“It is most important that there should be no suppression of the emotional nature.  Rob politics of emotion and the newspapers are not worth reading; and it must not be forgotten that what Westminster does to-day is read of by the British Empire to-morrow.  No effort should be spared to awaken the artistic sense of the pupils.  If the pictures and sculptures in and about the corridors of the Houses of Parliament are not enough, let others be prepared.  No expense should be spared.  For my part I see no reason why a little music should not be introduced occasionally.

“Freedom of opinion should also be encouraged.  One fault of our educational system has been its tendency to produce mass-thinking.  This will never do among our Unionist Members of Parliament.  Yes, I would even advocate that some of the seniors should be allowed to read The Herald if they wished to do so, and I question whether The Nation would do any of them any harm.”

* * * * *

COMMERCIAL CANDOUR.

Notice in a watchmaker’s window:—­

    “No repairs except to watches recently purchased.”

Advertisement in Provincial Paper:—­

    “WALK IN,

    But you will be happier when you go out.”

* * * * *

“An extraordinary plague of rats prevails on the Sheffield Corporation rubbish tips at Killamarsh.  The rodents have constructed beaten tracks eight inches wide, extending to corn stacks on a local farm, where they have wrought munch havoc.”—­Local Paper.

Quite the right epithet, we feel sure.

* * * * *

“We make a speciality of gorillas and chimpanzees.  They are wonderfully intelligent and can be trained right up to the human standard in all except speech.  One of our directors, Mr. ——­, and his wife are both able to only be tamed to live in captivity.”—­Irish Paper.

A perusal of the above paragraph is said to have stimulated Mr. ——­’s gift of speech in a startling degree.

* * * * *

[Illustration:  IF THE POETS STRUCK WOULD THE MILITARY BE CALLED IN TO DO THEIR WORK?]

* * * * *

FATHER THAMES TALKS.

  One day last week, it might be Wed-
    nesday, or even Friday,
  A day not yet entirely dead,
    A shortly-doomed-to-die day,
  The Naiad who lay stretched in dream
    Awoke and gave a shiver—­
  The Naiad who has charge of stream
    And rivulet and river.

I had intended to write the whole of this article in verse, of which the above is a shocking sample, but, on the whole, I think I will go on in prose.  When you have committed yourself to double rhymes, prose is the easier medium.  In verse it is more difficult to stick to your subject, and as the subject in this case is a very important one and deserves to be stuck to, I shall do the rest in prose.