Where shattered homes and ruins be
    She fights through dark and desperate days;
  Beside the watchers on the sea
    She guards the Channel’s narrow ways.

  Through iron hail and shattering shell,
    Where the dull earth is stained with red,
  Fearless she fronts the gates of Hell
    And shields the unforgotten dead.

  So stands she, with her all at stake,
    And battles for her own dear life,
  That by one victory she may make
    For evermore an end of strife.

[Illustration:  THE CHILDREN’S PEACE

PEACE:  “I’m glad that they, at least, have their Christmas unspoiled.”]

Yet we have our minor war gains in the temporary disappearance of cranks and faddists, some of whom have sunk without a ripple.  And though the Press Censor’s suppressions and delays and inconsistencies provoke discontent in the House and out of it, food for mirth turns up constantly in unexpected quarters.  The Crown Prince tells an American interviewer that there is no War Party in Germany, nor has there ever been.  The German General Staff have begun to disguise set-backs under the convenient euphemism that the situation has developed “according to expectation.”  An English village worthy, discussing the prospects of invasion, comes to the reassuring conclusion that “there can’t be no battle in these parts, Jarge, for there bain’t no field suitable, as you may say; an’ Squire, ’e won’t lend ’em the use of ’is park.”  The troubles of neutrality are neatly summed up in a paper in a recent geography examination.  “Holland is a low country, in fact it is such a very low country that it is no wonder that it is dammed all round.”

The trials of mistresses on the home front are happily described in the reply of a child to a small visitor who inquired after her mother.  “Thank you, poor mummie’s a bit below herself this morning—­what with the cook and the Kaiser.”

[Illustration: 

POMPOUS LADY:  “I shall descend at Knightsbridge.”

TOMMY (aside):  “Takes ‘erself for a bloomin’ Zeppelin!”]

We have to thank an ingenious correspondent for drawing up the following “credibility index” for the guidance of perplexed newspaper readers: 

  London, Paris, or Petrograd (official) 100
    " " " (semi-official) 50
  Berlin (official) 25
  It is believed in military circles here that—­ 24
  A correspondent that has just returned from the
    firing-line tells me that—­ 18
  Our correspondent at Rome announces that—­ 11
  Berlin (unofficial) 10
  I learn from a neutral merchant that—­ 7
  A story is current in Venice to the effect that—­ 5
  It is rumoured that—­ 4
  I have heard to-day from a reliable source that—­ 3
  I learn on unassailable authority that—­ 2
  It is rumoured in Rotterdam that—­ 1
  Wolff’s Bureau states that—­ 0