode.
+Complications had therefore to be devised at all costs. Young _Parry_
+must be kept in ignorance of the fact that the episode was due to his
+stupidity in leaving the weapon loaded. So _Ursula_ invents a story to
+show that the wound in her thigh was due to a fall downstairs. It is
+true that blood-poisoning--not amongst the more familiar sequelę of a
+fall downstairs--supervened. But the legend served well enough on the
+stage. Among other effects it increased the irritation of the
+mother-in-law, who felt that the accident indicated a criminal
+carelessness in one who was about to make her a grandmother, a condition
+of things that had been brought home to us in the course of some female
+conversation flavoured with the most pungent candour. When the truth
+came out, the proved devotion of the young wife causes an _entente_
+between her and her mother-in-law, accompanied--for reasons which I
+cannot at the moment recall--by a parallel reconciliation between the
+senior couple. Personally, I felt that the threatened "Indian Summer"
+was not likely to be much warmer than the ordinary English kind.
+
+Perhaps the most intriguing feature of the play was the author's
+attitude toward her own sex. Mrs. HORLICK frankly took the man's point
+of view. Never for one moment did she attempt to encourage our sympathy
+for _Helen_ as a wronged wife. Commonly in plays it is the woman,
+married to a man she never loved, who claims the liberty of going her
+own way and getting something out of life. Here it is the man who is the
+victim of a marriage not of his own making (as far as love was
+concerned), and the author, through the mouthpiece of the woman's
+confidante, makes ample excuse for his desire to snatch some happiness
+from fate.
+
+[Illustration: CHILLY FORECAST FOR AN "INDIAN SUMMER."
+
+_Nigel Parry_ Mr. ALLAN AYNESWORTH.
+_Helen Parry_ Miss EDYTH GOODALL.]
+
+Unhappily Mrs. HORLICK has much to learn in stage mechanism. The motive
+of her exits when, as constantly, she wanted to leave any given couple
+alone together, was insufficiently opaque. She began very well and held
+our interest closely for some time; but long before the end we should
+have been worn out but for the childlike charm and attractive
+_gamineries_ of Miss DOROTHY MINTO as _Ursula_. Mr. ALLAN AYNESWORTH,
+who acted easily in the rather ambiguous part of _Nigel Parry_, seemed
+to share our doubts as to the chances of Mrs. HORLICK'S achieving
+popularity at her first attempt, for he confided to us, in a brief
+first-night oration, that she was engaged on another play which he hoped
+to secure.
+
+But no one will question the serious promise of her present comedy, and
+I trust that in any future production she may be assisted by as
+excellent a cast. For they all played their parts, however trivial in
+detail, with great sincerity. Miss GOODALL was the only disappointment,
+though the fault was not altogether her own. At first she was very
+effective, but later her entries came to be a signal for gloom, like
+those of a skeleton emergent from the family cupboard.
+
+"PRINCE IGOR."
+
+All is fair in Love and War, and the only ethical difficulty arises when
+they clash. This was the trouble with _Vladimir Igorievich_, heir of
+_Prince Igor_. Father and son had been taken in battle, and were held
+captive in the camp of the Tartars; but, while _Prince Igor_ felt very
+keenly his position (though treated as a guest rather than a prisoner
+and supplied every evening with spectacular entertainments), _Vladimir_
+beguiled his enforced leisure by falling in love (heartily reciprocated)
+with the daughter of his captor, _Khan Konchak_. An opportunity of
+escape being offered, _Prince Igor_ seizes it, but _Vladimir's_ dear
+heart is divided between passion and patriotism, and before he can make
+up his mind the chance of freedom is gone. A study of the so-called
+"libretto" showed that this was the only thing in the opera that bore
+any resemblance to a dramatic situation. Figure, therefore, my chagrin
+when I discovered that the character of _Vladimir Igorievich_ had been
+cut clean out of the text of the actual opera. I could much more easily
+have dispensed with the buffooneries of a couple of obscure players upon
+the _goudok_ (or prehistoric hurdy-gurdy), who wasted more than enough
+of such time as could be spared from the intervals.
+
+There was no part of adequate importance for M. CHALIAPINE, so he
+doubled the _rōles_ of _Galitsky_, the swaggering and dissolute
+brother-in-law that _Prince Igor_ left behind when he went to the wars,
+and _Khan Konchak_, most magnanimous of barbarians. Neither character
+gave scope for the particular subtlety of which (as he proves in _Boris
+Godounov_) M. CHALIAPINE is the sole master among male operatic singers.
+But to each he brought that gift of the great manner, that ease and
+splendour of bearing, and those superb qualities of voice which, found
+together, give him a place apart from his kind.
+
+Of the rest, M. PAUL ANDREEV, as _Prince Igor_, gave his plaint of
+captivity with a noble pathos. As for the chorus, it sang with the
+singleness and intensity of spirit which are only possible to a
+national chorus in national opera, and which (I hope) are the envy of
+the cosmopolitans of Covent Garden.
+
+The _clou_ of the evening was the ballet, already well-known, of the
+Polovtsy warriors, executed with the extreme of fanatic fervour and
+frenzy. The art of M. MICHEL FOKINE can turn his Russians into Tartars
+without a scratch of the skin. BORODINE'S music, taking on a more
+barbaric quality as the action travelled further East, here touched its
+climax, and the final scene, where _Prince Igor_ returns home and
+resumes the embraces of his queen, (a model of fidelity), was of the
+character of a sedative.
+
+"DAPHNIS ET CHLOĖ."
+
+Those who complained--I speak of the few whose critical faculties had
+not been paralysed by M. NIJINSKI--that in _L'Aprčs-midi d'un Faune_
+the limitations of plastic Art (necessarily confined to stationary forms)
+were forced upon an art that primarily deals with motion, will have
+little of the same fault to find in _Daphnis et Chloė._ Here there is no
+fixed or formal posing, if we except the attitude adopted (after a
+preliminary and irrelevant twiddle) by certain Nymphs to indicate,
+appropriately enough, their grief over the inanimate form of _Daphnis_.
+The dances in which, to the mutual suspicion of the lovers, _Chloė_ was
+circled by the men and _Daphnis_ by the maidens, were a pure delight.
+There was one movement, when heads were tossed back and then brought
+swiftly forward over hollowed breasts and lifted knees that had in it an
+exquisite fleeting beauty. But memory holds best the grace of the
+simpler and more elemental movements, the airy swing and poise of feet
+and limbs in straight flight, linked hands outstretched.
+
+In the _pas seul_ competition M. ADOLPH BOLM as _Darkon_ did some
+astonishing feats which made the performance of M. FOKINE as _Daphnis_
+seem relatively tame and conventional; and if I, instead of _Chloė_, had
+been the judge I should have awarded the palm to the former. I am sure
+that _Chloė_ was prejudiced, though certainly _Darkon_ was a very rude
+and hirsute shepherd, and had none of _Daphnis'_ pretty ways.
+
+The dancing of the brigands was in excellent contrast with the methods
+of the pastoral Greeks. I will not, like the programme, distinguish them
+as "Brigands with Lances," "Brigands with Bows" and "Young Brigands." To
+me they were all alike very perfect examples of the profession; though I
+admit that the flight of their spears was not always as deadly as it
+should have been, and that one of the arrows refused to go off the
+string and had to be thrown by hand into the wings.
+
+It is not easy at a first performance to take in everything with both
+eye and ear, and I shall excuse myself from attempting to do justice to
+M. RAVEL'S music. But I was free (the curtain being down) to listen to
+one long orchestral passage which followed the capture of _Chloė_. It
+was of the nature of a dirge, and it seemed to me to suggest very
+cleverly the sorrows of a poultry-yard. I suppose _Chloė_ must have been
+in the habit of feeding them and they missed her.
+
+I hate to say one word of disparagement about a performance for which I
+could never be sufficiently grateful. But I agree with a friend of mine
+who complained to me of the way in which _Pan_ was presented. It was
+this beneficent god who caused a panic among the brigands and so enabled
+_Chloė_ to return to her friends, though I don't know why he ever let
+her be captured, for he was there at the time. Well, I agree that he
+ought to have been represented by something more satisfactory than a
+half-length portrait painted on a huge travelling plank of pasteboard,
+which was pushed about from Arcadia to Scythia (if this was the
+brigands' address) and back again, appearing in the limelight, when
+required, like a whisky sky-sign.
+
+O. S.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+[Illustration: "CAN YOU LEND ME A COUPLE O' BOB, GEORGE? I'VE JUST HAD
+MY POCKET PICKED."]
+
+ * * * * *
+
+TEMPORA MUTANTUR.
+
+[Suggested by recent correspondence in a leading journal.]
+
+WHY USE SPECS?
+
+_A Centenarian's Testimony to the Editor of "The Chimes."_
+
+SIR,--I was 117 on the 1st of April and have never used any artificial
+aid to eyesight, yet I can read the articles for ladies on the Court
+Circular page of your splendid publication without turning a hair. It is
+true that I am, and have always been, of an iron constitution, having
+practically dispensed with sleep for the last sixty years. For some
+considerable time I have been able to do without physical sustenance as
+well, owing to the extraordinarily nutritious nature of the contents of
+your superb South American Encyclopędias.
+
+Yours faithfully,
+
+NESTOR PARR.
+
+
+A PERFECT CURE.
+
+_To the Editor of "The Chimes."_
+
+SIR,--Is my experience worth recording? Until two or three years ago I
+was entirely dependent on spectacles, and suffered unspeakable
+inconvenience if I happened to mislay them. But since I became a
+subscriber to your unique and unparalleled organ I have found my
+eyesight so marvellously improved that I am now able to discard glasses
+entirely. The extraordinary part of the business is this, that if I take
+up any other paper I am utterly unable to decipher a word. As my wife
+cleverly put it the other day, of all the wonderful spectacles in the
+world the new _Chimes_ is the most amazing.
+
+Yours gratefully, VERAX.
+
+
+FROM AN ARTIFICIAL EYE-MAKER.
+
+_To the Editor of "The Chimes,"_
+
+SIR,--An extraordinary case of recovery of sight was brought to my
+knowledge yesterday by an esteemed customer. About thirty years ago I
+supplied him with an artificial eye to replace one which he lost while
+duck-shooting in the Canary Islands. About six months ago he lost the
+remaining sound eye through a blow from a golf-ball. I accordingly
+fitted him with a second artificial eye, and you may imagine my surprise
+when he came round to my place of business a few days later by himself
+and read aloud to me the whole of your admirable leading article on
+"Braces _v._ Belts." The therapeutic effect of high-class journalism on
+myopic patients has, I believe, been noted by Professor Hagenstreicher,
+the famous German oculist, but this is, I believe, the first instance on
+record of a patient recovering his sight after both eyes had been
+removed.
+
+I am, Sir, etc., ANNAN EYAS.
+
+
+CATARACT ARRESTED.
+
+_To the Editor of "The Chimes."_
+
+SIR,--Yesterday, which happened to be my ninety-seventh birthday, I
+spent in reading your wonderful Potted Meat Supplement from cover to
+cover. As there is more printed matter in it than in Mr. DE MORGAN'S
+latest novel you might expect to hear that I am suffering to-day from
+eye-strain. On the contrary the symptoms of incipient cataract, which
+declared themselves a few months ago, have entirely disappeared, and I
+was able to see the French coast distinctly this morning from my house
+on the sea-front.
+
+Yours truthfully,
+
+_Folkestone._ JUDITH FITZSIMONS.
+
+
+FROM OUR OLDEST SUBSCRIBER.
+
+_To the Editor of "The Chimes."_
+
+SIR,--I was 165 last birthday. I was in the merchant marine for upwards
+of eighty years, and then became a Swedenborgian, but never had occasion
+to consult an oculist. I was born in the reign of George II., or was it
+Queen Anne?--I really forget which. My wife is 163, and we walk out,
+when weather permits, and seldom omit church on Sundays. We both still
+read your "Births, Deaths, and Marriages," and consider that they are
+the best.
+
+Yours venerably, W. A. G.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+Another Suffragette Outrage.
+
+ "Among the elementary and fundamental rights and duties are (_sic_)
+ the security of the person. But it is violated as much by he
+ (_sic_) or she (_sic_) who challenges assault as by he (_sic_) or
+ she (_sic_) who assaults."
+
+The five "_sics_" are ours. The rest belongs to the leader-writer of
+_The Morning Post_, on whom militancy seems to have had a painful
+effect.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ "A Central News telegram from Montreal states that Miss Edith
+ Shaughnessy, daughter of Sir Thomas Shaughnessy, was married at St.
+ James's Roman Catholic Cathedral yesterday to Mr. W. H."--_Morning
+ Post._
+
+From the wedding presents, which were both numerous and costly: "Mr. W.
+Shakespeare to Bridegroom--Sonnets."
+
+ * * * * *
+
+A correspondent in _The Exchange and Mart_ writes:--
+
+ "At night Tree-Frogs are active and utter various sounds, some a
+ pleasing chirrup (like mine), others a loud shriek."
+
+We shall hope to hear the writer's pleasing chirrup in Bouverie Street
+some day.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ADVENTURERS.
+
+ It must have been off a pirate trip,
+ In a life forgot 'o me,
+ That I saw the Barbary pirate ship
+ Come close-hauled out of the sea;
+ She crawled in under a goat-cropped scaur
+ Beneath the fisher-huts,
+ And she sent a dozen o' men ashore
+ To fill her water-butts.
+
+ I clambered up where the cliff sprung sheer
+ Till I looked upon her decks
+ And saw the plunder of half-a-year
+ And the loot of her scuttled wrecks;
+ There were gems and ivory, plate and pearl,
+ And Tyrian rugs a-pile,
+ And, set in the midst, was a milk-white girl,
+ The loot of a Grecian isle.
+
+ As white as the breasted terns that flit
+ Was the smooth arm's rounded shape
+ As she idly played with a pomegranate
+ To anger a chained grey ape;
+ And her Sun-God's self for diadem
+ Had kissed her curls to gold;
+ But blue--sea-blue as the sapphire gem,
+ Her eyes were cold, sea-cold.
+
+ And, gleam of shoulder and glint of tress,
+ They sailed ere the sun went down
+ And sold her, same as a black negress,
+ For the marts o' Carthage town,
+ Where she lived, mayhap, of her indolent grace,
+ Content with her silks and rings,
+ Or rose, by way of her wits, to place
+ Her foot on the necks of kings.
+
+ The deuce can tell you how this may be,
+ 'Tis far as I take the tale;
+ For it's lives upon lives ago, you see,
+ That the Barbary men set sail;
+ So I only know she was ivory white,
+ As white as a sea-bird lone;
+ And her eyes were wonderful blue and bright
+ And hard as a sapphire stone.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+The New Rowing.
+
+ "Give a last pull at the oar with clenched teeth and knit
+ muscles."--_The Young Man._
+
+_The Cork Examiner_ on Sir PERCY SCOTT'S letter:--
+
+ "'If a battleships is not safe either on the high seas or in
+ rabour,' he asks, 'what is the use of a battlesh?'"
+
+To be more accurate, this is how one puts it to one's neighbour after
+dinner, when--the ladies having removed themselves, and the necessity
+for mere social chit-chat being over--we men are at last able to devote
+ourselves to the affairs of empire.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+[Illustration: LIGHT CAR TRIALS.
+
+_Spectator_ (_to exhausted competitor reduced to running on trial
+hill_). "WHAT WOULD YOU SAY IF THAT CAR RAN AWAY FROM YOU?"
+
+_Competitor._ "THANK HEAVEN!"]
+
+ * * * * *
+
+OUR BOOKING-OFFICE.
+
+(_By Mr. Punch's Staff of Learned Clerks._)
+
+The title of a book should be a guide to its contents, a simple enough
+rule which some authors overlook in their anxiety to start being clever
+and eccentric on the very outside cover. The book-buying public will
+appreciate Miss M. BETHAM-EDWARDS' title, _From an Islington Window,
+Pages of Reminiscent Romance_ (SMITH, ELDER), and will gather from it
+that this is a book for those who prefer a long life and a quiet one to
+the short and thrilling. Incidentally I am relieved from divulging any
+of the plots in order to demonstrate the nature of the twelve short
+pieces embodied; enough to quote two typical sub-titles, "Mr. Lovejoy's
+Love-story" and "Miss Prime," and to put upon the whole the label of the
+author's own choice, "Early Victorian." Everybody knows where and what
+Islington is and the sort of minor tragedy and comedy that would be
+likely to occur in the lives of its inhabitants in the last reign but
+one. No one would look there for epoch-making crises, but many will find
+a longed-for relief from the speeding-up tendencies of modern romance.
+Lastly, but for a tendency at times to affectation, the style of the
+writer is as graceful and elegant as her themes are homely and serene,
+and that, I think, is all about it.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+Mr. W. E. NORRIS is subtle; at least if my idea of the genesis of
+_Barbara and Company_ (CONSTABLE) is the right one. I believe, then,
+that Mr. NORRIS found himself possessed of plots sufficient for a number
+of agreeable short stories, but that, knowing short stories to be more
+or less a drug in the market, he very skilfully united them into one by
+the simple process of making all their characters friends of _Barbara_.
+Nothing could be more effective. For example, Mr. NORRIS thinks what fun
+it would be to describe a race ridden by two unwilling suitors, the
+prize to be the lady's heart, which neither in the least wishes to win.
+Promptly _Miss Ormesby_, the heroine, is asked down on a visit to
+_Barbara_, and the story is told, most amusingly and well, in a couple
+of chapters. Again, the pathetic and moving tale of _Miss Nellie
+Mercer_, the nameless companion, who blossomed into fierce renown as
+_Senorita Mercedes_, the dancer, and died of it. Why should not this
+same _Barbara_ have adopted the parentless girl in childhood? It is all
+simplicity itself. Perhaps you may object that the useful _Barbara_
+shows some signs of being a little overworked, and that few women are
+likely to have had quite so adventurous a company of friends. In this
+case I shall have nothing to urge, except that, so far as I am
+personally concerned, Mr. NORRIS has such a way with him that if he
+chose to people _Barbara's_ drawing-room with the persons of the
+_Arabian Nights_ he could probably convince me that there was nothing
+very much out of the ordinary in that assembly. And, after all, pianists
+and writers and actors, all the kind of folk with whom _Barbara_
+surrounded herself, are precisely those to whom short stories should,
+and do, happen. Next time, however, I hope Mr. NORRIS'S inspiration will
+be less fragmentary but equally happy.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+_Johnnie Maddison_ (SMITH, ELDER) was nice. And here and now I wish to
+propose a vote of thanks to Mr. JOHN HASLETTE for having the uncommon
+pluck to create a hero neither handsome nor strong. Brave of course he
+had to be, or how should that which is written in the proverbs have
+been fulfilled, but "he was slight," "he stooped a little," "he had an
+ordinary face." (What hopes that brings to the hearts of some of us!)
+For the rest, he lived in Sta. Malua, to which tropical port came _Molly
+Hatherall_, intending to be married to a handsome scamp who spent all
+his salary as a mining engineer and all the money he could borrow from
+friends in losing games of poker to a man who made a profession of
+winning them. Why he should have wanted to do this (for it seemed to be
+his solitary serious vice) in a place like Sta. Malua I cannot imagine.
+But there it is. For one reason or another the marriage was delayed, and
+after a long mental struggle _Jno. Maddison_, who had fallen in love
+with _Molly_, decided to tell her what kind of man her idol of romantic
+chivalry really was. It raises, you see, a nice point of ethics, since
+_Edmund Serge_ was popular at the club and, except for the brand of the
+poker on his forehead, a pretty good fellow. Unfortunately Mr. HASLETTE
+rudely slices the knot of his difficulty by making _Edmund_ embezzle
+money and abscond at the critical point of the story. The telling of the
+yarn is a little humdrum, but gains from a comparative leniency in the
+matter of local colour--for I feel that Sta. Malua is the sort of place
+which might have been rather ruthless about this--and the suspended
+banns keep the interest fairly warm. But I am not sure that _Johnnie
+Maddison_ might not have been nicer if he had escaped a suspicion of
+priggishness and lost a trifle now and then at progressive whist.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+In Miss ELEANOR MORDAUNT'S new volume called _The Island_ (HEINEMANN)
+all the tales have a common interest through their association with a
+corner of Empire easily recognisable by those who have ever seen it. I
+remember how greatly I have already admired Miss MORDAUNT'S power of
+vivid and picturesque scene-painting; there are several stories in this
+book that show it at its best. I wish I could avoid adding that there
+are others that seem to me entirely unworthy of their author, at least
+for any other purpose than that of boiling the pot. One of the best of
+the tales, "A Reversion," is both dramatic and realistic; it bears a
+strong resemblance to a sketch that recently made a successful
+appearance at the Hippodrome; indeed the good qualities of Miss
+MORDAUNT'S stories are precisely those that would help their development
+into excellent little plays. One thing that I cannot help wishing is
+that the writer had trusted a little more to my imaginative
+intelligence. There is a certain kind of detail that is best confided to
+this sanctuary, and Miss MORDAUNT'S difficulty seems to have been in
+realising when all the sayable things had been said. At least one of the
+stories plunges considerably beyond the limit of discretion and even
+good taste. But the heat and the colour, the thrills and the devastating
+_ennui_ of life for the English in the island, are as well rendered as
+anything I remember in the fiction of Empire. For this alone there
+should be a warm welcome for the collection, with all its faults, both
+from those who know the original and those who need help in imagining
+it.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+_The Purple Frogs_ (HEATH, CRANTON AND OUSELEY) I can only describe as
+the most exasperating, not to say maddening, product of modern fiction.
+What on earth Messrs. H. W. WESTBROOK and LAWRENCE GROSSMITH, the joint
+authors, mean by it I have not the ghost of an idea. Occasionally signs
+are detectable that the whole thing is a practical joke; still more
+occasionally it even promises to become mildly amusing; and then again
+one is confronted with an incident (such as the visit of the armed
+maniac to the house of _Isambard Flanders_) serious to the point of
+melodrama. Not for pages and chapters did I discover any excuse for the
+title; and even then not much. But it appeared eventually that _Isambard
+Flanders_ was jealous of the friendship between his wife, _Cicely_, and
+_Stephen_, a young man who produced film-dramas; and that in order to
+score off them he wrote a novel called _The Purple Frogs_, in which he
+embodied his suspicions. The last half of the volume is occupied with
+this tale within a tale. Here possibly we have a key to the purpose of
+the collaboration. Anyhow, I permitted myself to form a theory that Mr.
+WESTBROOK (or Mr. GROSSMITH) had written a novel too exiguous for
+separate publication, and in this dilemma had appealed to Mr. GROSSMITH
+(or Mr. WESTBROOK) to provide a setting. But which wrote which, and
+why--these are problems that remain inscrutable. Yet another is
+furnished by the fact that Miss ELLA KING HALL has composed for the main
+story six "illustrations in music," duly reproduced. You may with luck
+be able to smile a little at the quaintness of these. But on the
+title-page they are said to be "arranged from the MS. notes of _Botolf
+Glenfield."_ And _Glenfield_, being only a character in the novel
+written by _Flanders_, couldn't possibly ... Help!
+
+ * * * * *
+
+[Illustration: THE CUBIST PHOTOGRAPHER.]
+
+ * * * * *
+
+SERENITY.
+
+ A singular accident happened to-day,
+ Distressing to witness (I chanced to be there).
+ A motor-'bus entered a tea-shop, and lay
+ In some need of repair.
+
+ It was loaded with passengers, outside and in,
+ Who straightway indulged in much turbulent talk;
+ The latter declared that for less than a pin
+ They would get out and walk.
+
+ But the customers who, with deplorable zest,
+ Of tea and hot crumpets were taking their fill,
+ Regarding the scene as an innocent jest,
+ Simply laughed themselves ill.
+
+ Though I'm dreadfully nervous and suffer a shock
+ At the slightest alarm, through that terrible fuss
+ I was strangely composed and, as still as a rock,--
+ I lay under the 'bus.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI, VOL.
+146, JUNE 17, 1914***
+
+
+******* This file should be named 24453-8.txt or 24453-8.zip *******
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+<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 146,
+June 17, 1914, 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 = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre>
+<p>Title: Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 146, June 17, 1914</p>
+<p>Author: Various</p>
+<p>Editor: Owen Seaman</p>
+<p>Release Date: January 29, 2008 [eBook #24453]</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. 146, JUNE 17, 1914***</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h3>E-text prepared by Jane Hyland, Malcolm Farmer,<br />
+ and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br />
+ (http://www.pgdp.net)</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="pg" />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_461" id="Page_461">[Pg 461]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h1>PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.</h1>
+
+<h2>VOL. 146.</h2>
+<hr class="full" />
+<h2>June 17th, 1914.</h2>
+<hr class="full" />
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHARIVARIA" id="CHARIVARIA"></a>CHARIVARIA.</h2>
+
+
+<p>"The Pocket Asquith" is announced, and we are asked to say that the
+pocket in question is not Mr. <span class="smcap">Redmond's</span>.</p>
+
+<hr class="short" />
+
+<p>The discovery of gold particles in a duck's gizzard has, we are told,
+caused a rush of mining prospectors to Liberty Township, Ohio. It is
+expected that the duck will shortly be floated as a limited liability
+company.</p>
+
+<hr class="short" />
+
+<p>The Valuation Department has discovered at Llangammarch Wells,
+Brecknockshire, 50 acres of land for which no owner can be found.
+Anyone, therefore, who has lost any land is recommended to communicate
+at once with the Department.</p>
+
+<hr class="short" />
+
+<p>The <span class="smcap">Astronomer-Royal</span>, in reading his annual report at the Royal
+Observatory last week, said that the mean temperature of the year 1913
+was 50.5 degrees. Seeing that this temperature was one degree above the
+average for the 70 years ended 1910, we consider that the epithet was
+undeserved.</p>
+
+<hr class="short" />
+
+<p>We hesitate to suggest that <i>The Times</i> is catering for cannibals, but
+it is certainly curious that a recent issue should have contained the
+following headlines:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">"Prepared Foods. infants, children &amp; invalids."</span></p>
+
+<hr class="short" />
+
+<p>By the way, the little essay on "Foods of Antiquity" omitted to mention
+that these may still be picked up by curio-hunters at certain railway
+buffets.</p>
+
+<hr class="short" />
+
+<p>What has become of all the cabs which have been displaced by the taxis?
+is a question which is often asked. It has now been partially answered.
+According to a cable published last week, "The steamer <i>Rappahannock</i>
+reports the presence of numerous icebergs and 'growlers' on the North
+Atlantic steamship routes."</p>
+
+<hr class="short" />
+
+<p>At last there are signs of a reaction against under-dressing on the
+stage. The producers of a new revue advertise:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>50 REAL LIVE PERFORMERS. <span class="smcap">Over</span> 250 <span class="smcap">Parisian Model Frocks and Hats</span>.</p>
+
+<hr class="short" />
+
+<p>Mr. <span class="smcap">H. Cscinsky</span>, the author of the standard work, <i>English Furniture of
+the Eighteenth Century</i>, says that 999 out of every 1,000 pieces of old
+oak furniture in the present day are forgeries. The only way, therefore,
+to ensure that you get a genuine specimen is to order 1,000 pieces, and
+the furniture trade trusts that all collectors will take this elementary
+precaution when purchasing.</p>
+
+<hr class="short" />
+
+<p>The abandonment of the scheme for the rebuilding of the Lambeth Police
+Court has caused some disappointment among local criminals, some of
+whom, we are glad to hear, are ashamed to be seen in the present
+structure.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 520px;">
+<img src="images/461.png" width="520" height="600" alt="" title="" />
+<span class="smcap">&quot;Wotcher bin doin&#39;&mdash;fightin&#39;?&quot;
+<br />&quot;No&mdash;boohoo&mdash;
+I bin fought!&quot;</span>
+</div>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Being convinced that Germany possesses too many Leagues and Associations
+the town of Seesen, in the Harz, has established an "Association for
+Combating the Mania for the Formation of Leagues and Associations"&mdash;not
+realising until too late that they have thereby formed one more.</p>
+
+<hr class="short" />
+
+<p>"Keep your arms" is Sir <span class="smcap">Edward Carson's</span> latest advice to the Ulster
+volunteers&mdash;and they have kept their heads so well that they should have
+no difficulty in this respect.</p>
+
+<hr class="short" />
+
+<p>An American clergyman got into trouble last week for holding up his hand
+and trying to stop the traffic in the Strand. The sky-pilot found out
+pretty soon that he was out of his element.</p>
+
+<hr class="short" />
+
+<p>A man placed a bank paper bag containing &pound;63 10s. on the counter at the
+chief post-office in Swansea, one day last week, while he changed a
+postal order. When he turned to pick up the bag it had disappeared. The
+local police incline to the view that someone must have taken it.</p>
+
+<hr class="short" />
+
+<p>A muddle-headed correspondent writes to express surprise on learning
+that the day devoted to collections for the charities connected with the
+Variety Stage should be known as "Tag Day." The old fellow had always
+imagined that "Tag Day" was a toast on German war vessels.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<h3>A TIME EXPOSURE.</h3>
+
+<p>
+I turned the family album's page<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And noted with a smile</span><br />
+The efforts of a bygone age<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">At photographic style;</span><br />
+There, pegtopped, grandpa could be seen,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">While grandma beamed, contented</span><br />
+To know her brand-new crinoline<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The latest thing invented.</span><br />
+<br />
+And there Aunt Mary's looks belied<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Her gravity of dress;</span><br />
+That great poke-bonnet could not hide<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Her youthful comeliness;</span><br />
+There, too, was father when a boy,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And elsewhere in the series</span><br />
+A youthful cousin (Fauntleroy),<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">An uncle in Dundrearies.</span><br />
+<br />
+And then before my scornful eye<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A smirking youth appeared,</span><br />
+Flaunting a loose &aelig;sthetic tie<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And embryonic beard;</span><br />
+With laughter I began to shake,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Noting the watch-chain (weighty)</span><br />
+And all the things that went to make<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A "nut" in 1880.</span><br />
+<br />
+I looked upon the other side,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Still tittering, to see</span><br />
+What branch the fellow occupied<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Upon our family tree;</span><br />
+A name was scrawled across the card<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With flourishes in plenty,</span><br />
+And lo! it was the present bard<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Himself at five-and-twenty.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<h3>The Sprinter.</h3>
+
+<p>From a testimonial to a system of health culture:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"I think I have never felt so glorious as I do this morning. At
+4.30 I woke up after a wet waist pack, got hot water, cleaned
+myself, took a glass of lemon juice, exercised, and for the last
+three-quarters of an hour I have been running through your notes."</p></div>
+
+<p>He mustn't take <i>too</i> much exercise.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_462" id="Page_462">[Pg 462]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<h2>THE COMPLETE DRAMATIST.</h2>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">III. Meals and Things.</span></h3>
+
+<p>In spite of all you can do in the way of avoiding soliloquies and
+getting your characters on and off the stage in a dramatic manner, a
+time will come when you realise sadly that your play is not a bit like
+life after all. Then is the time to introduce a meal on the stage. A
+stage meal is popular, because it proves to the audience that the
+actors, even when called <span class="smcap">George Alexander</span> or <span class="smcap">Arthur Bourchier</span>, are real
+people just like you and me. "Look at Sir <span class="smcap">Herbert</span> eating," we say
+excitedly to each other in the pit, having had a vague idea up till then
+that an actor lived like a god on praise and grease-paint and his
+photograph in the papers. "Another cup, won't you?" says Miss <span class="smcap">Gladys
+Cooper</span>; "No, thank you," says Mr. <span class="smcap">Dennis Eadie</span>&mdash;dash it, it's exactly
+what we do at Twickenham ourselves. And when, to clinch matters, the
+dramatist makes Mr. <span class="smcap">Gerald du Maurier</span> light a real cigarette in the
+Third Act, then he can flatter himself that he has indeed achieved the
+ambition of every stage writer, and "brought the actual scent of the hay
+across the footlights."</p>
+
+<p>But there is a technique to be acquired in this matter as in everything
+else within the theatre. The great art of the stage-craftsman, as I have
+already shown, is to seem natural rather than to be natural. Let your
+actors have tea by all means, but see that it is a properly histrionic
+tea. This is how it should go:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><i>Hostess.</i> You'll have some tea, won't you? [<i>Rings bell.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Guest.</i> Thank you.</p>
+
+<p><i>Enter</i> Butler.</p>
+
+<p><i>Hostess.</i> Tea, please, Matthews.</p>
+
+<p><i>Butler</i> (<i>impassively</i>). Yes, m'lady. (<i>This is all he says during the
+play, so he must try and get a little character into it, in order that
+"The Era" may remark, "Mr. Thompson was excellent as </i>Matthews<i>."
+However, his part is not over yet, for he returns immediately, followed
+by three footmen&mdash;just as it happened when you last called on the
+Duchess&mdash;and sets out the tea.</i>)</p>
+
+<p><i>Hostess (holding up the property lump of sugar in the tongs).</i> Sugar?</p>
+
+<p><i>Guest (luckily).</i> No, thanks.</p>
+
+<p><i>Hostess replaces lump and inclines empty teapot over tray for a moment,
+then hands him a cup painted brown inside&mdash;thus deceiving the gentleman
+with the telescope in the upper circle.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Guest (touching his lips with the cup and then returning it to its
+saucer).</i> Well, I must be going.</p>
+
+<p><i>Re-enter Butler and three Footmen, who remove the tea-things.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Hostess</i> (to Guest). Good-bye; so glad you could come. [<i>Exit</i> Guest.</p>
+
+<p>His visit has been short, but it has been very thrilling while it
+lasted.</p>
+
+<p>Tea is the most usual meal on the stage, for the reason that it is the
+least expensive, the property lump of sugar being dusted and used again
+on the next night. For a stage dinner a certain amount of genuine
+sponge-cake has to be made up to look like fish, chicken or cutlet. In
+novels the hero has often "pushed his meals away untasted," but no stage
+hero would do anything so unnatural as this. The etiquette is to have
+two bites before the butler and the three footmen whisk away the plate.
+The two bites are made, and the bread is crumbled, with an air of great
+eagerness; indeed, one feels that in real life the guest would clutch
+hold of the footman and say, "Half a mo', old chap, I haven't <i>nearly</i>
+finished;" but the actor is better schooled than this. Besides, the
+thing is coming back again as chicken directly.</p>
+
+<p>But it is the cigarette which chiefly has brought the modern drama to
+its present state of perfection. Without the stage cigarette many an
+epigram would pass unnoticed, many an actor's hands would be much more
+noticeable; and the man who works the fireproof safety curtain would
+lose even the small amount of excitement which at present attaches to
+his job.</p>
+
+<p>Now although it is possible, in the case of a few men at the top of the
+profession, to leave the conduct of the cigarette entirely to the actor,
+you will find it much more satisfactory to insert in the stage
+directions the particular movements (with match and so forth) that you
+wish carried out. Let us assume that <i>Lord Arthur</i> asks <i>Lord John</i> what
+a cynic is&mdash;the question of what a cynic is having arisen quite
+naturally in the course of the plot. Let us assume further that you wish
+<i>Lord John</i> to reply, "A cynic is a man who knows the price of
+everything and the value of nothing." It has been said before, but you
+may feel that it is quite time it was said again; besides, for all the
+audience knows, <i>Lord John</i> may simply be quoting. Now this answer, even
+if it comes quite fresh to the stalls, will lose much of its effect if
+it is said without the assistance of a cigarette. Try it for yourself.</p>
+
+<p><i>Lord John.</i> A cynic is a man who, etc....</p>
+
+<p>Rotten. Now try again.</p>
+
+<p><i>Lord John.</i> A cynic is a man who, etc.... (<i>Lights cigarette</i>).</p>
+
+<p>No, even that is not good. Once more:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><i>Lord John (lighting cigarette).</i> A cynic is a man who, etc.</p>
+
+<p>Better, but leaves much too much to the actor.</p>
+
+<p>Well, I see I must tell you.</p>
+
+<p><i>Lord John (taking out gold cigarette case from his left-hand upper
+waistcoat pocket).</i> A cynic, my dear Arthur (<i>he opens case
+deliberately, puts cigarette in mouth, and extracts gold match-box from
+right-hand trouser</i>) is a man who (<i>strikes match</i>) knows the price of
+(<i>lights cigarette</i>)&mdash;everything, and (<i>standing with match in one hand
+and cigarette in the other</i>) the value of&mdash;&mdash; pff (<i>blows out match</i>) of
+(<i>inhales deeply from cigarette and blows out a cloud of
+smoke</i>)&mdash;nothing.</p>
+
+<p>It makes a different thing of it altogether. Of course on the actual
+night the match may refuse to strike, and <i>Lord John</i> may have to go on
+saying "a man who&mdash;a man who&mdash;a man who" until the ignition occurs, but
+even so it will still seem delightfully natural to the audience (as if
+he were making up the epigram as he went along); while as for blowing
+the match out he can hardly fail to do <i>that</i> in one.</p>
+
+<p>The cigarette, of course, will be smoked at other moments than
+epigrammatic ones, but on these other occasions you will not need to
+deal so fully with it in the stage directions. "<i>Duke (lighting
+cigarette).</i> I trust, Perkins, that ..." is enough. You do not want to
+say, "<i>Duke (dropping ash on trousers).</i> It seems to me, my love ..."
+or, "<i>Duke (removing stray piece of tobacco from tongue).</i> What Ireland
+needs is ..."; still less "<i>Duke (throwing away end of cigarette).</i> Show
+him in." For this must remain one of the mysteries of the stage&mdash;What
+happens to the stage cigarette when it has been puffed four times? The
+stage tea, of which a second cup is always refused; the stage cutlet,
+which is removed with the connivance of the guest after two mouthfuls;
+the stage cigarette, which nobody ever seems to want to smoke to the
+end&mdash;thinking of these as they make their appearances in the houses of
+the titled, one would say that the hospitality of the peerage was not a
+thing to make any great rush for....</p>
+
+<p>But that would be to forget the butler and the three footmen. Even a
+Duke cannot have everything. And what his <i>chef</i> may lack in skill his
+butler more than makes up for in impassivity.</p>
+
+<p>
+A. A. M.<br />
+</p>
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>From a column headed "Crimes and Tragedies" in <i>The Western Weekly
+Mercury</i>:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Sir J. W. Spear, M.P., has consented to become patron of the
+newly-formed Highampton Rifle Club."</p></div>
+
+<p>And we are left wondering which it is.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_463" id="Page_463">[Pg 463]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 794px;">
+<img src="images/463.png" width="794" height="1000" alt="REFRESHING THE FRUIT." title="" />
+<h3>REFRESHING THE FRUIT.</h3>
+
+<span class="smcap">Mr. John Burns.</span> &quot;PERFECT! PERFECT! BUT JUST WANTS THE MASTER&#39;S TOUCH.&quot;<br />
+
+<span style="margin-left: 26em;">[Gives it.</span>
+</div>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_464" id="Page_464">[Pg 464]</a></span><br /></p>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_465" id="Page_465">[Pg 465]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 1000px;">
+<img src="images/465.png" width="1000" height="715" alt="Cheery Passenger" title="" />
+
+<i>Cheery Passenger (in non-stop express).</i> <span class="smcap">&quot;Well, I must
+say it&#39;s quite a relief to me to &#39;ave a gentleman in the carriage. It&#39;s
+twice now I&#39;ve &#39;ad a fit in a tunnel.&quot;</span>
+</div>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<h2>ROOSEVELT RESURGIT</h2>
+
+<p>
+Once more the tireless putter-right of men,<br />
+Our roaring <span class="smcap">Roosevelt</span>, swims into our ken.<br />
+With clash of cymbals and with roll of drums,<br />
+Reduced in weight, from far Brazil he comes.<br />
+What risks were his! The rapids caught his form,<br />
+Upset his bark and tossed him in the storm.<br />
+Clutching his trumpet in a fearless hand,<br />
+The damp explorer struggled to the land;<br />
+Then set the trumpet to his lips and blew<br />
+A blast that echoed all the wide world through,<br />
+And in a tone that made the nations quiver<br />
+Proclaimed himself the finder of a river.<br />
+Maps, he declared, were made by doddering fools<br />
+Who knew no better or defied the rules,<br />
+While he, the great Progressive, traced the course<br />
+Of waters mostly flowing to their source.<br />
+Emerged at last and buoyed up with the sure hope<br />
+Of geographic fame, he made for Europe;<br />
+Flew to Madrid, and there awhile he tarried<br />
+Till <span class="smcap">Kermit</span> went (good luck to K!) and married.<br />
+Next London sees him, and with loud good will<br />
+Yields to the mighty tamer of Brazil,<br />
+And hears and cheers the while by his own fiat he<br />
+Lectures our Geographical Society.<br />
+Soon to his native land behold him go<br />
+To take a hand in quelling Mexico.<br />
+Does <span class="smcap">Wilson</span> want him? Well, I hardly know.<br />
+</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<h2>IN THE NAME OF PEACE.</h2>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Sir</span>,&mdash;I read with intense satisfaction that at the Peace Ball at the
+Albert Hall last week the lady representing Britannia carried a palm
+branch in place of the customary trident. This, I venture to think, is a
+step in the right direction. For many years, from the pulpits and
+platforms not only of our own land but of America, I have advocated a
+substitution of peaceful objects for the weapons of bloodshed with which
+so many of our allegorical figures are encumbered. I still wait for some
+artist to depict the patron saint of this fair land of ours, not
+attacking the dragon with a cruel sword, but offering it in all
+brotherliness an orange, let us say, or a bath bun.</p>
+
+<p>But, Sir, one feature of this ball (putting aside for a moment the many
+reprehensible characteristics of all such entertainments) I must and do
+protest against. What do I read in the daily press? When it was desired
+to clear the floor, "a brigade of Guards, by subtle movements, drove the
+masqueraders, who were to form the audience, behind the barricades."
+Now, were I a member of the House of Commons&mdash;as some day I may be&mdash;I
+would make it my business to stand up in my place and fearlessly demand
+of the Minister for War an explanation as to how these men of blood came
+to be admitted to a Peace festival. Was it with his knowledge that they
+were present? and, if so, was it with his consent? I should also desire
+to know whether the cost of the expedition would fall upon the British
+tax-payer.</p>
+
+<p>
+I am, Sir, Yours, etc., (Rev.) <span class="smcap">Amos Blick</span>.<br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_466" id="Page_466">[Pg 466]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<h2>AMENDING A BILL.</h2>
+
+<p>As the drought wore on to its third day I began to perceive that
+siphoning the pinks with soda-water out of the dining-room window was
+insufficient to meet the crisis. I rang up the nearest fire station and
+told them in my most staccato tones that the garden was being burnt to a
+cinder and would they please&mdash;but they rang off suddenly without making
+a reply. It was then that I had a bright idea&mdash;so bright that the
+thermometer which was hanging near my head went up two degrees higher
+still.</p>
+
+<p>"Araminta," I cried (she was out on the lawn tantalising a rose-bush
+with a kind of doll's-house watering-can),&mdash;"Araminta, where does one go
+to get hose?"</p>
+
+<p>Araminta bridled.</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't mean that," I said, hastily coming out of the French-window to
+explain. "I meant the kind of long wiggly thing you fix on to a tap at
+one end and it squirts at the other."</p>
+
+<p>She unbridled prettily. "Oh, that!" she said. "Altruage's have them, I
+suppose. Altruage's have everything. But I shouldn't get one if I were
+you. I believe they're fearfully expensive, and I'm going to buy a
+proper watering-can this morning."</p>
+
+<p>My mind, however, was made up. "Expense," I thought, "be irrigated!" I
+said nothing about it to Araminta, but I decided to act.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>The sun was still blazing with abominable ferocity at half-past twelve
+when I crossed the threshold of the Taj Mahal Stores and button-holed
+the first peripatetic marquis I could find.</p>
+
+<p>"I want," I said, mopping my brows with the disengaged hand, "to see
+some hose."</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly, Sir," he replied with a beaming smile. "For wear on the
+feet, I presume?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not at all," I replied as coolly as possible. "For shampooing the
+head."</p>
+
+<p>He looked puzzled.</p>
+
+<p>"I want it to water my pinks with," I explained.</p>
+
+<p>A look of divine condescension overspread his features. "Ah, you require
+our horticultural department for that, Sir," he said. "Fourth to the
+left, fifth to the right, and ask again." And with an infinitely
+horticultured gesture of the hand he motioned me on.</p>
+
+<p>After a long and adventurous Odyssey and fifteen fruitless appeals I
+sighted a kind of green island shore, where a young man stood in an
+attitude of <i>hauteur</i>, surrounded by a number of pink and grey snakes
+and brightly coloured agricultural machines.</p>
+
+<p>Making my way to him I sank exhausted into a wheel-barrow and murmured
+my request again.</p>
+
+<p>"About what size is your garden?" he asked me when I had partially
+recovered.</p>
+
+<p>"Slim," I said, "slim and graceful, but not really tall. <i>Petite</i> I
+believe is the technical term. What sizes have you got in stock?"</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps about forty yards would do, Sir," he suggested, uncoiling a
+portion of one of the reptiles at his feet. "I can recommend this as a
+strong and thoroughly reliable article. Then you will want a union, I
+suppose, and a brass nozzle and a drum."</p>
+
+<p>"We all want union nowadays so much in everything, don't we?" I agreed
+pleasantly, "but I'm not so sure about the drum. You see the baby makes
+a most infernal noise as it is with a&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>He interrupted me to explain the uses of these things. The union, it
+seemed, was a kind of garter to attach the hose to the tap, and the drum
+was where the snake wound itself to sleep at night. "And the little
+pepper-castor, of course," I said, "is what one puts at the end to make
+it sneeze. I understand completely. If you will have them all sent round
+to me to-morrow I will pay on delivery."</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>When I got out into the street I found that a great change had taken
+place. The sky overhead was black with imminent rain. A sharp shower
+pattered at my heels as I sprinted for the 'bus, and when I disembarked
+from it the gutters were gurgling with ill-concealed delight. As I
+walked up the garden I noticed that the majority of the pinks were lying
+in a drunken stupor upon their beds.</p>
+
+<p>Araminta met me at the door. "Why, you must be wet through," she said.
+"Go up and change instantly. And aren't you glad now you haven't got a
+silly old hose after all?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am indeed," I replied.</p>
+
+<p>Whilst I changed I thought deeply, and after dinner I sat down and wrote
+politely to Messrs. Altruage as follows:</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Hopkinson regrets that through inadvertence he ordered a quantity
+of hose this afternoon in Messrs. Altruage's horticultural department
+instead of their foot-robing studio. If Messrs. Altruage will kindly
+cancel this order Mr. Hopkinson will call in the morning and select six
+pairs of woollen socks."</p>
+
+<p>In a climate like ours, I reflected as I posted the letter, there is a
+good deal to be said for these mammoth stores.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<img src="images/466.png" width="600" height="409" alt="Hodge." title="" />
+<i>Hodge.</i><span class="smcap">&quot;That&#39;s the best of comin&#39; early, Maria. We&#39;ve
+got the best seats in the &#39;ouse!&quot;</span>
+</div>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<h3>IN THE PARK.</h3>
+
+<p>(<i>Souvent femme varie.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Little girls in June attire,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Grumbling to your governesses,</span><br />
+What is it that you desire&mdash;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Chocolates or satin dresses,</span><br />
+Jewels, or a tiny hound,<br />
+All your own, to drag around?<br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Governesses who betray</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Little love for your employment,</span><br />
+If a fairy bade you say<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">What would give you most enjoyment,</span><br />
+Would your fancy not pursue<br />
+Unsubstantial shadows too?<br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Fleeting joys have little use"&mdash;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">So, as teachers, you endeavour</span><br />
+In your charges to induce<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Virtues which will last for ever;</span><br />
+But, as women, you resent<br />
+Anything so permanent!<br />
+</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"A half followed, which made Vardon dormy 3, and another half at
+the 16th, where he made a brilliant recovery after he had hit a
+spectator, gave him the match by 3 and 2."</p>
+
+<p><i>Times.</i></p></div>
+
+<p>The recovery of the spectator wouldn't matter so much.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"A man who gave the name of James DewTJnamedhiskmhmhfr mhafr awdih
+acsih frdw hurst was remanded at Doncaster to-day charged with
+attempting to pass a worthless cheque for 30s."&mdash;<i>Liverpool
+Express.</i></p></div>
+
+<p>As soon as the cashier saw the first eighteen inches of the name at the
+bottom of the cheque he had his suspicions.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_467" id="Page_467">[Pg 467]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 1000px;">
+<img src="images/467.png" width="1000" height="575" alt="THE LAW OF THE AIR." title="" />
+<h3>THE LAW OF THE AIR.</h3>
+
+<i>&quot;Suburbia&quot; writes: </i>&quot;My neighbour says the air is free and nobody can
+claim it. Granted. But what I say is&mdash;ought my neighbour, considering
+the narrowness of his garden, to be allowed to erect what is called a
+giant-stride for the amusement of his sons and their young friends? When
+will this dilatory Government take such matters in hand?&quot;
+</div>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<h3>THE YOUNG EVERYTHING.</h3>
+
+<p>Under this comprehensive title Messrs. Byett and Prusit have arranged
+for a new series of books for the youth of both sexes, the aim of which
+is to provide instruction in a number of the most desirable and
+profitable walks of life. The principle of the work is that it is never
+too soon to end. The General Editor will be that profound and
+encyclop&aelig;dic scholar and publicist, Mr. <span class="smcap">Anthony Asquith</span>, who will be
+assisted by some of the ablest pens in the country.</p>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Young Bankrupt</span>, by Sampson Waterstock.</p>
+
+<p>An exhaustive treatise on the right mismanagement of one's affairs, with
+hints on the best method of bringing about a meeting of creditors. Among
+the chapters are the following: "The Way to Carey Street;" "How to
+settle things on one's Wife;" "Eccentric Bankrupts who have subsequently
+paid in full, with Interest."</p>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Young Bookmaker</span>, by Sharkey Hawker.</p>
+
+<p>A complete guide to the Turf, than which few professions offer a more
+exciting opening to a boy. How to calculate odds; how to cultivate the
+voice; how to concentrate public attention on the wrong horse&mdash;these and
+other topics are dealt with by competent hands.</p>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Young Filbert</span>, by Gilbert Hallam.</p>
+
+<p>In this entertaining volume the complete art of youthful boredom and
+ornamental and expensive sloth is exploited. Where to get clothes; how
+much to owe for them; how soon to discard them and get others; what
+adjectives to use; and where, the best nut food may be obtained&mdash;all is
+told here.</p>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Young Centenarian</span>, by S. W. Calceby.</p>
+
+<p>Hints on regimen by one of the most lucid and distinguished salubrists
+of the day. Everything that can assist a boy or girl quickly to attain
+to the status of honourable and decrepit old age is here carefully set
+forth. The author guarantees that if his instructions are carried out
+the conditions of centenarianism can be reached in ten years. "Lobster
+salad for new-born babes" is one of his more original ideas.</p>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Young Author</span>, by Brompton MacGregor.</p>
+
+<p>This illuminating treatise contains the fullest directions yet given for
+the securing of a mammoth circulation and a corresponding revenue. How
+to exasperate Mrs. Grundy; how to secure testimonials from Bishops and
+Archdeacons; how to get banned by the libraries&mdash;these and other
+passports to fame and fortune are set forth with the utmost
+particularity in this marvellous manual.</p>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Young Composer</span>, by Eric Kornstein.</p>
+
+<p>This fascinating <i>brochure</i> gives in a succinct and animated form
+absolutely infallible instructions for storming the citadel of musical
+fame. The enormous importance of capillary attraction, sartorial
+extravagance and controversial invective are duly dwelt on, while the
+charming tone and temper of the work may be gathered from the headings
+of some of the chapters: "The Curse of Conservatoriums;" "The Tyranny of
+Tune;" "The Dethronement of <span class="smcap">Wagner</span>;" "<i>A bas</i> <span class="smcap">Beethoven</span>."</p>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Young American</span>, by Dixie Q. Peach.</p>
+
+<p>In this priceless work everything that is most characteristic of the
+great American nation is invitingly spread before the English youth, so
+that in a few weeks he will be so well equipped with Transatlantic
+details as (if he wishes) to be mistaken for a real inhabitant either of
+a big London hotel or a Bloomsbury boarding-house.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_468" id="Page_468">[Pg 468]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<h2>MR. B.</h2>
+
+<p>To the list of signally good men must now be added Mr. B. I do not say
+that he should be included in any extension of <i>The Golden Legend</i>, but
+no catalogue of irreproachables, beyond the wiles of temptation, can
+henceforth be complete without him, and as a model of rectitude in
+business his portrait should be on the walls of every commercial school.
+I can see him as the hero of this tract and that, and in course of time
+his early life may be written and circulated: <i>The Childhood of Mr. B.,
+or, The Boy Who Took the Right Turning.</i></p>
+
+<p>And who is Mr. B.? All that I know of him I find in an Eastern sheet
+which I owe to the kindness of a friend&mdash;<i>The Bangkok Times Weekly
+Mail</i>. Glancing through this minute and compact little paper, which is
+as big as any paper ought to be, my eye alighted upon an extract from
+<i>The North China Daily News</i>, and it is here that Mr. B. shines forth.</p>
+
+<p>A certain dealer, it seems, had received an order for a machine, but,
+being unable to deliver it, and wishing to avoid the penalties attending
+a breach of the contract, he had to resort to guile. The following
+letter to a confederate at once displays him as a Machiavellian and
+introduces us to that inconvenient thing, a Far Eastern incorruptible:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Regarding the matter of escaping the penalty for non-delivery of
+the Bar Machine, there is only one way, to creep round same by
+diplomat, and we must make a statement of strike occur our factory
+(of course big untrue) and please address person on enclosed form
+of letter, and believe this will avoid the trouble of penalties of
+same.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. B. is most religious and competent man, also heavily upright
+and godly, it fears me useless apply for his signature. Please
+attach same by Yokohama Office, making forge, but no cause for fear
+of prison happenings as this is often operated by other merchants
+of highest integrity.</p>
+
+<p>"It is the highest unfortunate Sir. B. is so godlike and excessive
+awkward for business purposes."</p></div>
+
+<p>So there you have Mr. B. Some day, perhaps, he may read this letter and
+realise how extremely awkward an inflexible standard of morality can
+make things for one's neighbours. The last sentence of all has a
+pathetic ring, as of a Utopian throwing up the sponge: "I think much
+better to add little serpent-like wisdom to upright manhood and thus
+found good business edifice."</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"&pound;1 down secures a &mdash;&mdash; bicycle for you in time for Whitsuntide."</p>
+
+<p><i>Advt. in "Yorkshire Observer, June 9."</i></p></div>
+
+<p>So if you are in a hurry and want it by next Christmas you had better go
+somewhere else.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<h2>THE MAN OF THE EVENING.</h2>
+
+<p>To be perfectly fair, it was not that Dorice gave me too few
+instructions, but rather too many.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm over at Naughton," she said through the telephone; "I'm staying
+with some people named Perry."</p>
+
+<p>"How ripping of you to ring me up!" I said, flattered; "it's heavenly to
+hear your voice, even if I can't see you."</p>
+
+<p>It was a pretty little speech, but Dorice ignored it.</p>
+
+<p>"There is a dance on here, to-night," she continued hastily, "and at the
+last minute they are short of men, so I've promised to get them
+someone."</p>
+
+<p>I gripped the receiver firmly and groaned. I knew what was coming.</p>
+
+<p>Dorice proposed that I should leave the office <i>instantly</i> and catch the
+next train to Naughton.</p>
+
+<p>She adopted rushing tactics with which it was practically impossible to
+cope.</p>
+
+<p>All the time I was explaining to her how busy I was, and how I found it
+out of the question even to think of leaving the office, she kept on
+giving me varied and hurried directions.</p>
+
+<p>I was to be sure to remember the steps she had taught me last time.</p>
+
+<p>I was not to take any notice of a dark girl in a red dress, because she
+wasn't the slightest bit nice when you really got to know her.</p>
+
+<p>I was to drive straight to the hall, where Dorice would be looking out
+for me.</p>
+
+<p>"And now I can't stay any longer, and you must fly and catch the train,
+and so 'good-bye,' and I'll keep some dances for you!"</p>
+
+<p>"Half a minute," I protested. "Where do I&mdash;&mdash;? What is the name of&mdash;&mdash;?"</p>
+
+<p>But Dorice, with that delightful suddenness which is one of her most
+charming characteristics, had rung off, leaving my destination a
+mystery.</p>
+
+<p>However, there was no time to worry about details. I told a dreadful lie
+to a man with whom I had an appointment, left the office and did
+wonderful things in the way of changing my clothes, packing my bag, and
+boarding a moving train.</p>
+
+<p>At Naughton station I engaged a cab.</p>
+
+<p>"Where to?" asked the driver, as he readied down for my bag.</p>
+
+<p>It was the question I had been asking myself all the way in the train.</p>
+
+<p>"That's just it," I said miserably, "I don't know."</p>
+
+<p>He was a sympathetic-looking cabman&mdash;not one of the modern type, but the
+aged director of a thin horse and a genuinely antique four-wheeler.</p>
+
+<p>"It's rather an awkward situation," I explained doubtfully; "you see,
+Dorice forgot&mdash;I mean I'm supposed to be going to a dance somewhere
+round here. I was told to drive straight to the hall&mdash;I don't know
+<i>what</i> hall."</p>
+
+<p>"That's all right, Sir," answered the sympathetic cabman encouragingly;
+"you were told to drive straight to the 'all; that'll be Naughton 'All."</p>
+
+<p>He proceeded to awaken the thin horse.</p>
+
+<p>"There is a big do on there to-night, Sir. It's a fair way out, but I'll
+'ave yer there in no time."</p>
+
+<p>"My dear good man," I remonstrated nervously, "for heaven's sake don't
+rush at things like that. Is this particular dance you wish to take me
+to given by some people named Perry?"</p>
+
+<p>"Perry? Lord! no! Sir John Oakham, lives at Naughton 'All. It's '<i>is</i>
+party."</p>
+
+<p>The sympathetic cabman was a little pained at my ignorance.</p>
+
+<p>Dorice had not said who was actually giving the dance.</p>
+
+<p>With vague misgivings I climbed into the cab.</p>
+
+<p>"Go ahead," I said, with my heart in my boots; "drive away and let's get
+it over."</p>
+
+<p>It was a long drive, and more than once I was nearly killed through
+hanging my body from the cab window in a vain attempt to catch a glimpse
+of Dorice in one or other of the motors that passed us on the road.</p>
+
+<p>At Naughton Hall I looked out for her expectantly.</p>
+
+<p>There was not a soul in the room that I knew. In a fit of dreadful panic
+I began to search desperately. Dorice was nowhere to be found, and the
+hand started upon the first waltz.</p>
+
+<p>To me it was like a nightmare.</p>
+
+<p>One thing I remember was finding myself dancing with a Miss Giggleswick.</p>
+
+<p>I don't pretend to explain how it happened. As far as I can make out,
+some hospitably disposed person decided that he was expected to know me
+and find me a partner.</p>
+
+<p>Anyhow, I danced with a Miss Giggleswick, and also I talked to her.</p>
+
+<p>I asked her very seriously if she knew anything of Dorice.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Giggleswick thought I was referring to some new authoress.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes&mdash;yes," she said thoughtfully, "I must have read some of them, but I
+can't remember which ones&mdash;I'm so silly about names."</p>
+
+<p>After a time I pulled myself together, and somehow escaped from Miss
+Giggleswick. I made my way to the cloakroom, grabbed my coat and bag,
+and rushed for the front door.</p>
+
+<p>Once outside I ran for my life.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_469" id="Page_469">[Pg 469]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>I ran down the drive and along the road towards Naughton.</p>
+
+<p>I floundered on blindly through thick mud and pools of water.</p>
+
+<p>"A fine night!" shouted a cheerful ass as I struggled past him.</p>
+
+<p>I pulled up sharply and peered at him through the darkness.</p>
+
+<p>"A fine night? Oh, yes, it's a fine night," I laughed wildly; "but just
+tell me one other thing. Is there any other hall in this district except
+Naughton Hall?"</p>
+
+<p>"Noa&mdash;unless of course yer mean Naughton <i>Parish</i> 'All," he added after
+deep consideration.</p>
+
+<p>"Has anybody ever been known to give a dance there?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, I dare say."</p>
+
+<p>With grim determination I clutched my bag and trudged on.</p>
+
+<p>It was late when I crawled up the steps of Naughton Parish Hall.</p>
+
+<p>I threw my things in a corner, scraped some of the mud off my trousers,
+removed my bow from the back of my neck, and staggered in the direction
+of the music. A one-step was just over, and the dancers were crowding
+the foyer.</p>
+
+<p>Dorice appeared with her partner.</p>
+
+<p>I went and stood before her.</p>
+
+<p>"Dorice," I stammered brokenly, "I&mdash;I've come."</p>
+
+<p>Dorice excused herself from her partner and took me into a corner.</p>
+
+<p>"Hear me first," I pleaded, utterly crushed. "Hear me first, Dorice.
+I've done my best. I went to the wrong place. You rang off without
+giving me the proper address. A blundering villain of a cabman took me
+to&mdash;Naughton Hall. They made me dance with somebody named Giggleswick. I
+escaped as soon as I could and came here. I ran a lot of the way."</p>
+
+<p>I looked up at her beseechingly.</p>
+
+<p>Then I discovered that my life was not blighted for ever.</p>
+
+<p>Dorice was smiling upon me&mdash;yes, smiling! She leant forward eagerly and
+touched my hand.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>You've been to Naughton Hall!</i>" she whispered delightedly; "but, my
+dear old boy, it's simply <i>the</i> dance of the season round here! All
+these people would do anything to get invited. The Perrys only gave this
+dance so that they could use it as a sort of excuse for not being seen
+at the Naughton Hall one!"</p>
+
+<p>"Anybody could have gone in my place," I murmured; "I didn't enjoy it at
+all."</p>
+
+<p>Dorice got up and took hold of my arm.</p>
+
+<p>"Come on," she said with suppressed excitement, "this is splendid!"</p>
+
+<p>She took me through a crowd of people and introduced me to Mr. and Mrs.
+Perry.</p>
+
+<p>Then she raised her voice.</p>
+
+<p>"He's sorry to be so late," she apologised as loudly as possible, "but
+you see he was forced to look in at the Naughton Hall ball. However, he
+got away as soon as he could and came on to us."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Perry received me almost with open arms.</p>
+
+<p>"We must try and find you some really good partners," she announced
+enthusiastically.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Rather!</i>" echoed Mr. Perry.</p>
+
+<p>It was then close upon midnight. For the two hours of the dance that
+remained I was the man of the evening.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 1000px;">
+<img src="images/469.png" width="1000" height="674" alt="WHAT LANCASHIRE THINKS." title="" />
+<h3>WHAT LANCASHIRE THINKS.</h3>
+
+<i>Old Lancashire Lady (to young lady friend who has expressed her
+intention of going by an excursion to the Metropolis).</i><span class="smcap"> &quot;Doan&#39;t thee goa
+to London; thee stop in owd England.&quot;</span>
+</div>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<h3>Rumoured Mutiny in the Navy.</h3>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"The destroyers patrolling the Irish coast are being boarded and
+searched for rifles by order of the Admiralty."&mdash;<i>Daily Express.</i></p></div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_470" id="Page_470">[Pg 470]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 1000px;">
+<img src="images/470.png" width="1000" height="747" alt="Little Maid" title="" />
+
+<i>Little Maid (to new owner of country cottage)</i><span class="smcap"> &quot;Oh, if
+you please, Sir, here&#39;s the Chairman of the Little Chippingham and West
+Hambleton Street Lighting Committee.&quot;</span> (<i>Confidentially</i>)<span class="smcap"> &quot;It&#39;s really
+only Mr. Binks, the butcher.&quot;</span>
+</div>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<h2>THE CALL OF THE BLOOD.</h2>
+
+<p>
+Happy the man who brushes up his topper<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And sallies forth to call upon a maid,</span><br />
+Knowing his converse and his coat are proper,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That, come what may, he will not be afraid,</span><br />
+Not lose his nerve, and yawn, or tell a whopper,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Or drop the marmalade.</span><br />
+<br />
+Not such the bard; not thus&mdash;but Clotho (drat her)<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Was wakeful still, and plied a hostile loom&mdash;</span><br />
+I sought Miss Pritt. She mooted some grave matter<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And looked for light; my lips were like the tomb,</span><br />
+Sealed, though they say they heard my molars chatter<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Up in the smoking-room.</span><br />
+<br />
+Cold eyes regarded me. My front-stud fretted;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A stiff slow smirk belied my deep unrest;</span><br />
+My tea-cup trembled and my cake was wetted;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">My beauteous tie worked round toward the West;</span><br />
+My brow&mdash;forgive me, but it really sweated;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">I did not look my best.</span><br />
+<br />
+To Zeus, that oft would make a mist and smother<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Some swain beset, and screen him from the crowd,</span><br />
+I prayed for vapours; but his mind was other:<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Yet was I answered, though the god was proud,</span><br />
+For, anyhow, I trod on Miss Pritt's mother<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">And left beneath a cloud.</span><br />
+<br />
+Not to return. O'er fair free hills and valleys<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I can converse and carry on <i>ad lib.</i>;</span><br />
+On active tennis-courts (between the rallies)<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I can be confident, and none more glib;</span><br />
+But not in drawing-rooms my bright star dallies&mdash;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">I'm not that sort of nib.</span><br />
+<br />
+We'll meet no more; but I shall send some token<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Of what I'm worth outside the world of teas&mdash;</span><br />
+A handsome photograph, some smart things spoken,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A few sweet verses (not so bad as these),</span><br />
+And hockey-groups that show me stern and oaken<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">And nude about the knees.</span><br />
+<br />
+It may be, though she deemed me dunder-headed,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">She'll sometimes take them from her chamber-wall,</span><br />
+Or where they lie in lavender embedded,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And tell her family about them all&mdash;</span><br />
+About the gentleman she might have wedded,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Only <i>he could not call</i>.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"John William Burrow, of Overton, who is about 16 years old, caught
+six salmon in the heave net last week, their respective weights
+being 9 lbs., 28 lbs., 5½ lbs., 12 lbs., 22 lbs., 13 lbs., a
+total of 89½ lbs. Last season, when between 13 and 14 years old,
+he caught three salmon. His record is probably unique for inshore
+fisher boys."&mdash;<i>Lancaster Guardian.</i></p></div>
+
+<p>Anyhow the rate at which he grows up is.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_471" id="Page_471">[Pg 471]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 798px;">
+<img src="images/471.png" width="798" height="1000" alt="THE TRIUMPH OF THE VOLUNTARY SYSTEM" title="" />
+
+<h3>THE TRIUMPH OF THE VOLUNTARY SYSTEM.</h3>
+
+<span class="smcap">Lord Haldane.</span> &quot;GROSSLY ILLEGAL AND UTTERLY UNCONSTITUTIONAL!&mdash;AS I SAID
+THE OTHER DAY AT OXFORD; BUT TO THE HEART OF AN EX-WAR-LORD, HOW
+BEAUTIFUL!&quot;
+</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_473" id="Page_473">[Pg 473]</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_472" id="Page_472">[Pg 472]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<h2>ESSENCE OF PARLIAMENT.</h2>
+
+<p>(<span class="smcap">Extracted from the Diary of Toby</span>, M.P.)</p>
+
+<p><i>House of Commons, Tuesday, June 9.</i>&mdash;Recorded in Parliamentary history
+how a debate on Budget of the day a great statesman began his speech by
+utterance of he word "Sugar." Contrast of imposing personality of the
+Minister and sonorousness of his voice with commonplace character of
+utterance tickled fancy of House, then as now almost childishly eager to
+be amused. The great man looked round with stern glance that cowed the
+tittering audience. "Sugar," he repeated amid awed silence, and
+triumphantly continued his remarks.</p>
+
+<p>It wasn't sugar that occupied attention of House on resuming sittings
+after Whitsun recess. It was Milk. Naturally Bill dealing with subject
+was in hands of the <span class="smcap">Infant Samuel</span>. Debate on Second Reading presented
+House in best form. Impossible for most ingenious and enterprising
+Member to mix up with milk the Ulster question or hand round bottles
+accommodated with india-rubber tubes and labelled Welsh Church
+Disestablishment. Consequence was that, in Second Reading debate on Bill
+promoted by Local Government Board, Members on both sides devoted
+themselves to single purpose of framing useful measure.</p>
+
+<div class="figright" style="width: 500px;">
+<img src="images/473.png" width="500" height="465" alt="THE INFANT SAMUEL." title="" />
+<span class="smcap">THE INFANT SAMUEL.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>Animated debate on another Bill in charge of <span class="smcap">John Burns</span> amending
+Insurance Act in direction of removing administrative difficulties and
+diminishing working costs. Nothing to complain of in way of acerbity.
+Second Reading stages of both measures passed without division, and
+House adjourned before half-past ten.</p>
+
+<p>At Question time peaceful prospect momentarily ruffled. The <span class="smcap">Sahib Rees</span>,
+taking advantage of absence of <span class="smcap">Speaker</span>, prolonging his holiday amid
+balmy odours of Harrogate Pump Room, was in great form. With extensive
+view he surveyed mankind from British Columbia to the Persian Gulf, just
+looking in at Australasia to see what <span class="smcap">Ian Hamilton</span> has lately been up to
+in matter of compulsory military service.</p>
+
+<p>It was in Persian Gulf that squall suddenly threatened. <span class="smcap">Sahib</span> wanted to
+know whether <span class="smcap">His Majesty's</span> ships in that quarter of the world "had been
+engaged with gun-runners."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Byles of Bradford</span>, seated on Front Bench below Gangway, pricked up his
+baronial ears. What! More gun-running and nobody either hanged or shot?
+On closer study of question perceived that use of ambiguous word misled
+him. When the <span class="smcap">Sahib</span> enquired whether <span class="smcap">His Majesty's</span> ships had been
+"engaged" with gun-runners he did not mean that they had rendered
+assistance in illegal enterprises, nocturnal or other. On the contrary,
+word had directly opposite meaning.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Byles of Bradford</span> accordingly abandoned intention of putting
+Supplementary Question, reserving his energy for his own searching
+inquiry, which appeared lower down on paper, impartially denouncing
+importation of arms "whether by the Ulster Volunteers or the National
+Volunteers, or both."</p>
+
+<div class="figright" style="width: 500px;">
+<img src="images/473-2.png" width="500" height="589" alt="" title="" />
+
+<span class="caption">&quot;Who said &#39;gun-running&#39;?&quot;<br />
+
+(<i>With acknowledgments to a popular picture.</i>)<br />
+
+[&quot;<span class="smcap">Byles of Bradford</span> pricked up his baronial ears.&quot;]</span>
+</div>
+
+<p><i>Business done.</i>&mdash;National Insurance Act Amendment Bill, and Milk and
+Dairies Bill read a second time.</p>
+
+<p><i>Wednesday.</i>&mdash;Attendance still small, especially on Opposition Benches.
+Hapless Ministerialists, warned by urgent summons hinting at surprises
+in store in the Division Lobby, loyally muster. Nothing happened;
+perhaps in other circumstances something might.</p>
+
+<p>Whilst the Benches are half empty Order Book is crowded. To-day's list
+catalogues no fewer than 142 Bills standing at various stages awaiting
+progress. Thirty-five are Government measures. The rest proofs of the
+energy and legislative capacity of private Members.</p>
+
+<p>Of course at this stage of Session only small proportion of Government
+Bills are likely to reach the Statute Book; those in hands of private
+Members have no chance whatever. Still, imposing display looks well on
+paper. In its various developments adds considerably to amount of
+stationery bill.</p>
+
+<p><i>Business done.</i>&mdash;In Committee of Supply on Post Office Vote, a trifle
+of &pound;26,151,830, the Holt Report on postmen's demand for higher wages
+discussed.</p>
+
+<p><i>Thursday.</i>&mdash;Walking down Victoria Street on way to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_474" id="Page_474">[Pg 474]</a></span> House of Commons,
+as is my custom of an afternoon, I come upon my old friend the
+sandwich-board man. He stands in the shadow of Westminster Abbey
+panoplied back and front with boards making the latest announcement of
+newcomers to Madame Tussaud's. Morning and afternoon, all day long, he
+stands there, the life of London surging past. We generally have a
+little chat, and occasionally he gets a cigar.</p>
+
+<p>One mystery that long piqued me he solved. If you chance upon
+sandwich-board men marching to head-quarters, like old <i>Kaspar</i> at his
+garden gate their day's work done, you will notice they always carry
+their boards upside down. The passer-by, consumed by desire to know what
+truth these proclaim, must needs assume inverted attitude in order to
+profit by announcement. Why do they so scrupulously observe that custom?</p>
+
+<p>"Point of honour," says my sandwich-board man. "What you call class
+interests. We are paid little enough for so many hours' tramp. When the
+hour of deliverance strikes we turn the board upside down. So we do when
+we sit down by crowded thoroughfare to eat our mid-day bread-and-cheese,
+or bread without cheese as may happen. Not going to give the master more
+than he pays for."</p>
+
+<p>What specially attracted me to-day was communication received from
+<span class="smcap">Member for Sark</span>. Says he hears that <span class="smcap">Winterton</span> is about to be added to
+Madame Tussaud's!</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 451px;">
+<img src="images/474.png" width="451" height="600" alt="THE WINTERTON WAX-WORK." title="" />
+<span class="caption"><span class="smcap">THE WINTERTON WAX-WORK.</span></span>
+</div>
+
+<p>Suppose this, next of course to Westminster Abbey, is highest compliment
+possible for public man. On reflection I say not quite. <span class="smcap">Lulu</span> stands on
+triple pinnacle of fame. On one or other the New Zealander, bored with
+the monotony of the ruins of London Bridge, sure to hap upon his name
+writ large.</p>
+
+<p>There is the Harcourt Room in House of Commons, a spacious dining-hall
+cunningly contrived with lack of acoustical properties that make it
+difficult to hear what a conversational neighbour is saying. In time of
+political stress this useful, as preventing lapse into controversy at
+the table. Homeward bound from his last Antarctic trip, <span class="smcap">Ernest
+Shackleton</span> discovered three towering peaks of snow and ice. One he named
+Mount Asquith; another Mount Henry Lucy; a third Mount Harcourt.</p>
+
+<p>Now a great shipping company, having business on the West Coast of
+Africa, making welcome discovery of a deep water port in the estuary of
+the Bonny River, have named it Port Harcourt.</p>
+
+<p>This concatenation of circumstance more striking than the lonely
+eminence of a pitch in the hall of Madame Tussaud, and a name flaunting
+on her sandwich-board. Moreover than which, as grammarians say, <span class="smcap">Sark</span> has
+evidently been misinformed. My sandwich-board man has heard nothing of
+reported addition to our Valhalla. Certainly his boards do not confirm
+the pleasing rumour.</p>
+
+<p><i>Business done.</i>&mdash;<span class="smcap">Home Secretary</span> announces intention of Government to go
+to fountain-head of trouble with Militant Suffragists. Will proceed by
+civil or criminal action directed against the persons who subscribe
+sinews of war. Loud cheers from both sides approved the plan. Followed
+at short interval by sharp report distinctly heard in Lobby. Was it echo
+of the strident cheer? No. It was the ladies demonstrating afresh their
+eligibility for exercise of the suffrage by attempting to blow up the
+Coronation Chair in Westminster Abbey.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Candidates for divinity degrees at Cambridge should, it is
+proposed, be required to give evidence of a competent general
+knowledge of Christian theology."&mdash;<i>Times.</i></p></div>
+
+<p>Every now and then the authorities get these bright ideas, and thus our
+old Universities keep up to date.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>From a list of entries for the golf championship:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Geo. Oke (Honor Oke)."&mdash;<i>Dundee Courier.</i></p></div>
+
+<p>We will if he wins.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"How can you have precisely the same cottage on the north and the
+south side of a road? In the one case the larder is to the south,
+and the butler is melting."</p>
+
+<p><i>Manchester Guardian.</i></p></div>
+
+<p>He should return to the wine cellar.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<h3>RED HEAD AND WHITE PAWS.</h3>
+
+<p>[<i>Why should the popular magazines monopolise all the tragic animal
+sketches? Mr. <span class="smcap">Punch's</span> menagerie is just as ferocious.</i>]</p>
+
+<p>Silence reigned in the woods! Silence! Deep silence! Save for the
+chortle of the night-jar, the tap of the snipe's beak against the
+tree-trunks, the snores of a weary game-keeper, the chirp of the
+burying-beetle, the croak of the bat, the wild laughter of the owl and
+the boom, boom of the frog, deep silence reigned. The crescent moon
+stole silently above the horizon. Wonderful, significant is that silent,
+stealthy approach of the moon. Red Head lumbered from his lair and
+crouched beside the shimmering fire of the furze. A startled grass-snake
+strove to leap out of the way of the monarch of the woods&mdash;- a hurried
+crunch and a string of thirty white eggs was left motherless, forlorn.</p>
+
+<p>A careless cock-pheasant gurgled on a bough. In a moment Red Head had
+silently scaled the tree. Two tail feathers alone remained to show an
+awed game-keeper that Red Head had passed that way. A woodcock floated
+silently on the bosom of the tiny lake. He did not note the ripple which
+showed that a powerful animal was swimming towards him. A scream, and
+the woodcock, trumpeting shrilly, is drawn into the depths.</p>
+
+<p>[<i>Editor.</i> But what is Red Head?</p>
+
+<p><i>The Expert.</i> I am not quite sure whether he is a tree-climbing fox or a
+swimming badger. Anyhow he might have escaped from a menagerie.]</p>
+
+<p>Peace reigned in the hole of the bumble-bee. Weary with culling sweets
+from the lime-trees, the heather-bloom, the apple-blossom and the
+ivy-flower be had sought his humble couch. Suddenly great claws tear
+away his roof-tree. Red Head is at work. Bees and honey make his nightly
+meal.</p>
+
+<p>White Paws had listened from his burrow. All seemed well. He darted
+forth and bathed in the bright light of the full moon.</p>
+
+<p>[<i>Editor.</i> Wasn't it a crescent moon?</p>
+
+<p><i>The Expert.</i> You must make allowances for development in the course of
+a story. Suppose we say it was a full-sized crescent.]</p>
+
+<p>Then White Paws, standing on his hind-legs, danced for sheer joy of
+life.</p>
+
+<p>A leaf bitten from a bough by a sturdy green caterpillar fell suddenly
+to the ground. Like lightning White Paws darted to the top of an
+immemorial elm. In a moment he was reassured and returned to his
+graceful dance in the bosky dell.</p>
+
+<p>But what is this? A hideous red<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_475" id="Page_475">[Pg 475]</a></span> head emanates slowly from a bush. A
+protruding tongue vibrates in the pale moonlight. Weak, curious White
+Paws wonders what this strange thing is. Beware, White Paws! Think of
+thy tender mate and innocent cubs.</p>
+
+<p>Drawn by a fatal curiosity he advances towards it. The awful glimmer of
+Red Head's eye fascinates him. He must see. Nearer he draws and nearer.
+A sudden plunge from the bush&mdash;a sickening crunch. Red Head has dined
+for the fifth time in one evening.</p>
+
+<p>Death and Silence reign in the woods. Save for the chortling of the
+night-jar, the chirp of the burying-beetle, the snores of the
+gamekeeper, etc., etc. (see above) one might imagine oneself in the
+solemn stillness of Piccadilly Circus at midnight.</p>
+
+<p>Death and Silence.</p>
+
+<p>[<i>Editor.</i> "Yes, but the identity of the protagonists in this Sophoclean
+tragedy is still a little in doubt."</p>
+
+<p><i>The Expert.</i> "Any nature sketch ends satisfactorily with a meal."]</p>
+
+<p>All this time the crescent moon has been swelling silently under the
+watchful stars. It is now at the full. So is Red Head. He has dined five
+times. He sleeps.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 1000px;">
+<img src="images/475.png" width="1000" height="661" alt="Lady Bountiful" title="" />
+
+<span class="caption"><i>(Lady Bountiful is entertaining some slum children at
+her lovely place in the country.)</i><br />
+
+<i>Sister (to small brother who has just picked a daisy).</i><span class="smcap"> &quot;Nar ven, &#39;Erb!
+the lidy won&#39;t arst yer agine if yer gow a-pickin&#39; &#39;er flowers like
+thet!&quot;</span></span>
+</div>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<h2>THE ROCK GARDENESS IN LONDON.</h2>
+
+<p>(<i>A Ballad of Labels.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>
+Dame Fashion, when she calls the tune,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Must surely crave my pardon</span><br />
+For prisoning me in leafy June<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Far from my Alpine garden.</span><br />
+<br />
+So that in crowded square or street<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">My Fancy's playful mockery</span><br />
+Plants all the pavement at my feet<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With favourites from the rockery.</span><br />
+<br />
+And so that, heedless to the claims<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Of passing conversation,</span><br />
+I murmur to myself their names<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">By way of consolation.</span><br />
+<br />
+The thread of compliment may run<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Through many ball-room Babels&mdash;</span><br />
+I have one language, only one,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The language of the labels.</span><br />
+<br />
+In Kedar's tents are festive hours,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The <i>noctes</i> and the <i>c&oelig;n&aelig;</i>;</span><br />
+My heart is where <i><span class="smcap">RETUSA</span></i> flowers,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And crimson-starred <i><span class="smcap">SILENE</span></i>.</span><br />
+<br />
+I see the grey stones overhung<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With lilac and laburnum;</span><br />
+I hear the drone of bees among<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Blue depths of <i><span class="smcap">LITHOSPERNUM</span></i>.</span><br />
+<br />
+And in the box on opera nights<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Between each thrilling scene I</span><br />
+Recall the miniature delights<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Of <i><span class="smcap">MENTHA REQUIENII</span></i>;</span><br />
+<br />
+Admirers find me deaf and dumb<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To all their honeyed wheedling,</span><br />
+I muse on <span class="smcap"><i>LONGIFOLIUM</i></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And dream of <i><span class="smcap">STORMONTH SEEDLINGS</span></i>.</span><br />
+<br />
+And, when they come to hint their loves<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Through all the usual stages,</span><br />
+I wish I were in gardening gloves<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Among my Saxifrages.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<h3>More Russian Methods.</h3>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">East-End Deputation Received by Whip.</span>"</p>
+
+<p><i>Daily News and Leader.</i></p></div>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p><i>The Daily News</i>, in describing an adventure between the <span class="smcap">Crown Prince</span> of
+Germany (in a motor) and a peasant of Saarbr&uuml;cken, ventures (with a
+knowledge of the Saarbr&uuml;cken dialect which we ourselves cannot claim) to
+give the peasant's actual words:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"'Ain't 'eard nowt,' said the peasant; 'the lane be narrow like.
+You must just wait till I be druv ahead.'"</p></div>
+
+<p>Its likeness to the Loamshire dialect of England will interest the
+philologist.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_476" id="Page_476">[Pg 476]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<h2>AT THE PLAY.</h2>
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">An Indian Summer.</span>"</p>
+
+<p>We plunged into the action quickly enough. A breakfast-gong&mdash;a sip of
+coffee&mdash;a bite of toast&mdash;and <i>Nigel Parry</i> locks up his morning's
+love-correspondence; <i>Helen</i>, his wife, breaks open the drawer and
+peruses the damning letter; <i>Nigel</i> returns and catches her red-handed.
+After this we took a long breath and lingered over the moral aspect of
+the situation. Indeed, during the next ten years nothing occurred except
+the separation of the couple; the reported decease of the other woman
+(whom we never saw, dead or alive), and the marriage of the boy <i>Parry</i>
+with an actress bearing the ascetic name of <i>Ursula</i>. We now left the
+old trail in pursuit of this red herring; and for the rest of the play,
+up to the last moment, our attention was concentrated on the attitude of
+the elder heroine to her daughter-in-law, to whom she had taken a
+profound dislike at sight.</p>
+
+<p>But something had to happen if the author was to bring about a
+reconciliation of the original pair and so justify the symbolic title of
+her play. Thinking it out, she seems to have recalled that it is
+customary in these cases to let an accident occur to some junior member
+of the family, over whose prostrate body the old ones may kiss again
+with tears. Accordingly, no sooner had mention been made, quite
+arbitrarily, of an automatic pistol, alleged to be unloaded, than old
+stagers knew by instinct that <i>Ursula</i> would shoot herself
+inadvertently. This occurred with such promptitude that even the author
+recognised that we should not be satisfied with so ingenuous an episode.
+Complications had therefore to be devised at all costs. Young <i>Parry</i>
+must be kept in ignorance of the fact that the episode was due to his
+stupidity in leaving the weapon loaded. So <i>Ursula</i> invents a story to
+show that the wound in her thigh was due to a fall downstairs. It is
+true that blood-poisoning&mdash;not amongst the more familiar sequel&aelig; of a
+fall downstairs&mdash;supervened. But the legend served well enough on the
+stage. Among other effects it increased the irritation of the
+mother-in-law, who felt that the accident indicated a criminal
+carelessness in one who was about to make her a grandmother, a condition
+of things that had been brought home to us in the course of some female
+conversation flavoured with the most pungent candour. When the truth
+came out, the proved devotion of the young wife causes an <i>entente</i>
+between her and her mother-in-law, accompanied&mdash;for reasons which I
+cannot at the moment recall&mdash;by a parallel reconciliation between the
+senior couple. Personally, I felt that the threatened "Indian Summer"
+was not likely to be much warmer than the ordinary English kind.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps the most intriguing feature of the play was the author's
+attitude toward her own sex. Mrs. <span class="smcap">Horlick</span> frankly took the man's point
+of view. Never for one moment did she attempt to encourage our sympathy
+for <i>Helen</i> as a wronged wife. Commonly in plays it is the woman,
+married to a man she never loved, who claims the liberty of going her
+own way and getting something out of life. Here it is the man who is the
+victim of a marriage not of his own making (as far as love was
+concerned), and the author, through the mouthpiece of the woman's
+confidante, makes ample excuse for his desire to snatch some happiness
+from fate.</p>
+
+<div class="figright" style="width: 427px;">
+<img src="images/476.png" width="427" height="600" alt="Chilly Forecast" title="" />
+
+<span class="caption"><span class="smcap">Chilly Forecast for an &quot;Indian Summer.&quot;<br /></span>
+
+
+<i>Nigel Parry</i> <span class="smcap">Mr. Allan Aynesworth.<br /></span>
+<i>Helen Parry</i> <span class="smcap">Miss Edyth Goodall.<br /></span></span>
+</div>
+
+<p>Unhappily Mrs. <span class="smcap">Horlick</span> has much to learn in stage mechanism. The motive
+of her exits when, as constantly, she wanted to leave any given couple
+alone together, was insufficiently opaque. She began very well and held
+our interest closely for some time; but long before the end we should
+have been worn out but for the childlike charm and attractive
+<i>gamineries</i> of Miss <span class="smcap">Dorothy Minto</span> as <i>Ursula</i>. Mr. <span class="smcap">Allan Aynesworth</span>,
+who acted easily in the rather ambiguous part of <i>Nigel Parry</i>, seemed
+to share our doubts as to the chances of Mrs. <span class="smcap">Horlick's</span> achieving
+popularity at her first attempt, for he confided to us, in a brief
+first-night oration, that she was engaged on another play which he hoped
+to secure.</p>
+
+<p>But no one will question the serious promise of her present comedy, and
+I trust that in any future production she may be assisted by as
+excellent a cast. For they all played their parts, however trivial in
+detail, with great sincerity. Miss <span class="smcap">Goodall</span> was the only disappointment,
+though the fault was not altogether her own. At first she was very
+effective, but later her entries came to be a signal for gloom, like
+those of a skeleton emergent from the family cupboard.</p>
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">Prince Igor.</span>"</p>
+
+<p>All is fair in Love and War, and the only ethical difficulty arises when
+they clash. This was the trouble with <i>Vladimir Igorievich</i>, heir of
+<i>Prince Igor</i>. Father and son had been taken in battle, and were held
+captive in the camp of the Tartars; but, while <i>Prince Igor</i> felt very
+keenly his position (though treated as a guest rather than a prisoner
+and supplied every evening with spectacular entertainments), <i>Vladimir</i>
+beguiled his enforced leisure by falling in love (heartily reciprocated)
+with the daughter of his captor, <i>Khan Konchak</i>. An opportunity of
+escape being offered, <i>Prince Igor</i> seizes it, but <i>Vladimir's</i> dear
+heart is divided between passion and patriotism, and before he can make
+up his mind the chance of freedom is gone. A study of the so-called
+"libretto" showed that this was the only thing in the opera that bore
+any resemblance to a dramatic situation. Figure, therefore, my chagrin
+when I discovered that the character of <i>Vladimir Igorievich</i> had been
+cut clean out of the text of the actual opera. I could much more easily
+have dispensed with the buffooneries of a couple of obscure players upon
+the <i>goudok</i> (or prehistoric hurdy-gurdy), who wasted more than enough
+of such time as could be spared from the intervals.</p>
+
+<p>There was no part of adequate importance for M. <span class="smcap">Chaliapine</span>, so he
+doubled the <i>r&ocirc;les</i> of <i>Galitsky</i>, the swaggering and dissolute
+brother-in-law that <i>Prince Igor</i> left behind when he went to the wars,
+and <i>Khan Konchak</i>, most magnanimous of barbarians. Neither character
+gave scope for the particular subtlety of which (as he proves in <i>Boris
+Godounov</i>) M. <span class="smcap">Chaliapine</span> is the sole master among male operatic singers.
+But to each he brought that gift of the great manner, that ease and
+splendour of bearing, and those superb qualities of voice which, found
+together, give him a place apart from his kind.</p>
+
+<p>Of the rest, M. <span class="smcap">Paul Andreev</span>, as <i>Prince Igor</i>, gave his plaint of
+captivity with a noble pathos. As for the chorus, it sang with the
+singleness and intensity<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_477" id="Page_477">[Pg 477]</a></span> of spirit which are only possible to a
+national chorus in national opera, and which (I hope) are the envy of
+the cosmopolitans of Covent Garden.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>clou</i> of the evening was the ballet, already well-known, of the
+Polovtsy warriors, executed with the extreme of fanatic fervour and
+frenzy. The art of M. <span class="smcap">Michel Fokine</span> can turn his Russians into Tartars
+without a scratch of the skin. <span class="smcap">Borodine's</span> music, taking on a more
+barbaric quality as the action travelled further East, here touched its
+climax, and the final scene, where <i>Prince Igor</i> returns home and
+resumes the embraces of his queen, (a model of fidelity), was of the
+character of a sedative.</p>
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">Daphnis et Chlo&euml;.</span>"</p>
+
+<p>Those who complained&mdash;I speak of the few whose critical faculties had
+not been paralysed by M. <span class="smcap">Nijinski</span>&mdash;that in <i>L'Apr&egrave;s-midi d'un Faune</i>
+the limitations of plastic Art (necessarily confined to stationary forms)
+were forced upon an art that primarily deals with motion, will have
+little of the same fault to find in <i>Daphnis et Chlo&euml;.</i> Here there is no
+fixed or formal posing, if we except the attitude adopted (after a
+preliminary and irrelevant twiddle) by certain Nymphs to indicate,
+appropriately enough, their grief over the inanimate form of <i>Daphnis</i>.
+The dances in which, to the mutual suspicion of the lovers, <i>Chlo&euml;</i> was
+circled by the men and <i>Daphnis</i> by the maidens, were a pure delight.
+There was one movement, when heads were tossed back and then brought
+swiftly forward over hollowed breasts and lifted knees that had in it an
+exquisite fleeting beauty. But memory holds best the grace of the
+simpler and more elemental movements, the airy swing and poise of feet
+and limbs in straight flight, linked hands outstretched.</p>
+
+<p>In the <i>pas seul</i> competition M. <span class="smcap">Adolph Bolm</span> as <i>Darkon</i> did some
+astonishing feats which made the performance of M. <span class="smcap">Fokine</span> as <i>Daphnis</i>
+seem relatively tame and conventional; and if I, instead of <i>Chlo&euml;</i>, had
+been the judge I should have awarded the palm to the former. I am sure
+that <i>Chlo&euml;</i> was prejudiced, though certainly <i>Darkon</i> was a very rude
+and hirsute shepherd, and had none of <i>Daphnis'</i> pretty ways.</p>
+
+<p>The dancing of the brigands was in excellent contrast with the methods
+of the pastoral Greeks. I will not, like the programme, distinguish them
+as "Brigands with Lances," "Brigands with Bows" and "Young Brigands." To
+me they were all alike very perfect examples of the profession; though I
+admit that the flight of their spears was not always as deadly as it
+should have been, and that one of the arrows refused to go off the
+string and had to be thrown by hand into the wings.</p>
+
+<p>It is not easy at a first performance to take in everything with both
+eye and ear, and I shall excuse myself from attempting to do justice to
+M. <span class="smcap">Ravel's</span> music. But I was free (the curtain being down) to listen to
+one long orchestral passage which followed the capture of <i>Chlo&euml;</i>. It
+was of the nature of a dirge, and it seemed to me to suggest very
+cleverly the sorrows of a poultry-yard. I suppose <i>Chlo&euml;</i> must have been
+in the habit of feeding them and they missed her.</p>
+
+<p>I hate to say one word of disparagement about a performance for which I
+could never be sufficiently grateful. But I agree with a friend of mine
+who complained to me of the way in which <i>Pan</i> was presented. It was
+this beneficent god who caused a panic among the brigands and so enabled
+<i>Chlo&euml;</i> to return to her friends, though I don't know why he ever let
+her be captured, for he was there at the time. Well, I agree that he
+ought to have been represented by something more satisfactory than a
+half-length portrait painted on a huge travelling plank of pasteboard,
+which was pushed about from Arcadia to Scythia (if this was the
+brigands' address) and back again, appearing in the limelight, when
+required, like a whisky sky-sign.</p>
+
+<p>
+O. S.<br />
+</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 549px;">
+<img src="images/477.png" width="549" height="800" alt="Can you lend me a couple bob" title="" />
+<span class="caption"><span class="smcap">&quot;Can you lend me a couple o&#39; bob, George? I&#39;ve just had
+my pocket picked.&quot;</span></span>
+
+</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_478" id="Page_478">[Pg 478]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<h2>TEMPORA MUTANTUR.</h2>
+
+<p>[Suggested by recent correspondence in a leading journal.]</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Why Use Specs?</span></p>
+
+<p><i>A Centenarian's Testimony to the Editor of "The Chimes."</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Sir</span>,&mdash;I was 117 on the 1st of April and have never used any artificial
+aid to eyesight, yet I can read the articles for ladies on the Court
+Circular page of your splendid publication without turning a hair. It is
+true that I am, and have always been, of an iron constitution, having
+practically dispensed with sleep for the last sixty years. For some
+considerable time I have been able to do without physical sustenance as
+well, owing to the extraordinarily nutritious nature of the contents of
+your superb South American Encyclop&aelig;dias.</p>
+
+<p>Yours faithfully,</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Nestor Parr</span>.</p>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">A Perfect Cure.</span></p>
+
+<p><i>To the Editor of "The Chimes."</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Sir</span>,&mdash;Is my experience worth recording? Until two or three years ago I
+was entirely dependent on spectacles, and suffered unspeakable
+inconvenience if I happened to mislay them. But since I became a
+subscriber to your unique and unparalleled organ I have found my
+eyesight so marvellously improved that I am now able to discard glasses
+entirely. The extraordinary part of the business is this, that if I take
+up any other paper I am utterly unable to decipher a word. As my wife
+cleverly put it the other day, of all the wonderful spectacles in the
+world the new <i>Chimes</i> is the most amazing.</p>
+
+<p>Yours gratefully, <span class="smcap">Verax</span>.</p>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">From an Artificial Eye-maker</span>.</p>
+
+<p><i>To the Editor of "The Chimes,"</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Sir</span>,&mdash;An extraordinary case of recovery of sight was brought to my
+knowledge yesterday by an esteemed customer. About thirty years ago I
+supplied him with an artificial eye to replace one which he lost while
+duck-shooting in the Canary Islands. About six months ago he lost the
+remaining sound eye through a blow from a golf-ball. I accordingly
+fitted him with a second artificial eye, and you may imagine my surprise
+when he came round to my place of business a few days later by himself
+and read aloud to me the whole of your admirable leading article on
+"Braces <i>v.</i> Belts." The therapeutic effect of high-class journalism on
+myopic patients has, I believe, been noted by Professor Hagenstreicher,
+the famous German oculist, but this is, I believe, the first instance on
+record of a patient recovering his sight after both eyes had been
+removed.</p>
+
+<p>I am, Sir, etc., <span class="smcap">Annan Eyas</span>.</p>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Cataract Arrested</span>.</p>
+
+<p><i>To the Editor of "The Chimes."</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Sir</span>,&mdash;Yesterday, which happened to be my ninety-seventh birthday, I
+spent in reading your wonderful Potted Meat Supplement from cover to
+cover. As there is more printed matter in it than in Mr. <span class="smcap">de Morgan's</span>
+latest novel you might expect to hear that I am suffering to-day from
+eye-strain. On the contrary the symptoms of incipient cataract, which
+declared themselves a few months ago, have entirely disappeared, and I
+was able to see the French coast distinctly this morning from my house
+on the sea-front.</p>
+
+<p>Yours truthfully,</p>
+
+<p><i>Folkestone.</i> <span class="smcap">Judith Fitzsimons</span>.</p>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">From Our Oldest Subscriber</span>.</p>
+
+<p><i>To the Editor of "The Chimes."</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Sir</span>,&mdash;I was 165 last birthday. I was in the merchant marine for upwards
+of eighty years, and then became a Swedenborgian, but never had occasion
+to consult an oculist. I was born in the reign of George II., or was it
+Queen Anne?&mdash;I really forget which. My wife is 163, and we walk out,
+when weather permits, and seldom omit church on Sundays. We both still
+read your "Births, Deaths, and Marriages," and consider that they are
+the best.</p>
+
+<p>Yours venerably, W. A. G.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<h3>Another Suffragette Outrage.</h3>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Among the elementary and fundamental rights and duties are (<i>sic</i>)
+the security of the person. But it is violated as much by he
+(<i>sic</i>) or she (<i>sic</i>) who challenges assault as by he (<i>sic</i>) or
+she (<i>sic</i>) who assaults."</p></div>
+
+<p>The five "<i>sics</i>" are ours. The rest belongs to the leader-writer of
+<i>The Morning Post</i>, on whom militancy seems to have had a painful
+effect.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"A Central News telegram from Montreal states that Miss Edith
+Shaughnessy, daughter of Sir Thomas Shaughnessy, was married at St.
+James's Roman Catholic Cathedral yesterday to Mr. W. H."&mdash;<i>Morning
+Post.</i></p></div>
+
+<p>From the wedding presents, which were both numerous and costly: "Mr. W.
+Shakespeare to Bridegroom&mdash;Sonnets."</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>A correspondent in <i>The Exchange and Mart</i> writes:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"At night Tree-Frogs are active and utter various sounds, some a
+pleasing chirrup (like mine), others a loud shriek."</p></div>
+
+<p>We shall hope to hear the writer's pleasing chirrup in Bouverie Street
+some day.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<h2>ADVENTURERS.</h2>
+
+<p>
+It must have been off a pirate trip,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In a life forgot 'o me,</span><br />
+That I saw the Barbary pirate ship<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Come close-hauled out of the sea;</span><br />
+She crawled in under a goat-cropped scaur<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Beneath the fisher-huts,</span><br />
+And she sent a dozen o' men ashore<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To fill her water-butts.</span><br />
+<br />
+I clambered up where the cliff sprung sheer<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Till I looked upon her decks</span><br />
+And saw the plunder of half-a-year<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And the loot of her scuttled wrecks;</span><br />
+There were gems and ivory, plate and pearl,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And Tyrian rugs a-pile,</span><br />
+And, set in the midst, was a milk-white girl,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The loot of a Grecian isle.</span><br />
+<br />
+As white as the breasted terns that flit<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Was the smooth arm's rounded shape</span><br />
+As she idly played with a pomegranate<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To anger a chained grey ape;</span><br />
+And her Sun-God's self for diadem<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Had kissed her curls to gold;</span><br />
+But blue&mdash;sea-blue as the sapphire gem,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Her eyes were cold, sea-cold.</span><br />
+<br />
+And, gleam of shoulder and glint of tress,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">They sailed ere the sun went down</span><br />
+And sold her, same as a black negress,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For the marts o' Carthage town,</span><br />
+Where she lived, mayhap, of her indolent grace,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Content with her silks and rings,</span><br />
+Or rose, by way of her wits, to place<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Her foot on the necks of kings.</span><br />
+<br />
+The deuce can tell you how this may be,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">'Tis far as I take the tale;</span><br />
+For it's lives upon lives ago, you see,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That the Barbary men set sail;</span><br />
+So I only know she was ivory white,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">As white as a sea-bird lone;</span><br />
+And her eyes were wonderful blue and bright<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And hard as a sapphire stone.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<h3>The New Rowing.</h3>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Give a last pull at the oar with clenched teeth and knit
+muscles."&mdash;<i>The Young Man.</i></p></div>
+
+<p><i>The Cork Examiner</i> on Sir <span class="smcap">Percy Scott's</span> letter:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"'If a battleships is not safe either on the high seas or in
+rabour,' he asks, 'what is the use of a battlesh?'"</p></div>
+
+<p>To be more accurate, this is how one puts it to one's neighbour after
+dinner, when&mdash;the ladies having removed themselves, and the necessity
+for mere social chit-chat being over&mdash;we men are at last able to devote
+ourselves to the affairs of empire.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_479" id="Page_479">[Pg 479]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 1000px;">
+<img src="images/479.png" width="1000" height="631" alt="LIGHT CAR TRIALS." title="" />
+
+<h3>LIGHT CAR TRIALS.</h3>
+
+<i>Spectator (to exhausted competitor reduced to running on trial
+hill).</i><span class="smcap">&quot;What would you say if that car ran away from you?&quot;<br /></span>
+
+<i>Competitor</i>.<span class="smcap">&quot;Thank Heaven!&quot;</span>
+</div>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<h2>OUR BOOKING-OFFICE.</h2>
+
+<p>(<i>By Mr. Punch's Staff of Learned Clerks.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>The title of a book should be a guide to its contents, a simple enough
+rule which some authors overlook in their anxiety to start being clever
+and eccentric on the very outside cover. The book-buying public will
+appreciate Miss M. <span class="smcap">Betham-Edwards'</span> title, <i>From an Islington Window,
+Pages of Reminiscent Romance</i> (<span class="smcap">Smith, Elder</span>), and will gather from it
+that this is a book for those who prefer a long life and a quiet one to
+the short and thrilling. Incidentally I am relieved from divulging any
+of the plots in order to demonstrate the nature of the twelve short
+pieces embodied; enough to quote two typical sub-titles, "Mr. Lovejoy's
+Love-story" and "Miss Prime," and to put upon the whole the label of the
+author's own choice, "Early Victorian." Everybody knows where and what
+Islington is and the sort of minor tragedy and comedy that would be
+likely to occur in the lives of its inhabitants in the last reign but
+one. No one would look there for epoch-making crises, but many will find
+a longed-for relief from the speeding-up tendencies of modern romance.
+Lastly, but for a tendency at times to affectation, the style of the
+writer is as graceful and elegant as her themes are homely and serene,
+and that, I think, is all about it.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Mr. <span class="smcap">W. E. Norris</span> is subtle; at least if my idea of the genesis of
+<i>Barbara and Company</i> (<span class="smcap">Constable</span>) is the right one. I believe, then,
+that Mr. <span class="smcap">Norris</span> found himself possessed of plots sufficient for a number
+of agreeable short stories, but that, knowing short stories to be more
+or less a drug in the market, he very skilfully united them into one by
+the simple process of making all their characters friends of <i>Barbara</i>.
+Nothing could be more effective. For example, Mr. <span class="smcap">Norris</span> thinks what fun
+it would be to describe a race ridden by two unwilling suitors, the
+prize to be the lady's heart, which neither in the least wishes to win.
+Promptly <i>Miss Ormesby</i>, the heroine, is asked down on a visit to
+<i>Barbara</i>, and the story is told, most amusingly and well, in a couple
+of chapters. Again, the pathetic and moving tale of <i>Miss Nellie
+Mercer</i>, the nameless companion, who blossomed into fierce renown as
+<i>Senorita Mercedes</i>, the dancer, and died of it. Why should not this
+same <i>Barbara</i> have adopted the parentless girl in childhood? It is all
+simplicity itself. Perhaps you may object that the useful <i>Barbara</i>
+shows some signs of being a little overworked, and that few women are
+likely to have had quite so adventurous a company of friends. In this
+case I shall have nothing to urge, except that, so far as I am
+personally concerned, Mr. <span class="smcap">Norris</span> has such a way with him that if he
+chose to people <i>Barbara's</i> drawing-room with the persons of the
+<i>Arabian Nights</i> he could probably convince me that there was nothing
+very much out of the ordinary in that assembly. And, after all, pianists
+and writers and actors, all the kind of folk with whom <i>Barbara</i>
+surrounded herself, are precisely those to whom short stories should,
+and do, happen. Next time, however, I hope Mr. <span class="smcap">Norris's</span> inspiration will
+be less fragmentary but equally happy.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p><i>Johnnie Maddison</i> (<span class="smcap">Smith, Elder</span>) was nice. And here and now I wish to
+propose a vote of thanks to Mr. <span class="smcap">John Haslette</span> for having the uncommon
+pluck to create a hero neither handsome nor strong. Brave of course he
+had to be, or how should that which is written in the proverbs<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_480" id="Page_480">[Pg 480]</a></span> have
+been fulfilled, but "he was slight," "he stooped a little," "he had an
+ordinary face." (What hopes that brings to the hearts of some of us!)
+For the rest, he lived in Sta. Malua, to which tropical port came <i>Molly
+Hatherall</i>, intending to be married to a handsome scamp who spent all
+his salary as a mining engineer and all the money he could borrow from
+friends in losing games of poker to a man who made a profession of
+winning them. Why he should have wanted to do this (for it seemed to be
+his solitary serious vice) in a place like Sta. Malua I cannot imagine.
+But there it is. For one reason or another the marriage was delayed, and
+after a long mental struggle <i>Jno. Maddison</i>, who had fallen in love
+with <i>Molly</i>, decided to tell her what kind of man her idol of romantic
+chivalry really was. It raises, you see, a nice point of ethics, since
+<i>Edmund Serge</i> was popular at the club and, except for the brand of the
+poker on his forehead, a pretty good fellow. Unfortunately Mr. <span class="smcap">Haslette</span>
+rudely slices the knot of his difficulty by making <i>Edmund</i> embezzle
+money and abscond at the critical point of the story. The telling of the
+yarn is a little humdrum, but gains from a comparative leniency in the
+matter of local colour&mdash;for I feel that Sta. Malua is the sort of place
+which might have been rather ruthless about this&mdash;and the suspended
+banns keep the interest fairly warm. But I am not sure that <i>Johnnie
+Maddison</i> might not have been nicer if he had escaped a suspicion of
+priggishness and lost a trifle now and then at progressive whist.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>In Miss <span class="smcap">Eleanor Mordaunt's</span> new volume called <i>The Island</i> (<span class="smcap">Heinemann</span>)
+all the tales have a common interest through their association with a
+corner of Empire easily recognisable by those who have ever seen it. I
+remember how greatly I have already admired Miss <span class="smcap">Mordaunt's</span> power of
+vivid and picturesque scene-painting; there are several stories in this
+book that show it at its best. I wish I could avoid adding that there
+are others that seem to me entirely unworthy of their author, at least
+for any other purpose than that of boiling the pot. One of the best of
+the tales, "A Reversion," is both dramatic and realistic; it bears a
+strong resemblance to a sketch that recently made a successful
+appearance at the Hippodrome; indeed the good qualities of Miss
+<span class="smcap">Mordaunt's</span> stories are precisely those that would help their development
+into excellent little plays. One thing that I cannot help wishing is
+that the writer had trusted a little more to my imaginative
+intelligence. There is a certain kind of detail that is best confided to
+this sanctuary, and Miss <span class="smcap">Mordaunt's</span> difficulty seems to have been in
+realising when all the sayable things had been said. At least one of the
+stories plunges considerably beyond the limit of discretion and even
+good taste. But the heat and the colour, the thrills and the devastating
+<i>ennui</i> of life for the English in the island, are as well rendered as
+anything I remember in the fiction of Empire. For this alone there
+should be a warm welcome for the collection, with all its faults, both
+from those who know the original and those who need help in imagining
+it.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p><i>The Purple Frogs</i> (<span class="smcap">Heath, Cranton and Ouseley</span>) I can only describe as
+the most exasperating, not to say maddening, product of modern fiction.
+What on earth Messrs. H. W. <span class="smcap">Westbrook</span> and <span class="smcap">Lawrence Grossmith</span>, the joint
+authors, mean by it I have not the ghost of an idea. Occasionally signs
+are detectable that the whole thing is a practical joke; still more
+occasionally it even promises to become mildly amusing; and then again
+one is confronted with an incident (such as the visit of the armed
+maniac to the house of <i>Isambard Flanders</i>) serious to the point of
+melodrama. Not for pages and chapters did I discover any excuse for the
+title; and even then not much. But it appeared eventually that <i>Isambard
+Flanders</i> was jealous of the friendship between his wife, <i>Cicely</i>, and
+<i>Stephen</i>, a young man who produced film-dramas; and that in order to
+score off them he wrote a novel called <i>The Purple Frogs</i>, in which he
+embodied his suspicions. The last half of the volume is occupied with
+this tale within a tale. Here possibly we have a key to the purpose of
+the collaboration. Anyhow, I permitted myself to form a theory that Mr.
+<span class="smcap">Westbrook</span> (or Mr. <span class="smcap">Grossmith</span>) had written a novel too exiguous for
+separate publication, and in this dilemma had appealed to Mr. <span class="smcap">Grossmith</span>
+(or Mr. <span class="smcap">Westbrook</span>) to provide a setting. But which wrote which, and
+why&mdash;these are problems that remain inscrutable. Yet another is
+furnished by the fact that Miss <span class="smcap">Ella King Hall</span> has composed for the main
+story six "illustrations in music," duly reproduced. You may with luck
+be able to smile a little at the quaintness of these. But on the
+title-page they are said to be "arranged from the MS. notes of <i>Botolf
+Glenfield."</i> And <i>Glenfield</i>, being only a character in the novel
+written by <i>Flanders</i>, couldn't possibly ... Help!</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<img src="images/480.png" width="600" height="438" alt="THE CUBIST PHOTOGRAPHER." title="" />
+
+<span class="caption"><span class="smcap">THE CUBIST PHOTOGRAPHER.</span></span>
+</div>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<h3>SERENITY.</h3>
+
+<p>
+A singular accident happened to-day,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Distressing to witness (I chanced to be there).</span><br />
+A motor-'bus entered a tea-shop, and lay<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">In some need of repair.</span><br />
+<br />
+It was loaded with passengers, outside and in,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Who straightway indulged in much turbulent talk;</span><br />
+The latter declared that for less than a pin<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">They would get out and walk.</span><br />
+<br />
+But the customers who, with deplorable zest,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Of tea and hot crumpets were taking their fill,</span><br />
+Regarding the scene as an innocent jest,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Simply laughed themselves ill.</span><br />
+<br />
+Though I'm dreadfully nervous and suffer a shock<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">At the slightest alarm, through that terrible fuss</span><br />
+I was strangely composed and, as still as a rock,&mdash;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">I lay under the 'bus.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="pg" />
+<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI, VOL. 146, JUNE 17, 1914***</p>
+<p>******* This file should be named 24453-h.txt or 24453-h.zip *******</p>
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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 146,
+June 17, 1914, by Various, Edited by Owen Seaman
+
+
+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. 146, June 17, 1914
+
+
+Author: Various
+
+Editor: Owen Seaman
+
+Release Date: January 29, 2008 [eBook #24453]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI,
+VOL. 146, JUNE 17, 1914***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Jane Hyland, Malcolm Farmer, and the Project Gutenberg
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net)
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+ file which includes the original illustrations.
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+
+
+PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI
+
+VOL. 146
+
+JUNE 17, 1914
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHARIVARIA.
+
+
+"The Pocket Asquith" is announced, and we are asked to say that the
+pocket in question is not Mr. REDMOND'S.
+
+ ***
+
+The discovery of gold particles in a duck's gizzard has, we are told,
+caused a rush of mining prospectors to Liberty Township, Ohio. It is
+expected that the duck will shortly be floated as a limited liability
+company.
+
+ ***
+
+The Valuation Department has discovered at Llangammarch Wells,
+Brecknockshire, 50 acres of land for which no owner can be found.
+Anyone, therefore, who has lost any land is recommended to communicate
+at once with the Department.
+
+ ***
+
+The ASTRONOMER-ROYAL, in reading his annual report at the Royal
+Observatory last week, said that the mean temperature of the year 1913
+was 50.5 degrees. Seeing that this temperature was one degree above the
+average for the 70 years ended 1910, we consider that the epithet was
+undeserved.
+
+ ***
+
+We hesitate to suggest that _The Times_ is catering for cannibals, but
+it is certainly curious that a recent issue should have contained the
+following headlines:--
+
+"PREPARED FOODS. INFANTS, CHILDREN & INVALIDS."
+
+ ***
+
+By the way, the little essay on "Foods of Antiquity" omitted to mention
+that these may still be picked up by curio-hunters at certain railway
+buffets.
+
+ ***
+
+What has become of all the cabs which have been displaced by the taxis?
+is a question which is often asked. It has now been partially answered.
+According to a cable published last week, "The steamer _Rappahannock_
+reports the presence of numerous icebergs and 'growlers' on the North
+Atlantic steamship routes."
+
+ ***
+
+At last there are signs of a reaction against under-dressing on the
+stage. The producers of a new revue advertise:--
+
+50 REAL LIVE PERFORMERS. OVER 250 PARISIAN MODEL FROCKS AND HATS.
+
+ ***
+
+Mr. H. CSCINSKY, the author of the standard work, _English Furniture of
+the Eighteenth Century_, says that 999 out of every 1,000 pieces of old
+oak furniture in the present day are forgeries. The only way, therefore,
+to ensure that you get a genuine specimen is to order 1,000 pieces, and
+the furniture trade trusts that all collectors will take this elementary
+precaution when purchasing.
+
+ ***
+
+The abandonment of the scheme for the rebuilding of the Lambeth Police
+Court has caused some disappointment among local criminals, some of
+whom, we are glad to hear, are ashamed to be seen in the present
+structure.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+[Illustration: "Wotcher bin doin'--fightin'?"
+
+"NO--BOOHOO--I BIN FOUGHT!"]
+
+ * * * * *
+
+Being convinced that Germany possesses too many Leagues and Associations
+the town of Seesen, in the Harz, has established an "Association for
+Combating the Mania for the Formation of Leagues and Associations"--not
+realising until too late that they have thereby formed one more.
+
+ ***
+
+"Keep your arms" is Sir EDWARD CARSON'S latest advice to the Ulster
+volunteers--and they have kept their heads so well that they should have
+no difficulty in this respect.
+
+ ***
+
+An American clergyman got into trouble last week for holding up his hand
+and trying to stop the traffic in the Strand. The sky-pilot found out
+pretty soon that he was out of his element.
+
+ ***
+
+A man placed a bank paper bag containing L63 10s. on the counter at the
+chief post-office in Swansea, one day last week, while he changed a
+postal order. When he turned to pick up the bag it had disappeared. The
+local police incline to the view that someone must have taken it.
+
+ ***
+
+A muddle-headed correspondent writes to express surprise on learning
+that the day devoted to collections for the charities connected with the
+Variety Stage should be known as "Tag Day." The old fellow had always
+imagined that "Tag Day" was a toast on German war vessels.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+A TIME EXPOSURE.
+
+ I turned the family album's page
+ And noted with a smile
+ The efforts of a bygone age
+ At photographic style;
+ There, pegtopped, grandpa could be seen,
+ While grandma beamed, contented
+ To know her brand-new crinoline
+ The latest thing invented.
+
+ And there Aunt Mary's looks belied
+ Her gravity of dress;
+ That great poke-bonnet could not hide
+ Her youthful comeliness;
+ There, too, was father when a boy,
+ And elsewhere in the series
+ A youthful cousin (Fauntleroy),
+ An uncle in Dundrearies.
+
+ And then before my scornful eye
+ A smirking youth appeared,
+ Flaunting a loose aesthetic tie
+ And embryonic beard;
+ With laughter I began to shake,
+ Noting the watch-chain (weighty)
+ And all the things that went to make
+ A "nut" in 1880.
+
+ I looked upon the other side,
+ Still tittering, to see
+ What branch the fellow occupied
+ Upon our family tree;
+ A name was scrawled across the card
+ With flourishes in plenty,
+ And lo! it was the present bard
+ Himself at five-and-twenty.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+The Sprinter.
+
+From a testimonial to a system of health culture:--
+
+ "I think I have never felt so glorious as I do this morning. At
+ 4.30 I woke up after a wet waist pack, got hot water, cleaned
+ myself, took a glass of lemon juice, exercised, and for the last
+ three-quarters of an hour I have been running through your notes."
+
+He mustn't take _too_ much exercise.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+THE COMPLETE DRAMATIST.
+
+III. MEALS AND THINGS.
+
+In spite of all you can do in the way of avoiding soliloquies and
+getting your characters on and off the stage in a dramatic manner, a
+time will come when you realise sadly that your play is not a bit like
+life after all. Then is the time to introduce a meal on the stage. A
+stage meal is popular, because it proves to the audience that the
+actors, even when called GEORGE ALEXANDER or ARTHUR BOURCHIER, are real
+people just like you and me. "Look at Sir HERBERT eating," we say
+excitedly to each other in the pit, having had a vague idea up till then
+that an actor lived like a god on praise and grease-paint and his
+photograph in the papers. "Another cup, won't you?" says Miss GLADYS
+COOPER; "No, thank you," says Mr. DENNIS EADIE--dash it, it's exactly
+what we do at Twickenham ourselves. And when, to clinch matters, the
+dramatist makes Mr. GERALD DU MAURIER light a real cigarette in the
+Third Act, then he can flatter himself that he has indeed achieved the
+ambition of every stage writer, and "brought the actual scent of the hay
+across the footlights."
+
+But there is a technique to be acquired in this matter as in everything
+else within the theatre. The great art of the stage-craftsman, as I have
+already shown, is to seem natural rather than to be natural. Let your
+actors have tea by all means, but see that it is a properly histrionic
+tea. This is how it should go:--
+
+_Hostess._ You'll have some tea, won't you? [_Rings bell._
+
+_Guest._ Thank you.
+
+_Enter_ Butler.
+
+_Hostess._ Tea, please, Matthews.
+
+_Butler_ (_impassively_). Yes, m'lady. (_This is all he says during the
+play, so he must try and get a little character into it, in order that
+"The Era" may remark, "Mr. Thompson was excellent as _Matthews_."
+However, his part is not over yet, for he returns immediately, followed
+by three footmen--just as it happened when you last called on the
+Duchess--and sets out the tea._)
+
+_Hostess (holding up the property lump of sugar in the tongs)._ Sugar?
+
+_Guest (luckily)._ No, thanks.
+
+_Hostess replaces lump and inclines empty teapot over tray for a moment,
+then hands him a cup painted brown inside--thus deceiving the gentleman
+with the telescope in the upper circle._
+
+_Guest (touching his lips with the cup and then returning it to its
+saucer)._ Well, I must be going.
+
+_Re-enter Butler and three Footmen, who remove the tea-things._
+
+_Hostess_ (to Guest). Good-bye; so glad you could come. [_Exit_ Guest.
+
+His visit has been short, but it has been very thrilling while it
+lasted.
+
+Tea is the most usual meal on the stage, for the reason that it is the
+least expensive, the property lump of sugar being dusted and used again
+on the next night. For a stage dinner a certain amount of genuine
+sponge-cake has to be made up to look like fish, chicken or cutlet. In
+novels the hero has often "pushed his meals away untasted," but no stage
+hero would do anything so unnatural as this. The etiquette is to have
+two bites before the butler and the three footmen whisk away the plate.
+The two bites are made, and the bread is crumbled, with an air of great
+eagerness; indeed, one feels that in real life the guest would clutch
+hold of the footman and say, "Half a mo', old chap, I haven't _nearly_
+finished;" but the actor is better schooled than this. Besides, the
+thing is coming back again as chicken directly.
+
+But it is the cigarette which chiefly has brought the modern drama to
+its present state of perfection. Without the stage cigarette many an
+epigram would pass unnoticed, many an actor's hands would be much more
+noticeable; and the man who works the fireproof safety curtain would
+lose even the small amount of excitement which at present attaches to
+his job.
+
+Now although it is possible, in the case of a few men at the top of the
+profession, to leave the conduct of the cigarette entirely to the actor,
+you will find it much more satisfactory to insert in the stage
+directions the particular movements (with match and so forth) that you
+wish carried out. Let us assume that _Lord Arthur_ asks _Lord John_ what
+a cynic is--the question of what a cynic is having arisen quite
+naturally in the course of the plot. Let us assume further that you wish
+_Lord John_ to reply, "A cynic is a man who knows the price of
+everything and the value of nothing." It has been said before, but you
+may feel that it is quite time it was said again; besides, for all the
+audience knows, _Lord John_ may simply be quoting. Now this answer, even
+if it comes quite fresh to the stalls, will lose much of its effect if
+it is said without the assistance of a cigarette. Try it for yourself.
+
+_Lord John._ A cynic is a man who, etc....
+
+Rotten. Now try again.
+
+_Lord John._ A cynic is a man who, etc.... (_Lights cigarette_).
+
+No, even that is not good. Once more:--
+
+_Lord John (lighting cigarette)._ A cynic is a man who, etc.
+
+Better, but leaves much too much to the actor.
+
+Well, I see I must tell you.
+
+_Lord John (taking out gold cigarette case from his left-hand upper
+waistcoat pocket)._ A cynic, my dear Arthur (_he opens case
+deliberately, puts cigarette in mouth, and extracts gold match-box from
+right-hand trouser_) is a man who (_strikes match_) knows the price of
+(_lights cigarette_)--everything, and (_standing with match in one hand
+and cigarette in the other_) the value of---- pff (_blows out match_) of
+(_inhales deeply from cigarette and blows out a cloud of
+smoke_)--nothing.
+
+It makes a different thing of it altogether. Of course on the actual
+night the match may refuse to strike, and _Lord John_ may have to go on
+saying "a man who--a man who--a man who" until the ignition occurs, but
+even so it will still seem delightfully natural to the audience (as if
+he were making up the epigram as he went along); while as for blowing
+the match out he can hardly fail to do _that_ in one.
+
+The cigarette, of course, will be smoked at other moments than
+epigrammatic ones, but on these other occasions you will not need to
+deal so fully with it in the stage directions. "_Duke (lighting
+cigarette)._ I trust, Perkins, that ..." is enough. You do not want to
+say, "_Duke (dropping ash on trousers)._ It seems to me, my love ..."
+or, "_Duke (removing stray piece of tobacco from tongue)._ What Ireland
+needs is ..."; still less "_Duke (throwing away end of cigarette)._ Show
+him in." For this must remain one of the mysteries of the stage--What
+happens to the stage cigarette when it has been puffed four times? The
+stage tea, of which a second cup is always refused; the stage cutlet,
+which is removed with the connivance of the guest after two mouthfuls;
+the stage cigarette, which nobody ever seems to want to smoke to the
+end--thinking of these as they make their appearances in the houses of
+the titled, one would say that the hospitality of the peerage was not a
+thing to make any great rush for....
+
+But that would be to forget the butler and the three footmen. Even a
+Duke cannot have everything. And what his _chef_ may lack in skill his
+butler more than makes up for in impassivity.
+
+A. A. M.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+From a column headed "Crimes and Tragedies" in _The Western Weekly
+Mercury_:--
+
+ "Sir J. W. Spear, M.P., has consented to become patron of the
+ newly-formed Highampton Rifle Club."
+
+And we are left wondering which it is.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+[Illustration: REFRESHING THE FRUIT.
+
+MR. JOHN BURNS. "PERFECT! PERFECT! BUT JUST WANTS THE MASTER'S TOUCH."
+
+(_Gives it._)]
+
+ * * * * *
+
+[Illustration: _Cheery Passenger (in non-stop express)._ "WELL, I MUST
+SAY IT'S QUITE A RELIEF TO ME TO 'AVE A GENTLEMAN IN THE CARRIAGE. IT'S
+TWICE NOW I'VE 'AD A FIT IN A TUNNEL."]
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ROOSEVELT RESURGIT
+
+ Once more the tireless putter-right of men,
+ Our roaring ROOSEVELT, swims into our ken.
+ With clash of cymbals and with roll of drums,
+ Reduced in weight, from far Brazil he comes.
+ What risks were his! The rapids caught his form,
+ Upset his bark and tossed him in the storm.
+ Clutching his trumpet in a fearless hand,
+ The damp explorer struggled to the land;
+ Then set the trumpet to his lips and blew
+ A blast that echoed all the wide world through,
+ And in a tone that made the nations quiver
+ Proclaimed himself the finder of a river.
+ Maps, he declared, were made by doddering fools
+ Who knew no better or defied the rules,
+ While he, the great Progressive, traced the course
+ Of waters mostly flowing to their source.
+ Emerged at last and buoyed up with the sure hope
+ Of geographic fame, he made for Europe;
+ Flew to Madrid, and there awhile he tarried
+ Till KERMIT went (good luck to K!) and married.
+ Next London sees him, and with loud good will
+ Yields to the mighty tamer of Brazil,
+ And hears and cheers the while by his own fiat he
+ Lectures our Geographical Society.
+ Soon to his native land behold him go
+ To take a hand in quelling Mexico.
+ Does WILSON want him? Well, I hardly know.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+IN THE NAME OF PEACE.
+
+SIR,--I read with intense satisfaction that at the Peace Ball at the
+Albert Hall last week the lady representing Britannia carried a palm
+branch in place of the customary trident. This, I venture to think, is a
+step in the right direction. For many years, from the pulpits and
+platforms not only of our own land but of America, I have advocated a
+substitution of peaceful objects for the weapons of bloodshed with which
+so many of our allegorical figures are encumbered. I still wait for some
+artist to depict the patron saint of this fair land of ours, not
+attacking the dragon with a cruel sword, but offering it in all
+brotherliness an orange, let us say, or a bath bun.
+
+But, Sir, one feature of this ball (putting aside for a moment the many
+reprehensible characteristics of all such entertainments) I must and do
+protest against. What do I read in the daily press? When it was desired
+to clear the floor, "a brigade of Guards, by subtle movements, drove the
+masqueraders, who were to form the audience, behind the barricades."
+Now, were I a member of the House of Commons--as some day I may be--I
+would make it my business to stand up in my place and fearlessly demand
+of the Minister for War an explanation as to how these men of blood came
+to be admitted to a Peace festival. Was it with his knowledge that they
+were present? and, if so, was it with his consent? I should also desire
+to know whether the cost of the expedition would fall upon the British
+tax-payer.
+
+I am, Sir, Yours, etc., (Rev.) AMOS BLICK.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+AMENDING A BILL.
+
+As the drought wore on to its third day I began to perceive that
+siphoning the pinks with soda-water out of the dining-room window was
+insufficient to meet the crisis. I rang up the nearest fire station and
+told them in my most staccato tones that the garden was being burnt to a
+cinder and would they please--but they rang off suddenly without making
+a reply. It was then that I had a bright idea--so bright that the
+thermometer which was hanging near my head went up two degrees higher
+still.
+
+"Araminta," I cried (she was out on the lawn tantalising a rose-bush
+with a kind of doll's-house watering-can),--"Araminta, where does one go
+to get hose?"
+
+Araminta bridled.
+
+"I didn't mean that," I said, hastily coming out of the French-window to
+explain. "I meant the kind of long wiggly thing you fix on to a tap at
+one end and it squirts at the other."
+
+She unbridled prettily. "Oh, that!" she said. "Altruage's have them, I
+suppose. Altruage's have everything. But I shouldn't get one if I were
+you. I believe they're fearfully expensive, and I'm going to buy a
+proper watering-can this morning."
+
+My mind, however, was made up. "Expense," I thought, "be irrigated!" I
+said nothing about it to Araminta, but I decided to act.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+The sun was still blazing with abominable ferocity at half-past twelve
+when I crossed the threshold of the Taj Mahal Stores and button-holed
+the first peripatetic marquis I could find.
+
+"I want," I said, mopping my brows with the disengaged hand, "to see
+some hose."
+
+"Certainly, Sir," he replied with a beaming smile. "For wear on the
+feet, I presume?"
+
+"Not at all," I replied as coolly as possible. "For shampooing the
+head."
+
+He looked puzzled.
+
+"I want it to water my pinks with," I explained.
+
+A look of divine condescension overspread his features. "Ah, you require
+our horticultural department for that, Sir," he said. "Fourth to the
+left, fifth to the right, and ask again." And with an infinitely
+horticultured gesture of the hand he motioned me on.
+
+After a long and adventurous Odyssey and fifteen fruitless appeals I
+sighted a kind of green island shore, where a young man stood in an
+attitude of _hauteur_, surrounded by a number of pink and grey snakes
+and brightly coloured agricultural machines.
+
+Making my way to him I sank exhausted into a wheel-barrow and murmured
+my request again.
+
+"About what size is your garden?" he asked me when I had partially
+recovered.
+
+"Slim," I said, "slim and graceful, but not really tall. _Petite_ I
+believe is the technical term. What sizes have you got in stock?"
+
+"Perhaps about forty yards would do, Sir," he suggested, uncoiling a
+portion of one of the reptiles at his feet. "I can recommend this as a
+strong and thoroughly reliable article. Then you will want a union, I
+suppose, and a brass nozzle and a drum."
+
+"We all want union nowadays so much in everything, don't we?" I agreed
+pleasantly, "but I'm not so sure about the drum. You see the baby makes
+a most infernal noise as it is with a----"
+
+He interrupted me to explain the uses of these things. The union, it
+seemed, was a kind of garter to attach the hose to the tap, and the drum
+was where the snake wound itself to sleep at night. "And the little
+pepper-castor, of course," I said, "is what one puts at the end to make
+it sneeze. I understand completely. If you will have them all sent round
+to me to-morrow I will pay on delivery."
+
+ * * * * *
+
+When I got out into the street I found that a great change had taken
+place. The sky overhead was black with imminent rain. A sharp shower
+pattered at my heels as I sprinted for the 'bus, and when I disembarked
+from it the gutters were gurgling with ill-concealed delight. As I
+walked up the garden I noticed that the majority of the pinks were lying
+in a drunken stupor upon their beds.
+
+Araminta met me at the door. "Why, you must be wet through," she said.
+"Go up and change instantly. And aren't you glad now you haven't got a
+silly old hose after all?"
+
+"I am indeed," I replied.
+
+Whilst I changed I thought deeply, and after dinner I sat down and wrote
+politely to Messrs. Altruage as follows:
+
+"Mr. Hopkinson regrets that through inadvertence he ordered a quantity
+of hose this afternoon in Messrs. Altruage's horticultural department
+instead of their foot-robing studio. If Messrs. Altruage will kindly
+cancel this order Mr. Hopkinson will call in the morning and select six
+pairs of woollen socks."
+
+In a climate like ours, I reflected as I posted the letter, there is a
+good deal to be said for these mammoth stores.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+[Illustration: _Hodge._ "THAT'S THE BEST OF COMIN' EARLY, MARIA. WE'VE
+GOT THE BEST SEATS IN THE 'OUSE!"]
+
+ * * * * *
+
+IN THE PARK.
+
+ (_Souvent femme varie._)
+
+ Little girls in June attire,
+ Grumbling to your governesses,
+ What is it that you desire--
+ Chocolates or satin dresses,
+ Jewels, or a tiny hound,
+ All your own, to drag around?
+
+ Governesses who betray
+ Little love for your employment,
+ If a fairy bade you say
+ What would give you most enjoyment,
+ Would your fancy not pursue
+ Unsubstantial shadows too?
+
+ "Fleeting joys have little use"--
+ So, as teachers, you endeavour
+ In your charges to induce
+ Virtues which will last for ever;
+ But, as women, you resent
+ Anything so permanent!
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ "A half followed, which made Vardon dormy 3, and another half at
+ the 16th, where he made a brilliant recovery after he had hit a
+ spectator, gave him the match by 3 and 2."
+
+ _Times._
+
+The recovery of the spectator wouldn't matter so much.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ "A man who gave the name of James DewTJnamedhiskmhmhfr mhafr awdih
+ acsih frdw hurst was remanded at Doncaster to-day charged with
+ attempting to pass a worthless cheque for 30s."--_Liverpool
+ Express._
+
+As soon as the cashier saw the first eighteen inches of the name at the
+bottom of the cheque he had his suspicions.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+[Illustration: THE LAW OF THE AIR.
+
+_"Suburbia" writes:_ "My neighbour says the air is free and nobody can
+claim it. Granted. But what I say is--ought my neighbour, considering
+the narrowness of his garden, to be allowed to erect what is called a
+giant-stride for the amusement of his sons and their young friends? When
+will this dilatory Government take such matters in hand?"]
+
+ * * * * *
+
+THE YOUNG EVERYTHING.
+
+Under this comprehensive title Messrs. Byett and Prusit have arranged
+for a new series of books for the youth of both sexes, the aim of which
+is to provide instruction in a number of the most desirable and
+profitable walks of life. The principle of the work is that it is never
+too soon to end. The General Editor will be that profound and
+encyclopaedic scholar and publicist, Mr. ANTHONY ASQUITH, who will be
+assisted by some of the ablest pens in the country.
+
+
+THE YOUNG BANKRUPT, by Sampson Waterstock.
+
+An exhaustive treatise on the right mismanagement of one's affairs, with
+hints on the best method of bringing about a meeting of creditors. Among
+the chapters are the following: "The Way to Carey Street;" "How to
+settle things on one's Wife;" "Eccentric Bankrupts who have subsequently
+paid in full, with Interest."
+
+
+THE YOUNG BOOKMAKER, by Sharkey Hawker.
+
+A complete guide to the Turf, than which few professions offer a more
+exciting opening to a boy. How to calculate odds; how to cultivate the
+voice; how to concentrate public attention on the wrong horse--these and
+other topics are dealt with by competent hands.
+
+
+THE YOUNG FILBERT, by Gilbert Hallam.
+
+In this entertaining volume the complete art of youthful boredom and
+ornamental and expensive sloth is exploited. Where to get clothes; how
+much to owe for them; how soon to discard them and get others; what
+adjectives to use; and where, the best nut food may be obtained--all is
+told here.
+
+
+THE YOUNG CENTENARIAN, by S. W. Calceby.
+
+Hints on regimen by one of the most lucid and distinguished salubrists
+of the day. Everything that can assist a boy or girl quickly to attain
+to the status of honourable and decrepit old age is here carefully set
+forth. The author guarantees that if his instructions are carried out
+the conditions of centenarianism can be reached in ten years. "Lobster
+salad for new-born babes" is one of his more original ideas.
+
+
+THE YOUNG AUTHOR, by Brompton MacGregor.
+
+This illuminating treatise contains the fullest directions yet given for
+the securing of a mammoth circulation and a corresponding revenue. How
+to exasperate Mrs. Grundy; how to secure testimonials from Bishops and
+Archdeacons; how to get banned by the libraries--these and other
+passports to fame and fortune are set forth with the utmost
+particularity in this marvellous manual.
+
+
+THE YOUNG COMPOSER, by Eric Kornstein.
+
+This fascinating _brochure_ gives in a succinct and animated form
+absolutely infallible instructions for storming the citadel of musical
+fame. The enormous importance of capillary attraction, sartorial
+extravagance and controversial invective are duly dwelt on, while the
+charming tone and temper of the work may be gathered from the headings
+of some of the chapters: "The Curse of Conservatoriums;" "The Tyranny of
+Tune;" "The Dethronement of WAGNER;" "_A bas_ BEETHOVEN."
+
+
+THE YOUNG AMERICAN, by Dixie Q. Peach.
+
+In this priceless work everything that is most characteristic of the
+great American nation is invitingly spread before the English youth, so
+that in a few weeks he will be so well equipped with Transatlantic
+details as (if he wishes) to be mistaken for a real inhabitant either of
+a big London hotel or a Bloomsbury boarding-house.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+MR. B.
+
+To the list of signally good men must now be added Mr. B. I do not say
+that he should be included in any extension of _The Golden Legend_, but
+no catalogue of irreproachables, beyond the wiles of temptation, can
+henceforth be complete without him, and as a model of rectitude in
+business his portrait should be on the walls of every commercial school.
+I can see him as the hero of this tract and that, and in course of time
+his early life may be written and circulated: _The Childhood of Mr. B.,
+or, The Boy Who Took the Right Turning._
+
+And who is Mr. B.? All that I know of him I find in an Eastern sheet
+which I owe to the kindness of a friend--_The Bangkok Times Weekly
+Mail_. Glancing through this minute and compact little paper, which is
+as big as any paper ought to be, my eye alighted upon an extract from
+_The North China Daily News_, and it is here that Mr. B. shines forth.
+
+A certain dealer, it seems, had received an order for a machine, but,
+being unable to deliver it, and wishing to avoid the penalties attending
+a breach of the contract, he had to resort to guile. The following
+letter to a confederate at once displays him as a Machiavellian and
+introduces us to that inconvenient thing, a Far Eastern incorruptible:--
+
+ "Regarding the matter of escaping the penalty for non-delivery of
+ the Bar Machine, there is only one way, to creep round same by
+ diplomat, and we must make a statement of strike occur our factory
+ (of course big untrue) and please address person on enclosed form
+ of letter, and believe this will avoid the trouble of penalties of
+ same.
+
+ "Mr. B. is most religious and competent man, also heavily upright
+ and godly, it fears me useless apply for his signature. Please
+ attach same by Yokohama Office, making forge, but no cause for fear
+ of prison happenings as this is often operated by other merchants
+ of highest integrity.
+
+ "It is the highest unfortunate Sir. B. is so godlike and excessive
+ awkward for business purposes."
+
+So there you have Mr. B. Some day, perhaps, he may read this letter and
+realise how extremely awkward an inflexible standard of morality can
+make things for one's neighbours. The last sentence of all has a
+pathetic ring, as of a Utopian throwing up the sponge: "I think much
+better to add little serpent-like wisdom to upright manhood and thus
+found good business edifice."
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ "L1 down secures a ---- bicycle for you in time for Whitsuntide."
+
+ _Advt. in "Yorkshire Observer, June 9."_
+
+So if you are in a hurry and want it by next Christmas you had better go
+somewhere else.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+THE MAN OF THE EVENING.
+
+To be perfectly fair, it was not that Dorice gave me too few
+instructions, but rather too many.
+
+"I'm over at Naughton," she said through the telephone; "I'm staying
+with some people named Perry."
+
+"How ripping of you to ring me up!" I said, flattered; "it's heavenly to
+hear your voice, even if I can't see you."
+
+It was a pretty little speech, but Dorice ignored it.
+
+"There is a dance on here, to-night," she continued hastily, "and at the
+last minute they are short of men, so I've promised to get them
+someone."
+
+I gripped the receiver firmly and groaned. I knew what was coming.
+
+Dorice proposed that I should leave the office _instantly_ and catch the
+next train to Naughton.
+
+She adopted rushing tactics with which it was practically impossible to
+cope.
+
+All the time I was explaining to her how busy I was, and how I found it
+out of the question even to think of leaving the office, she kept on
+giving me varied and hurried directions.
+
+I was to be sure to remember the steps she had taught me last time.
+
+I was not to take any notice of a dark girl in a red dress, because she
+wasn't the slightest bit nice when you really got to know her.
+
+I was to drive straight to the hall, where Dorice would be looking out
+for me.
+
+"And now I can't stay any longer, and you must fly and catch the train,
+and so 'good-bye,' and I'll keep some dances for you!"
+
+"Half a minute," I protested. "Where do I----? What is the name of----?"
+
+But Dorice, with that delightful suddenness which is one of her most
+charming characteristics, had rung off, leaving my destination a
+mystery.
+
+However, there was no time to worry about details. I told a dreadful lie
+to a man with whom I had an appointment, left the office and did
+wonderful things in the way of changing my clothes, packing my bag, and
+boarding a moving train.
+
+At Naughton station I engaged a cab.
+
+"Where to?" asked the driver, as he readied down for my bag.
+
+It was the question I had been asking myself all the way in the train.
+
+"That's just it," I said miserably, "I don't know."
+
+He was a sympathetic-looking cabman--not one of the modern type, but the
+aged director of a thin horse and a genuinely antique four-wheeler.
+
+"It's rather an awkward situation," I explained doubtfully; "you see,
+Dorice forgot--I mean I'm supposed to be going to a dance somewhere
+round here. I was told to drive straight to the hall--I don't know
+_what_ hall."
+
+"That's all right, Sir," answered the sympathetic cabman encouragingly;
+"you were told to drive straight to the 'all; that'll be Naughton 'All."
+
+He proceeded to awaken the thin horse.
+
+"There is a big do on there to-night, Sir. It's a fair way out, but I'll
+'ave yer there in no time."
+
+"My dear good man," I remonstrated nervously, "for heaven's sake don't
+rush at things like that. Is this particular dance you wish to take me
+to given by some people named Perry?"
+
+"Perry? Lord! no! Sir John Oakham, lives at Naughton 'All. It's '_is_
+party."
+
+The sympathetic cabman was a little pained at my ignorance.
+
+Dorice had not said who was actually giving the dance.
+
+With vague misgivings I climbed into the cab.
+
+"Go ahead," I said, with my heart in my boots; "drive away and let's get
+it over."
+
+It was a long drive, and more than once I was nearly killed through
+hanging my body from the cab window in a vain attempt to catch a glimpse
+of Dorice in one or other of the motors that passed us on the road.
+
+At Naughton Hall I looked out for her expectantly.
+
+There was not a soul in the room that I knew. In a fit of dreadful panic
+I began to search desperately. Dorice was nowhere to be found, and the
+hand started upon the first waltz.
+
+To me it was like a nightmare.
+
+One thing I remember was finding myself dancing with a Miss Giggleswick.
+
+I don't pretend to explain how it happened. As far as I can make out,
+some hospitably disposed person decided that he was expected to know me
+and find me a partner.
+
+Anyhow, I danced with a Miss Giggleswick, and also I talked to her.
+
+I asked her very seriously if she knew anything of Dorice.
+
+Miss Giggleswick thought I was referring to some new authoress.
+
+"Yes--yes," she said thoughtfully, "I must have read some of them, but I
+can't remember which ones--I'm so silly about names."
+
+After a time I pulled myself together, and somehow escaped from Miss
+Giggleswick. I made my way to the cloakroom, grabbed my coat and bag,
+and rushed for the front door.
+
+Once outside I ran for my life.
+
+I ran down the drive and along the road towards Naughton.
+
+I floundered on blindly through thick mud and pools of water.
+
+"A fine night!" shouted a cheerful ass as I struggled past him.
+
+I pulled up sharply and peered at him through the darkness.
+
+"A fine night? Oh, yes, it's a fine night," I laughed wildly; "but just
+tell me one other thing. Is there any other hall in this district except
+Naughton Hall?"
+
+"Noa--unless of course yer mean Naughton _Parish_ 'All," he added after
+deep consideration.
+
+"Has anybody ever been known to give a dance there?"
+
+"Ay, I dare say."
+
+With grim determination I clutched my bag and trudged on.
+
+It was late when I crawled up the steps of Naughton Parish Hall.
+
+I threw my things in a corner, scraped some of the mud off my trousers,
+removed my bow from the back of my neck, and staggered in the direction
+of the music. A one-step was just over, and the dancers were crowding
+the foyer.
+
+Dorice appeared with her partner.
+
+I went and stood before her.
+
+"Dorice," I stammered brokenly, "I--I've come."
+
+Dorice excused herself from her partner and took me into a corner.
+
+"Hear me first," I pleaded, utterly crushed. "Hear me first, Dorice.
+I've done my best. I went to the wrong place. You rang off without
+giving me the proper address. A blundering villain of a cabman took me
+to--Naughton Hall. They made me dance with somebody named Giggleswick. I
+escaped as soon as I could and came here. I ran a lot of the way."
+
+I looked up at her beseechingly.
+
+Then I discovered that my life was not blighted for ever.
+
+Dorice was smiling upon me--yes, smiling! She leant forward eagerly and
+touched my hand.
+
+"_You've been to Naughton Hall!_" she whispered delightedly; "but, my
+dear old boy, it's simply _the_ dance of the season round here! All
+these people would do anything to get invited. The Perrys only gave this
+dance so that they could use it as a sort of excuse for not being seen
+at the Naughton Hall one!"
+
+"Anybody could have gone in my place," I murmured; "I didn't enjoy it at
+all."
+
+Dorice got up and took hold of my arm.
+
+"Come on," she said with suppressed excitement, "this is splendid!"
+
+She took me through a crowd of people and introduced me to Mr. and Mrs.
+Perry.
+
+Then she raised her voice.
+
+"He's sorry to be so late," she apologised as loudly as possible, "but
+you see he was forced to look in at the Naughton Hall ball. However, he
+got away as soon as he could and came on to us."
+
+Mrs. Perry received me almost with open arms.
+
+"We must try and find you some really good partners," she announced
+enthusiastically.
+
+"_Rather!_" echoed Mr. Perry.
+
+It was then close upon midnight. For the two hours of the dance that
+remained I was the man of the evening.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+[Illustration: WHAT LANCASHIRE THINKS.
+
+_Old Lancashire Lady_ (_to young lady friend who has expressed her
+intention of going by an excursion to the Metropolis_). "DOAN'T THEE GOA
+TO LONDON; THEE STOP IN OWD ENGLAND."]
+
+ * * * * *
+
+Rumoured Mutiny in the Navy.
+
+ "The destroyers patrolling the Irish coast are being boarded and
+ searched for rifles by order of the Admiralty."--_Daily Express._
+
+ * * * * *
+
+[Illustration: _Little Maid_ (_to new owner of country cottage_) "OH, IF
+YOU PLEASE, SIR, HERE'S THE CHAIRMAN OF THE LITTLE CHIPPINGHAM AND WEST
+HAMBLETON STREET LIGHTING COMMITTEE." (_Confidentially_) "IT'S REALLY
+ONLY MR. BINKS, THE BUTCHER."]
+
+ * * * * *
+
+THE CALL OF THE BLOOD.
+
+ Happy the man who brushes up his topper
+ And sallies forth to call upon a maid,
+ Knowing his converse and his coat are proper,
+ That, come what may, he will not be afraid,
+ Not lose his nerve, and yawn, or tell a whopper,
+ Or drop the marmalade.
+
+ Not such the bard; not thus--but Clotho (drat her)
+ Was wakeful still, and plied a hostile loom--
+ I sought Miss Pritt. She mooted some grave matter
+ And looked for light; my lips were like the tomb,
+ Sealed, though they say they heard my molars chatter
+ Up in the smoking-room.
+
+ Cold eyes regarded me. My front-stud fretted;
+ A stiff slow smirk belied my deep unrest;
+ My tea-cup trembled and my cake was wetted;
+ My beauteous tie worked round toward the West;
+ My brow--forgive me, but it really sweated;
+ I did not look my best.
+
+ To Zeus, that oft would make a mist and smother
+ Some swain beset, and screen him from the crowd,
+ I prayed for vapours; but his mind was other:
+ Yet was I answered, though the god was proud,
+ For, anyhow, I trod on Miss Pritt's mother
+ And left beneath a cloud.
+
+ Not to return. O'er fair free hills and valleys
+ I can converse and carry on _ad lib._;
+ On active tennis-courts (between the rallies)
+ I can be confident, and none more glib;
+ But not in drawing-rooms my bright star dallies--
+ I'm not that sort of nib.
+
+ We'll meet no more; but I shall send some token
+ Of what I'm worth outside the world of teas--
+ A handsome photograph, some smart things spoken,
+ A few sweet verses (not so bad as these),
+ And hockey-groups that show me stern and oaken
+ And nude about the knees.
+
+ It may be, though she deemed me dunder-headed,
+ She'll sometimes take them from her chamber-wall,
+ Or where they lie in lavender embedded,
+ And tell her family about them all--
+ About the gentleman she might have wedded,
+ Only _he could not call_.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ "John William Burrow, of Overton, who is about 16 years old, caught
+ six salmon in the heave net last week, their respective weights
+ being 9 lbs., 28 lbs., 5-1/2 lbs., 12 lbs., 22 lbs., 13 lbs., a
+ total of 89-1/2 lbs. Last season, when between 13 and 14 years old,
+ he caught three salmon. His record is probably unique for inshore
+ fisher boys."--_Lancaster Guardian._
+
+Anyhow the rate at which he grows up is.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+[Illustration: THE TRIUMPH OF THE VOLUNTARY SYSTEM.
+
+LORD HALDANE. "GROSSLY ILLEGAL AND UTTERLY UNCONSTITUTIONAL!--AS I SAID
+THE OTHER DAY AT OXFORD; BUT TO THE HEART OF AN EX-WAR-LORD, HOW
+BEAUTIFUL!"]
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ESSENCE OF PARLIAMENT.
+
+(EXTRACTED FROM THE DIARY OF TOBY, M.P.)
+
+_House of Commons, Tuesday, June 9._--Recorded in Parliamentary history
+how a debate on Budget of the day a great statesman began his speech by
+utterance of he word "Sugar." Contrast of imposing personality of the
+Minister and sonorousness of his voice with commonplace character of
+utterance tickled fancy of House, then as now almost childishly eager to
+be amused. The great man looked round with stern glance that cowed the
+tittering audience. "Sugar," he repeated amid awed silence, and
+triumphantly continued his remarks.
+
+It wasn't sugar that occupied attention of House on resuming sittings
+after Whitsun recess. It was Milk. Naturally Bill dealing with subject
+was in hands of the INFANT SAMUEL. Debate on Second Reading presented
+House in best form. Impossible for most ingenious and enterprising
+Member to mix up with milk the Ulster question or hand round bottles
+accommodated with india-rubber tubes and labelled Welsh Church
+Disestablishment. Consequence was that, in Second Reading debate on Bill
+promoted by Local Government Board, Members on both sides devoted
+themselves to single purpose of framing useful measure.
+
+[Illustration: THE INFANT SAMUEL.]
+
+Animated debate on another Bill in charge of JOHN BURNS amending
+Insurance Act in direction of removing administrative difficulties and
+diminishing working costs. Nothing to complain of in way of acerbity.
+Second Reading stages of both measures passed without division, and
+House adjourned before half-past ten.
+
+At Question time peaceful prospect momentarily ruffled. The SAHIB REES,
+taking advantage of absence of SPEAKER, prolonging his holiday amid
+balmy odours of Harrogate Pump Room, was in great form. With extensive
+view he surveyed mankind from British Columbia to the Persian Gulf, just
+looking in at Australasia to see what IAN HAMILTON has lately been up to
+in matter of compulsory military service.
+
+It was in Persian Gulf that squall suddenly threatened. SAHIB wanted to
+know whether HIS MAJESTY'S ships in that quarter of the world "had been
+engaged with gun-runners."
+
+BYLES OF BRADFORD, seated on Front Bench below Gangway, pricked up his
+baronial ears. What! More gun-running and nobody either hanged or shot?
+On closer study of question perceived that use of ambiguous word misled
+him. When the SAHIB enquired whether HIS MAJESTY'S ships had been
+"engaged" with gun-runners he did not mean that they had rendered
+assistance in illegal enterprises, nocturnal or other. On the contrary,
+word had directly opposite meaning.
+
+BYLES OF BRADFORD accordingly abandoned intention of putting
+Supplementary Question, reserving his energy for his own searching
+inquiry, which appeared lower down on paper, impartially denouncing
+importation of arms "whether by the Ulster Volunteers or the National
+Volunteers, or both."
+
+[Illustration: "Who said 'gun-running'?"
+
+(_With acknowledgments to a popular picture._)
+
+("BYLES OF BRADFORD pricked up his baronial ears.")]
+
+_Business done._--National Insurance Act Amendment Bill, and Milk and
+Dairies Bill read a second time.
+
+_Wednesday._--Attendance still small, especially on Opposition Benches.
+Hapless Ministerialists, warned by urgent summons hinting at surprises
+in store in the Division Lobby, loyally muster. Nothing happened;
+perhaps in other circumstances something might.
+
+Whilst the Benches are half empty Order Book is crowded. To-day's list
+catalogues no fewer than 142 Bills standing at various stages awaiting
+progress. Thirty-five are Government measures. The rest proofs of the
+energy and legislative capacity of private Members.
+
+Of course at this stage of Session only small proportion of Government
+Bills are likely to reach the Statute Book; those in hands of private
+Members have no chance whatever. Still, imposing display looks well on
+paper. In its various developments adds considerably to amount of
+stationery bill.
+
+_Business done._--In Committee of Supply on Post Office Vote, a trifle
+of L26,151,830, the Holt Report on postmen's demand for higher wages
+discussed.
+
+_Thursday._--Walking down Victoria Street on way to House of Commons,
+as is my custom of an afternoon, I come upon my old friend the
+sandwich-board man. He stands in the shadow of Westminster Abbey
+panoplied back and front with boards making the latest announcement of
+newcomers to Madame Tussaud's. Morning and afternoon, all day long, he
+stands there, the life of London surging past. We generally have a
+little chat, and occasionally he gets a cigar.
+
+One mystery that long piqued me he solved. If you chance upon
+sandwich-board men marching to head-quarters, like old _Kaspar_ at his
+garden gate their day's work done, you will notice they always carry
+their boards upside down. The passer-by, consumed by desire to know what
+truth these proclaim, must needs assume inverted attitude in order to
+profit by announcement. Why do they so scrupulously observe that custom?
+
+"Point of honour," says my sandwich-board man. "What you call class
+interests. We are paid little enough for so many hours' tramp. When the
+hour of deliverance strikes we turn the board upside down. So we do when
+we sit down by crowded thoroughfare to eat our mid-day bread-and-cheese,
+or bread without cheese as may happen. Not going to give the master more
+than he pays for."
+
+What specially attracted me to-day was communication received from
+MEMBER FOR SARK. Says he hears that WINTERTON is about to be added to
+Madame Tussaud's!
+
+[Illustration: THE WINTERTON WAX-WORK.]
+
+Suppose this, next of course to Westminster Abbey, is highest compliment
+possible for public man. On reflection I say not quite. LULU stands on
+triple pinnacle of fame. On one or other the New Zealander, bored with
+the monotony of the ruins of London Bridge, sure to hap upon his name
+writ large.
+
+There is the Harcourt Room in House of Commons, a spacious dining-hall
+cunningly contrived with lack of acoustical properties that make it
+difficult to hear what a conversational neighbour is saying. In time of
+political stress this useful, as preventing lapse into controversy at
+the table. Homeward bound from his last Antarctic trip, ERNEST
+SHACKLETON discovered three towering peaks of snow and ice. One he named
+Mount Asquith; another Mount Henry Lucy; a third Mount Harcourt.
+
+Now a great shipping company, having business on the West Coast of
+Africa, making welcome discovery of a deep water port in the estuary of
+the Bonny River, have named it Port Harcourt.
+
+This concatenation of circumstance more striking than the lonely
+eminence of a pitch in the hall of Madame Tussaud, and a name flaunting
+on her sandwich-board. Moreover than which, as grammarians say, SARK has
+evidently been misinformed. My sandwich-board man has heard nothing of
+reported addition to our Valhalla. Certainly his boards do not confirm
+the pleasing rumour.
+
+_Business done._--HOME SECRETARY announces intention of Government to go
+to fountain-head of trouble with Militant Suffragists. Will proceed by
+civil or criminal action directed against the persons who subscribe
+sinews of war. Loud cheers from both sides approved the plan. Followed
+at short interval by sharp report distinctly heard in Lobby. Was it echo
+of the strident cheer? No. It was the ladies demonstrating afresh their
+eligibility for exercise of the suffrage by attempting to blow up the
+Coronation Chair in Westminster Abbey.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ "Candidates for divinity degrees at Cambridge should, it is
+ proposed, be required to give evidence of a competent general
+ knowledge of Christian theology."--_Times._
+
+Every now and then the authorities get these bright ideas, and thus our
+old Universities keep up to date.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+From a list of entries for the golf championship:--
+
+ "Geo. Oke (Honor Oke)."--_Dundee Courier._
+
+We will if he wins.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ "How can you have precisely the same cottage on the north and the
+ south side of a road? In the one case the larder is to the south,
+ and the butler is melting."
+
+ _Manchester Guardian._
+
+He should return to the wine cellar.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+RED HEAD AND WHITE PAWS.
+
+[_Why should the popular magazines monopolise all the tragic animal
+sketches? Mr. PUNCH'S menagerie is just as ferocious._]
+
+Silence reigned in the woods! Silence! Deep silence! Save for the
+chortle of the night-jar, the tap of the snipe's beak against the
+tree-trunks, the snores of a weary game-keeper, the chirp of the
+burying-beetle, the croak of the bat, the wild laughter of the owl and
+the boom, boom of the frog, deep silence reigned. The crescent moon
+stole silently above the horizon. Wonderful, significant is that silent,
+stealthy approach of the moon. Red Head lumbered from his lair and
+crouched beside the shimmering fire of the furze. A startled grass-snake
+strove to leap out of the way of the monarch of the woods--- a hurried
+crunch and a string of thirty white eggs was left motherless, forlorn.
+
+A careless cock-pheasant gurgled on a bough. In a moment Red Head had
+silently scaled the tree. Two tail feathers alone remained to show an
+awed game-keeper that Red Head had passed that way. A woodcock floated
+silently on the bosom of the tiny lake. He did not note the ripple which
+showed that a powerful animal was swimming towards him. A scream, and
+the woodcock, trumpeting shrilly, is drawn into the depths.
+
+[_Editor._ But what is Red Head?
+
+_The Expert._ I am not quite sure whether he is a tree-climbing fox or a
+swimming badger. Anyhow he might have escaped from a menagerie.]
+
+Peace reigned in the hole of the bumble-bee. Weary with culling sweets
+from the lime-trees, the heather-bloom, the apple-blossom and the
+ivy-flower be had sought his humble couch. Suddenly great claws tear
+away his roof-tree. Red Head is at work. Bees and honey make his nightly
+meal.
+
+White Paws had listened from his burrow. All seemed well. He darted
+forth and bathed in the bright light of the full moon.
+
+[_Editor._ Wasn't it a crescent moon?
+
+_The Expert._ You must make allowances for development in the course of
+a story. Suppose we say it was a full-sized crescent.]
+
+Then White Paws, standing on his hind-legs, danced for sheer joy of
+life.
+
+A leaf bitten from a bough by a sturdy green caterpillar fell suddenly
+to the ground. Like lightning White Paws darted to the top of an
+immemorial elm. In a moment he was reassured and returned to his
+graceful dance in the bosky dell.
+
+But what is this? A hideous red head emanates slowly from a bush. A
+protruding tongue vibrates in the pale moonlight. Weak, curious White
+Paws wonders what this strange thing is. Beware, White Paws! Think of
+thy tender mate and innocent cubs.
+
+Drawn by a fatal curiosity he advances towards it. The awful glimmer of
+Red Head's eye fascinates him. He must see. Nearer he draws and nearer.
+A sudden plunge from the bush--a sickening crunch. Red Head has dined
+for the fifth time in one evening.
+
+Death and Silence reign in the woods. Save for the chortling of the
+night-jar, the chirp of the burying-beetle, the snores of the
+gamekeeper, etc., etc. (see above) one might imagine oneself in the
+solemn stillness of Piccadilly Circus at midnight.
+
+Death and Silence.
+
+[_Editor._ "Yes, but the identity of the protagonists in this Sophoclean
+tragedy is still a little in doubt."
+
+_The Expert._ "Any nature sketch ends satisfactorily with a meal."]
+
+All this time the crescent moon has been swelling silently under the
+watchful stars. It is now at the full. So is Red Head. He has dined five
+times. He sleeps.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+[Illustration: (_Lady Bountiful is entertaining some slum children at
+her lovely place in the country._)
+
+_Sister (to small brother who has just picked a daisy)._ "NAR VEN, 'ERB!
+THE LIDY WON'T ARST YER AGINE IF YER GOW A-PICKIN' 'ER FLOWERS LIKE
+THET!"]
+
+ * * * * *
+
+THE ROCK GARDENESS IN LONDON.
+
+ (_A Ballad of Labels._)
+
+ Dame Fashion, when she calls the tune,
+ Must surely crave my pardon
+ For prisoning me in leafy June
+ Far from my Alpine garden.
+
+ So that in crowded square or street
+ My Fancy's playful mockery
+ Plants all the pavement at my feet
+ With favourites from the rockery.
+
+ And so that, heedless to the claims
+ Of passing conversation,
+ I murmur to myself their names
+ By way of consolation.
+
+ The thread of compliment may run
+ Through many ball-room Babels--
+ I have one language, only one,
+ The language of the labels.
+
+ In Kedar's tents are festive hours,
+ The _noctes_ and the _coenae_;
+ My heart is where _RETUSA_ flowers,
+ And crimson-starred _SILENE_.
+
+ I see the grey stones overhung
+ With lilac and laburnum;
+ I hear the drone of bees among
+ Blue depths of _LITHOSPERNUM_.
+
+ And in the box on opera nights
+ Between each thrilling scene I
+ Recall the miniature delights
+ Of _MENTHA REQUIENII_;
+
+ Admirers find me deaf and dumb
+ To all their honeyed wheedling,
+ I muse on _LONGIFOLIUM_
+ And dream of _STORMONTH SEEDLINGS_.
+
+ And, when they come to hint their loves
+ Through all the usual stages,
+ I wish I were in gardening gloves
+ Among my Saxifrages.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+More Russian Methods.
+
+ "EAST-END DEPUTATION RECEIVED BY WHIP."
+
+ _Daily News and Leader._
+
+ * * * * *
+
+_The Daily News_, in describing an adventure between the CROWN PRINCE of
+Germany (in a motor) and a peasant of Saarbruecken, ventures (with a
+knowledge of the Saarbruecken dialect which we ourselves cannot claim) to
+give the peasant's actual words:--
+
+ "'Ain't 'eard nowt,' said the peasant; 'the lane be narrow like.
+ You must just wait till I be druv ahead.'"
+
+Its likeness to the Loamshire dialect of England will interest the
+philologist.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+AT THE PLAY.
+
+"AN INDIAN SUMMER."
+
+We plunged into the action quickly enough. A breakfast-gong--a sip of
+coffee--a bite of toast--and _Nigel Parry_ locks up his morning's
+love-correspondence; _Helen_, his wife, breaks open the drawer and
+peruses the damning letter; _Nigel_ returns and catches her red-handed.
+After this we took a long breath and lingered over the moral aspect of
+the situation. Indeed, during the next ten years nothing occurred except
+the separation of the couple; the reported decease of the other woman
+(whom we never saw, dead or alive), and the marriage of the boy _Parry_
+with an actress bearing the ascetic name of _Ursula_. We now left the
+old trail in pursuit of this red herring; and for the rest of the play,
+up to the last moment, our attention was concentrated on the attitude of
+the elder heroine to her daughter-in-law, to whom she had taken a
+profound dislike at sight.
+
+But something had to happen if the author was to bring about a
+reconciliation of the original pair and so justify the symbolic title of
+her play. Thinking it out, she seems to have recalled that it is
+customary in these cases to let an accident occur to some junior member
+of the family, over whose prostrate body the old ones may kiss again
+with tears. Accordingly, no sooner had mention been made, quite
+arbitrarily, of an automatic pistol, alleged to be unloaded, than old
+stagers knew by instinct that _Ursula_ would shoot herself
+inadvertently. This occurred with such promptitude that even the author
+recognised that we should not be satisfied with so ingenuous an episode.
+Complications had therefore to be devised at all costs. Young _Parry_
+must be kept in ignorance of the fact that the episode was due to his
+stupidity in leaving the weapon loaded. So _Ursula_ invents a story to
+show that the wound in her thigh was due to a fall downstairs. It is
+true that blood-poisoning--not amongst the more familiar sequelae of a
+fall downstairs--supervened. But the legend served well enough on the
+stage. Among other effects it increased the irritation of the
+mother-in-law, who felt that the accident indicated a criminal
+carelessness in one who was about to make her a grandmother, a condition
+of things that had been brought home to us in the course of some female
+conversation flavoured with the most pungent candour. When the truth
+came out, the proved devotion of the young wife causes an _entente_
+between her and her mother-in-law, accompanied--for reasons which I
+cannot at the moment recall--by a parallel reconciliation between the
+senior couple. Personally, I felt that the threatened "Indian Summer"
+was not likely to be much warmer than the ordinary English kind.
+
+Perhaps the most intriguing feature of the play was the author's
+attitude toward her own sex. Mrs. HORLICK frankly took the man's point
+of view. Never for one moment did she attempt to encourage our sympathy
+for _Helen_ as a wronged wife. Commonly in plays it is the woman,
+married to a man she never loved, who claims the liberty of going her
+own way and getting something out of life. Here it is the man who is the
+victim of a marriage not of his own making (as far as love was
+concerned), and the author, through the mouthpiece of the woman's
+confidante, makes ample excuse for his desire to snatch some happiness
+from fate.
+
+[Illustration: CHILLY FORECAST FOR AN "INDIAN SUMMER."
+
+_Nigel Parry_ Mr. ALLAN AYNESWORTH.
+_Helen Parry_ Miss EDYTH GOODALL.]
+
+Unhappily Mrs. HORLICK has much to learn in stage mechanism. The motive
+of her exits when, as constantly, she wanted to leave any given couple
+alone together, was insufficiently opaque. She began very well and held
+our interest closely for some time; but long before the end we should
+have been worn out but for the childlike charm and attractive
+_gamineries_ of Miss DOROTHY MINTO as _Ursula_. Mr. ALLAN AYNESWORTH,
+who acted easily in the rather ambiguous part of _Nigel Parry_, seemed
+to share our doubts as to the chances of Mrs. HORLICK'S achieving
+popularity at her first attempt, for he confided to us, in a brief
+first-night oration, that she was engaged on another play which he hoped
+to secure.
+
+But no one will question the serious promise of her present comedy, and
+I trust that in any future production she may be assisted by as
+excellent a cast. For they all played their parts, however trivial in
+detail, with great sincerity. Miss GOODALL was the only disappointment,
+though the fault was not altogether her own. At first she was very
+effective, but later her entries came to be a signal for gloom, like
+those of a skeleton emergent from the family cupboard.
+
+"PRINCE IGOR."
+
+All is fair in Love and War, and the only ethical difficulty arises when
+they clash. This was the trouble with _Vladimir Igorievich_, heir of
+_Prince Igor_. Father and son had been taken in battle, and were held
+captive in the camp of the Tartars; but, while _Prince Igor_ felt very
+keenly his position (though treated as a guest rather than a prisoner
+and supplied every evening with spectacular entertainments), _Vladimir_
+beguiled his enforced leisure by falling in love (heartily reciprocated)
+with the daughter of his captor, _Khan Konchak_. An opportunity of
+escape being offered, _Prince Igor_ seizes it, but _Vladimir's_ dear
+heart is divided between passion and patriotism, and before he can make
+up his mind the chance of freedom is gone. A study of the so-called
+"libretto" showed that this was the only thing in the opera that bore
+any resemblance to a dramatic situation. Figure, therefore, my chagrin
+when I discovered that the character of _Vladimir Igorievich_ had been
+cut clean out of the text of the actual opera. I could much more easily
+have dispensed with the buffooneries of a couple of obscure players upon
+the _goudok_ (or prehistoric hurdy-gurdy), who wasted more than enough
+of such time as could be spared from the intervals.
+
+There was no part of adequate importance for M. CHALIAPINE, so he
+doubled the _roles_ of _Galitsky_, the swaggering and dissolute
+brother-in-law that _Prince Igor_ left behind when he went to the wars,
+and _Khan Konchak_, most magnanimous of barbarians. Neither character
+gave scope for the particular subtlety of which (as he proves in _Boris
+Godounov_) M. CHALIAPINE is the sole master among male operatic singers.
+But to each he brought that gift of the great manner, that ease and
+splendour of bearing, and those superb qualities of voice which, found
+together, give him a place apart from his kind.
+
+Of the rest, M. PAUL ANDREEV, as _Prince Igor_, gave his plaint of
+captivity with a noble pathos. As for the chorus, it sang with the
+singleness and intensity of spirit which are only possible to a
+national chorus in national opera, and which (I hope) are the envy of
+the cosmopolitans of Covent Garden.
+
+The _clou_ of the evening was the ballet, already well-known, of the
+Polovtsy warriors, executed with the extreme of fanatic fervour and
+frenzy. The art of M. MICHEL FOKINE can turn his Russians into Tartars
+without a scratch of the skin. BORODINE'S music, taking on a more
+barbaric quality as the action travelled further East, here touched its
+climax, and the final scene, where _Prince Igor_ returns home and
+resumes the embraces of his queen, (a model of fidelity), was of the
+character of a sedative.
+
+"DAPHNIS ET CHLOE."
+
+Those who complained--I speak of the few whose critical faculties had
+not been paralysed by M. NIJINSKI--that in _L'Apres-midi d'un Faune_
+the limitations of plastic Art (necessarily confined to stationary forms)
+were forced upon an art that primarily deals with motion, will have
+little of the same fault to find in _Daphnis et Chloe._ Here there is no
+fixed or formal posing, if we except the attitude adopted (after a
+preliminary and irrelevant twiddle) by certain Nymphs to indicate,
+appropriately enough, their grief over the inanimate form of _Daphnis_.
+The dances in which, to the mutual suspicion of the lovers, _Chloe_ was
+circled by the men and _Daphnis_ by the maidens, were a pure delight.
+There was one movement, when heads were tossed back and then brought
+swiftly forward over hollowed breasts and lifted knees that had in it an
+exquisite fleeting beauty. But memory holds best the grace of the
+simpler and more elemental movements, the airy swing and poise of feet
+and limbs in straight flight, linked hands outstretched.
+
+In the _pas seul_ competition M. ADOLPH BOLM as _Darkon_ did some
+astonishing feats which made the performance of M. FOKINE as _Daphnis_
+seem relatively tame and conventional; and if I, instead of _Chloe_, had
+been the judge I should have awarded the palm to the former. I am sure
+that _Chloe_ was prejudiced, though certainly _Darkon_ was a very rude
+and hirsute shepherd, and had none of _Daphnis'_ pretty ways.
+
+The dancing of the brigands was in excellent contrast with the methods
+of the pastoral Greeks. I will not, like the programme, distinguish them
+as "Brigands with Lances," "Brigands with Bows" and "Young Brigands." To
+me they were all alike very perfect examples of the profession; though I
+admit that the flight of their spears was not always as deadly as it
+should have been, and that one of the arrows refused to go off the
+string and had to be thrown by hand into the wings.
+
+It is not easy at a first performance to take in everything with both
+eye and ear, and I shall excuse myself from attempting to do justice to
+M. RAVEL'S music. But I was free (the curtain being down) to listen to
+one long orchestral passage which followed the capture of _Chloe_. It
+was of the nature of a dirge, and it seemed to me to suggest very
+cleverly the sorrows of a poultry-yard. I suppose _Chloe_ must have been
+in the habit of feeding them and they missed her.
+
+I hate to say one word of disparagement about a performance for which I
+could never be sufficiently grateful. But I agree with a friend of mine
+who complained to me of the way in which _Pan_ was presented. It was
+this beneficent god who caused a panic among the brigands and so enabled
+_Chloe_ to return to her friends, though I don't know why he ever let
+her be captured, for he was there at the time. Well, I agree that he
+ought to have been represented by something more satisfactory than a
+half-length portrait painted on a huge travelling plank of pasteboard,
+which was pushed about from Arcadia to Scythia (if this was the
+brigands' address) and back again, appearing in the limelight, when
+required, like a whisky sky-sign.
+
+O. S.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+[Illustration: "CAN YOU LEND ME A COUPLE O' BOB, GEORGE? I'VE JUST HAD
+MY POCKET PICKED."]
+
+ * * * * *
+
+TEMPORA MUTANTUR.
+
+[Suggested by recent correspondence in a leading journal.]
+
+WHY USE SPECS?
+
+_A Centenarian's Testimony to the Editor of "The Chimes."_
+
+SIR,--I was 117 on the 1st of April and have never used any artificial
+aid to eyesight, yet I can read the articles for ladies on the Court
+Circular page of your splendid publication without turning a hair. It is
+true that I am, and have always been, of an iron constitution, having
+practically dispensed with sleep for the last sixty years. For some
+considerable time I have been able to do without physical sustenance as
+well, owing to the extraordinarily nutritious nature of the contents of
+your superb South American Encyclopaedias.
+
+Yours faithfully,
+
+NESTOR PARR.
+
+
+A PERFECT CURE.
+
+_To the Editor of "The Chimes."_
+
+SIR,--Is my experience worth recording? Until two or three years ago I
+was entirely dependent on spectacles, and suffered unspeakable
+inconvenience if I happened to mislay them. But since I became a
+subscriber to your unique and unparalleled organ I have found my
+eyesight so marvellously improved that I am now able to discard glasses
+entirely. The extraordinary part of the business is this, that if I take
+up any other paper I am utterly unable to decipher a word. As my wife
+cleverly put it the other day, of all the wonderful spectacles in the
+world the new _Chimes_ is the most amazing.
+
+Yours gratefully, VERAX.
+
+
+FROM AN ARTIFICIAL EYE-MAKER.
+
+_To the Editor of "The Chimes,"_
+
+SIR,--An extraordinary case of recovery of sight was brought to my
+knowledge yesterday by an esteemed customer. About thirty years ago I
+supplied him with an artificial eye to replace one which he lost while
+duck-shooting in the Canary Islands. About six months ago he lost the
+remaining sound eye through a blow from a golf-ball. I accordingly
+fitted him with a second artificial eye, and you may imagine my surprise
+when he came round to my place of business a few days later by himself
+and read aloud to me the whole of your admirable leading article on
+"Braces _v._ Belts." The therapeutic effect of high-class journalism on
+myopic patients has, I believe, been noted by Professor Hagenstreicher,
+the famous German oculist, but this is, I believe, the first instance on
+record of a patient recovering his sight after both eyes had been
+removed.
+
+I am, Sir, etc., ANNAN EYAS.
+
+
+CATARACT ARRESTED.
+
+_To the Editor of "The Chimes."_
+
+SIR,--Yesterday, which happened to be my ninety-seventh birthday, I
+spent in reading your wonderful Potted Meat Supplement from cover to
+cover. As there is more printed matter in it than in Mr. DE MORGAN'S
+latest novel you might expect to hear that I am suffering to-day from
+eye-strain. On the contrary the symptoms of incipient cataract, which
+declared themselves a few months ago, have entirely disappeared, and I
+was able to see the French coast distinctly this morning from my house
+on the sea-front.
+
+Yours truthfully,
+
+_Folkestone._ JUDITH FITZSIMONS.
+
+
+FROM OUR OLDEST SUBSCRIBER.
+
+_To the Editor of "The Chimes."_
+
+SIR,--I was 165 last birthday. I was in the merchant marine for upwards
+of eighty years, and then became a Swedenborgian, but never had occasion
+to consult an oculist. I was born in the reign of George II., or was it
+Queen Anne?--I really forget which. My wife is 163, and we walk out,
+when weather permits, and seldom omit church on Sundays. We both still
+read your "Births, Deaths, and Marriages," and consider that they are
+the best.
+
+Yours venerably, W. A. G.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+Another Suffragette Outrage.
+
+ "Among the elementary and fundamental rights and duties are (_sic_)
+ the security of the person. But it is violated as much by he
+ (_sic_) or she (_sic_) who challenges assault as by he (_sic_) or
+ she (_sic_) who assaults."
+
+The five "_sics_" are ours. The rest belongs to the leader-writer of
+_The Morning Post_, on whom militancy seems to have had a painful
+effect.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ "A Central News telegram from Montreal states that Miss Edith
+ Shaughnessy, daughter of Sir Thomas Shaughnessy, was married at St.
+ James's Roman Catholic Cathedral yesterday to Mr. W. H."--_Morning
+ Post._
+
+From the wedding presents, which were both numerous and costly: "Mr. W.
+Shakespeare to Bridegroom--Sonnets."
+
+ * * * * *
+
+A correspondent in _The Exchange and Mart_ writes:--
+
+ "At night Tree-Frogs are active and utter various sounds, some a
+ pleasing chirrup (like mine), others a loud shriek."
+
+We shall hope to hear the writer's pleasing chirrup in Bouverie Street
+some day.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ADVENTURERS.
+
+ It must have been off a pirate trip,
+ In a life forgot 'o me,
+ That I saw the Barbary pirate ship
+ Come close-hauled out of the sea;
+ She crawled in under a goat-cropped scaur
+ Beneath the fisher-huts,
+ And she sent a dozen o' men ashore
+ To fill her water-butts.
+
+ I clambered up where the cliff sprung sheer
+ Till I looked upon her decks
+ And saw the plunder of half-a-year
+ And the loot of her scuttled wrecks;
+ There were gems and ivory, plate and pearl,
+ And Tyrian rugs a-pile,
+ And, set in the midst, was a milk-white girl,
+ The loot of a Grecian isle.
+
+ As white as the breasted terns that flit
+ Was the smooth arm's rounded shape
+ As she idly played with a pomegranate
+ To anger a chained grey ape;
+ And her Sun-God's self for diadem
+ Had kissed her curls to gold;
+ But blue--sea-blue as the sapphire gem,
+ Her eyes were cold, sea-cold.
+
+ And, gleam of shoulder and glint of tress,
+ They sailed ere the sun went down
+ And sold her, same as a black negress,
+ For the marts o' Carthage town,
+ Where she lived, mayhap, of her indolent grace,
+ Content with her silks and rings,
+ Or rose, by way of her wits, to place
+ Her foot on the necks of kings.
+
+ The deuce can tell you how this may be,
+ 'Tis far as I take the tale;
+ For it's lives upon lives ago, you see,
+ That the Barbary men set sail;
+ So I only know she was ivory white,
+ As white as a sea-bird lone;
+ And her eyes were wonderful blue and bright
+ And hard as a sapphire stone.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+The New Rowing.
+
+ "Give a last pull at the oar with clenched teeth and knit
+ muscles."--_The Young Man._
+
+_The Cork Examiner_ on Sir PERCY SCOTT'S letter:--
+
+ "'If a battleships is not safe either on the high seas or in
+ rabour,' he asks, 'what is the use of a battlesh?'"
+
+To be more accurate, this is how one puts it to one's neighbour after
+dinner, when--the ladies having removed themselves, and the necessity
+for mere social chit-chat being over--we men are at last able to devote
+ourselves to the affairs of empire.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+[Illustration: LIGHT CAR TRIALS.
+
+_Spectator_ (_to exhausted competitor reduced to running on trial
+hill_). "WHAT WOULD YOU SAY IF THAT CAR RAN AWAY FROM YOU?"
+
+_Competitor._ "THANK HEAVEN!"]
+
+ * * * * *
+
+OUR BOOKING-OFFICE.
+
+(_By Mr. Punch's Staff of Learned Clerks._)
+
+The title of a book should be a guide to its contents, a simple enough
+rule which some authors overlook in their anxiety to start being clever
+and eccentric on the very outside cover. The book-buying public will
+appreciate Miss M. BETHAM-EDWARDS' title, _From an Islington Window,
+Pages of Reminiscent Romance_ (SMITH, ELDER), and will gather from it
+that this is a book for those who prefer a long life and a quiet one to
+the short and thrilling. Incidentally I am relieved from divulging any
+of the plots in order to demonstrate the nature of the twelve short
+pieces embodied; enough to quote two typical sub-titles, "Mr. Lovejoy's
+Love-story" and "Miss Prime," and to put upon the whole the label of the
+author's own choice, "Early Victorian." Everybody knows where and what
+Islington is and the sort of minor tragedy and comedy that would be
+likely to occur in the lives of its inhabitants in the last reign but
+one. No one would look there for epoch-making crises, but many will find
+a longed-for relief from the speeding-up tendencies of modern romance.
+Lastly, but for a tendency at times to affectation, the style of the
+writer is as graceful and elegant as her themes are homely and serene,
+and that, I think, is all about it.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+Mr. W. E. NORRIS is subtle; at least if my idea of the genesis of
+_Barbara and Company_ (CONSTABLE) is the right one. I believe, then,
+that Mr. NORRIS found himself possessed of plots sufficient for a number
+of agreeable short stories, but that, knowing short stories to be more
+or less a drug in the market, he very skilfully united them into one by
+the simple process of making all their characters friends of _Barbara_.
+Nothing could be more effective. For example, Mr. NORRIS thinks what fun
+it would be to describe a race ridden by two unwilling suitors, the
+prize to be the lady's heart, which neither in the least wishes to win.
+Promptly _Miss Ormesby_, the heroine, is asked down on a visit to
+_Barbara_, and the story is told, most amusingly and well, in a couple
+of chapters. Again, the pathetic and moving tale of _Miss Nellie
+Mercer_, the nameless companion, who blossomed into fierce renown as
+_Senorita Mercedes_, the dancer, and died of it. Why should not this
+same _Barbara_ have adopted the parentless girl in childhood? It is all
+simplicity itself. Perhaps you may object that the useful _Barbara_
+shows some signs of being a little overworked, and that few women are
+likely to have had quite so adventurous a company of friends. In this
+case I shall have nothing to urge, except that, so far as I am
+personally concerned, Mr. NORRIS has such a way with him that if he
+chose to people _Barbara's_ drawing-room with the persons of the
+_Arabian Nights_ he could probably convince me that there was nothing
+very much out of the ordinary in that assembly. And, after all, pianists
+and writers and actors, all the kind of folk with whom _Barbara_
+surrounded herself, are precisely those to whom short stories should,
+and do, happen. Next time, however, I hope Mr. NORRIS'S inspiration will
+be less fragmentary but equally happy.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+_Johnnie Maddison_ (SMITH, ELDER) was nice. And here and now I wish to
+propose a vote of thanks to Mr. JOHN HASLETTE for having the uncommon
+pluck to create a hero neither handsome nor strong. Brave of course he
+had to be, or how should that which is written in the proverbs have
+been fulfilled, but "he was slight," "he stooped a little," "he had an
+ordinary face." (What hopes that brings to the hearts of some of us!)
+For the rest, he lived in Sta. Malua, to which tropical port came _Molly
+Hatherall_, intending to be married to a handsome scamp who spent all
+his salary as a mining engineer and all the money he could borrow from
+friends in losing games of poker to a man who made a profession of
+winning them. Why he should have wanted to do this (for it seemed to be
+his solitary serious vice) in a place like Sta. Malua I cannot imagine.
+But there it is. For one reason or another the marriage was delayed, and
+after a long mental struggle _Jno. Maddison_, who had fallen in love
+with _Molly_, decided to tell her what kind of man her idol of romantic
+chivalry really was. It raises, you see, a nice point of ethics, since
+_Edmund Serge_ was popular at the club and, except for the brand of the
+poker on his forehead, a pretty good fellow. Unfortunately Mr. HASLETTE
+rudely slices the knot of his difficulty by making _Edmund_ embezzle
+money and abscond at the critical point of the story. The telling of the
+yarn is a little humdrum, but gains from a comparative leniency in the
+matter of local colour--for I feel that Sta. Malua is the sort of place
+which might have been rather ruthless about this--and the suspended
+banns keep the interest fairly warm. But I am not sure that _Johnnie
+Maddison_ might not have been nicer if he had escaped a suspicion of
+priggishness and lost a trifle now and then at progressive whist.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+In Miss ELEANOR MORDAUNT'S new volume called _The Island_ (HEINEMANN)
+all the tales have a common interest through their association with a
+corner of Empire easily recognisable by those who have ever seen it. I
+remember how greatly I have already admired Miss MORDAUNT'S power of
+vivid and picturesque scene-painting; there are several stories in this
+book that show it at its best. I wish I could avoid adding that there
+are others that seem to me entirely unworthy of their author, at least
+for any other purpose than that of boiling the pot. One of the best of
+the tales, "A Reversion," is both dramatic and realistic; it bears a
+strong resemblance to a sketch that recently made a successful
+appearance at the Hippodrome; indeed the good qualities of Miss
+MORDAUNT'S stories are precisely those that would help their development
+into excellent little plays. One thing that I cannot help wishing is
+that the writer had trusted a little more to my imaginative
+intelligence. There is a certain kind of detail that is best confided to
+this sanctuary, and Miss MORDAUNT'S difficulty seems to have been in
+realising when all the sayable things had been said. At least one of the
+stories plunges considerably beyond the limit of discretion and even
+good taste. But the heat and the colour, the thrills and the devastating
+_ennui_ of life for the English in the island, are as well rendered as
+anything I remember in the fiction of Empire. For this alone there
+should be a warm welcome for the collection, with all its faults, both
+from those who know the original and those who need help in imagining
+it.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+_The Purple Frogs_ (HEATH, CRANTON AND OUSELEY) I can only describe as
+the most exasperating, not to say maddening, product of modern fiction.
+What on earth Messrs. H. W. WESTBROOK and LAWRENCE GROSSMITH, the joint
+authors, mean by it I have not the ghost of an idea. Occasionally signs
+are detectable that the whole thing is a practical joke; still more
+occasionally it even promises to become mildly amusing; and then again
+one is confronted with an incident (such as the visit of the armed
+maniac to the house of _Isambard Flanders_) serious to the point of
+melodrama. Not for pages and chapters did I discover any excuse for the
+title; and even then not much. But it appeared eventually that _Isambard
+Flanders_ was jealous of the friendship between his wife, _Cicely_, and
+_Stephen_, a young man who produced film-dramas; and that in order to
+score off them he wrote a novel called _The Purple Frogs_, in which he
+embodied his suspicions. The last half of the volume is occupied with
+this tale within a tale. Here possibly we have a key to the purpose of
+the collaboration. Anyhow, I permitted myself to form a theory that Mr.
+WESTBROOK (or Mr. GROSSMITH) had written a novel too exiguous for
+separate publication, and in this dilemma had appealed to Mr. GROSSMITH
+(or Mr. WESTBROOK) to provide a setting. But which wrote which, and
+why--these are problems that remain inscrutable. Yet another is
+furnished by the fact that Miss ELLA KING HALL has composed for the main
+story six "illustrations in music," duly reproduced. You may with luck
+be able to smile a little at the quaintness of these. But on the
+title-page they are said to be "arranged from the MS. notes of _Botolf
+Glenfield."_ And _Glenfield_, being only a character in the novel
+written by _Flanders_, couldn't possibly ... Help!
+
+ * * * * *
+
+[Illustration: THE CUBIST PHOTOGRAPHER.]
+
+ * * * * *
+
+SERENITY.
+
+ A singular accident happened to-day,
+ Distressing to witness (I chanced to be there).
+ A motor-'bus entered a tea-shop, and lay
+ In some need of repair.
+
+ It was loaded with passengers, outside and in,
+ Who straightway indulged in much turbulent talk;
+ The latter declared that for less than a pin
+ They would get out and walk.
+
+ But the customers who, with deplorable zest,
+ Of tea and hot crumpets were taking their fill,
+ Regarding the scene as an innocent jest,
+ Simply laughed themselves ill.
+
+ Though I'm dreadfully nervous and suffer a shock
+ At the slightest alarm, through that terrible fuss
+ I was strangely composed and, as still as a rock,--
+ I lay under the 'bus.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI, VOL.
+146, JUNE 17, 1914***
+
+
+******* This file should be named 24453.txt or 24453.zip *******
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