And ever since that grievous hour,
    Heigh-o, fiddlededee! 
  Ever since that grievous hour
  When the lovely Lady was in their power
  They’ve never put nobody in the Tower,
    Heigh-o, fiddlededee!

* * * * *

    Flattery from the Front.

    “I got your parcel quite undamaged, and it came at a time when we were
    short of grub.  I could have eaten a dead monkey, so your cake came in
    very useful.”

* * * * *

“Major-General (Temporary General) Sir Hugh de la Poer Bough, K.C.B., whose name appears in the New Year list of honours as being promoted to the rank of lieutenant-general, is a second cousin of Major-General Hugh Sutlej Kough.”—­Liverpool Echo.

It is rumoured that he is also connected with that famous fighting family the GOUGHS.

* * * * *

A POSTSCRIPT.

(Suggested by a later list of L. & N.W.R. stations which have been closed.)

  A further list of closured stations
  Elicits further protestations. 
  Blank desolation, grim and stark,
  Broods sadly o’er Carpenders Park,
  And Friezland, as perhaps is meet,
  Is suffering badly from cold feet. 
  The population of Rhosneigr
  Is raging like a wounded tiger;
  And those who used to book at Llong
  Are using language, loud and strong,
  While residents around Chalk Farm
  Are filled with anguish and alarm.

  N.B.  In our anterior lay
  One letter somehow went astray;
  We therefore now apologise;
  ’Tis Aspley, and not Apsley, Guise.

* * * * *

From an article on “Greece and Belgium":—­

    “King Tino has a black record of blood and treachery to answer, and to
    compare his case with that of King Leopold is the blackest outrage of
    all.”—­Star.

Personally we think that it were blacker still to compare his case with that of KING ALBERT.

* * * * *

[Illustration:  “HI!  BILL!  DON’T COME DOWN THIS LADDER.  I’VE TOOK IT AWAY.”]

* * * * *

THE LITTLE RIFT.

My wife and I are in perfect agreement about everything.  We are like the Allied Ministers who meet at Paris; we always “arrive at a complete understanding” in all matters of policy.  When strict economy was enjoined upon us I moved my desk into the dining-room to save a fire.  She made a summer hat out of a bit of my old Panama, encased in the remnants of an evening gown.  All was well.

I should be giving you a wrong impression altogether if I were to suggest that there was the slightest difference of opinion between us.  I most solemnly declare that I am as good a patriot as she is.  Still, as time goes on, I do feel a certain uneasiness, a suggestion of a new domestic element that needs watching.