The vogue of margarine is now explained.

* * * * *

    “Servant (general), lady, two gentlemen; no starch.”—­Scotsman.

We are glad to see that mistresses are taking a firm line against the prevailing stiffness of manners below stairs.

* * * * *

    “Of 9,048 houses in Newport only 5,130 are occupied by one
    family.”—­The Western Mail.

If full advantage were taken of the housing accommodation it appears that Newport would contain almost two nowadays.

* * * * *

GERMAN OFFICIAL.

    “Only a slight gain near Poelcapelle, 300 inches deep by 1,200
    inches wide, remains to the enemy.”—­Nottingham Evening Post.

But by this time the Germans have discovered that, when they give him an inch, Sir DOUGLAS HAIG takes an ell.

* * * * *

MORE TALK WITH GERMAN PEACEMONGERS.

(Including an incidental reference to Mr. H.G.  WELLS.)

[The writer has received a pontifical brochure by Mr. WELLS, reprinted from The Daily News, sold by the International Free Trade League and entitled “A Reasonable Man’s Peace”, in which the following passage occurs:—­“The conditions of peace can now be stated in general terms that are as acceptable to a reasonable man in Berlin as they are to a reasonable man in Paris or London or Petrograd....  Why, then, does the waste and killing go on?  Why is not the Peace Conference sitting now?  Manifestly because a small minority of people in positions of peculiar advantage in positions of trust and authority, prevent or delay its assembling.”]

  When with another winter’s horror nearing
    Once more you send along the old, old dove
  And frame with bloody lips that hide their leering
        A canticle of love;

  It has no doubt a most seductive cadence,
    But we who look for argument by fact
  We miss conciliation’s artful aidance,
        We note a want of tact.

  Your words are redolent of pious unction;
    Your deeds, your infamies, by sea and shore,
  Go gaily on without the least compunction
        Just as they went before.

  We are not caught with olive-buds for baiting;
    Something is needed just a shade less crude,
  Something, for instance, faintly indicating
        The penitential mood.

  While still the stain is on your hands extended
    We’ll hold no commerce with your frigid spells,
  Even though such a move were recommended
        By Mr. H.G.  WELLS.

  Rather, without a break, like Mr. Britling
    (Though the brave wooden sword his author drew
  Seems to have undergone a certain whittling),
        We mean to “see it through.”

  O.S.