* * * * *

The fairies have never A penny to spend.

  The fairies have never a penny to spend,
    They haven’t a thing put by,
  But theirs is the dower of bird and of flower,
    And theirs are the earth and the sky. 
  And though you should live in a palace of gold
    Or sleep in a dried-up ditch,
  You could never be poor as the fairies are,
        And never as rich.

  Since ever and ever the world began
    They have danced like a ribbon of flame,
  They have sung their song through the centuries long,
    And yet it is never the same. 
  And though you be foolish or though you be wise,
    With hair of silver or gold,
  You could never be young as the fairies are
        And never as old.

R. F.

* * * * *

Rara Avis.

From a cigarette-card:—­

    “Reed warbler.

    “Acrocephalus streperus.

    “This bird is found in nearly every part of the British Islands. 
    It builds a nest about a foot off the ground in the reed beds,
    and is formed of grass, horse hair and sometimes feathers.”

* * * * *

From a list of medallists of the new Order of the British Empire:—­

    “G.  P. Hamlet.—­For courage in persisting with dangerous work,
    with a certainty of suffering from poisoning as a result.”

Just like his illustrious namesake.

* * * * *

    “Melbourne, Friday.

“The House of Representatives to-day passed the second reading of the War Times Profits Tax Assessment Bill.  The tax will be 50 per cent. for the year ending June 30, 191161, and 75 per cent. for afterwards.—­Reuter.”

    Aberdeen Paper.

Well, well, we need not worry.

* * * * *

    “What is being fought out is a long-drawn battle for the
    important shipping port of Trieste, with the whole of the
    railway and road communications of the Iberian Peninsula.”

    The People.

Rather a shock for Madrid.

* * * * *

[Illustration:  THE REVERSE OF THE MEDAL.

OPTIMISTIC GERMAN (reading paper). “THIS IS KOLOSSAL!  OUR IRRESISTIBLE
AIRMEN HAVE AGAIN, FOR THE TWENTIETH TIME, DESTROYED LONDON.”

GLOOMY DITTO.  “THAT BEING SO, LET’S HOPE THEY’LL STOP THOSE CURSED
BRITISH AIRMEN FROM BOMBING OUR LINES EVERY DAY AND NIGHT.”]

* * * * *

A STUDY IN SYMMETRY.

The following story, however improbable it may seem to you, is true.