Does something in him seem to know those red and arid lands
  Where dust of ancient cities sleeps beneath the drifted sands? 
  Do Kurdish girls with lustrous eyes beneath their drooping lids
  And Eastern babes look strangely like the Missis and the kids?

  I wonder if the waving palms, when desert winds do blow,
  In their dry rustling seem to sing a song he used to know;
  Or does he only curse the heat and wish that he were laid
  Beneath the spread of RUFUS’ oaks or Harewood’s beechen shade?

  Well, luck be with the gipsy man and lead him safely home
  To the old familiar caravan and ways he used to roam,
  And bring him as it brought his sires from their far first abode
  To where the gipsy camp-fires burn along the Portsmouth Road.

C. F. S.

* * * * *

    “The Premier’s principal speech was made in St. Andrew’s Hall,
    where he was presented with the Freedam of the
    City.”—­Liverpool Post and Mercury.

Which he promptly passed on to the enemy.

* * * * *

    “Skilled non-workers all over the Union have for some time been
    in great demand, and enough of them are not available at the
    present time.”—­Rand Daily Mail.

There are still a few that the old country could spare.

* * * * *

    “Rhode Island Red, 200 year old pullets, laying, 5s.
    each.”—­Nottingham Guardian.

We fancy it must have been one of these veterans that we met at dinner the other night.

* * * * *

[Illustration:  THE BRUSILOFF HUG.  THE KAISER.  “I’M ALL FOR FRATERNISATION, BUT I CALL THIS OVERDOING IT.”]

* * * * *

ESSENCE OF PARLIAMENT.

Monday, July 2nd.—­On the Finance Bill Mr. BONAR LAW exhibited a conciliatory disposition; and, indignantly disclaiming the character of a kill-joy, made several welcome concessions to the taxpayer.  The late increase in the tobacco duty is to be halved, so that the modest smoker may hope to fill his pipe for a penny less per ounce.  This hope, of course, is dependent upon the decision of the all-powerful Trust.

[Illustration:  NO KILL-JOY.  MR. BONAR LAW.]

The Entertainments Tax also is to be modified, chiefly in its higher regions.  Intimately connected with this question is the case of the “deadhead,” argued with the zeal that is according to knowledge by that eminent playwright, Mr. HEMMERDE, who knows all about the free-list and its services in “enabling the management to keep the house properly dressed”—­this refers, of course, to the front of the house—­during the doubtful first weeks of a new play.

Mr. HOGGE was in his place again.  It had been reported that, consequent upon a hasty pledge to remain in Liverpool until his candidate was returned, he was now doomed for ever to wander an unquiet sprite upon the banks of Mersey.  But he has wisely determined that Parliament must not suffer to please his private whim.