[Illustration: 

“Have you brought me any souvenirs?”

“Only this little bullet that the doctor took out of my side.”

“I wish it had been a German helmet.”]

The tenderness with which King Constantine is still treated, even after the riot in Athens in which our bluejackets have been badly mishandled, is taxing the patience of moderate men.  Mr. Punch, for example, exasperated by the cumulative effect of Tino’s misdeeds, has been goaded into making a formidable forecast of surrender or exit: 

  You say your single aim is just to use
    Your regal gifts for your beloved nation;
  Why, then, I see the obvious line to choose,
    Meaning, of course, the path of abdication;
  Make up your so-called mind—­I frankly would—­
  To leave your country for your country’s good.

The German Emperor was prevented from being present at the funeral of the late Emperor Francis Joseph by a chill.  One is tempted to think that in a lucid interval of self-criticism William of Hohenzollern may have wished to spare his aged victim this crowning mockery.

Motto for Meatless Days:  “The time is out of joint.”  This is a raison de plus for establishing an Entente in the kitchen and getting Marianne to show Britannia how to cook a cabbage.

January, 1917.

Though the chariots of War still drive heavily, 1917 finds the Allies in good heart—­“war-weary but war-hardened.”  The long agony of Verdun has ended in triumph for the French, and Great Britain has answered the Peace Talk of Berlin by calling a War Conference of the Empire.  The New Year has brought us a new Prime Minister, a new Cabinet, a new style of Minister.  Captains of Commerce are diverted from their own business for the benefit of the country.  In spite of all rumours to the contrary Lord Northcliffe remains outside the new Government, but his interest in it is, at present, friendly.  It is very well understood, however, that everyone must behave.  And in this context Mr. Punch feels that a tribute is due to the outgoing Premier.  Always reserved and intent, he discouraged Press gossip to such a degree as actually to have turned the key on the Tenth Muse.  Interviewers had no chance.  He came into office, held it and left it without a single concession to Demos’ love of personalia.

[Illustration:  THE DAWN OF DOUBT

GRETCHEN:  “I wonder if this gentleman really is my good angel after all!”]

Germany has not yet changed her Chancellor, though he is being bitterly attacked for his “silly ideas of humanity”—­and her rulers have certainly shown no change of heart.  General von Bissing’s retirement from Belgium is due to health, not repentance.  The Kaiser still talks of his “conscience” and “courage” in freeing the world from the pressure which weighs upon all.  He is still the same Kaiser and Constantine the same “Tino,” who, as the Berliner Tageblatt bluntly remarks, “has as much right to be heard as a common criminal.”  Yet signs are not wanting of misgivings in the German people.