“Miss ——­ played the other works mentioned also, but while Miss ——­ can play these better than most—­by far—­she brings the purest of fresh-air feeling into her playing of Bach’s ’O Si Sic Omnes.’”—­Daily Telegraph.

What we want to hear is OFFENBACH’S Mens sana in corpore sano.

* * * * *

    “A personal experience in a large office not 1,000 miles
    from where the bombs fell.  Not a sign of panic; hardly even
    of alarm.”—­The Globe.

We have heard of places not even 10 miles away where equal intrepidity was displayed.

* * * * *

    “UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL CONTINGENT O.T.C.

    Recruiting—­Suitable candidates for admission should be under
    the age of 7 years and 6 months, except in the case of former
    members of a junior contingent.”—­Bristol Evening News.

The result of Baby Week at Bristol.

* * * * *

General VON BLUME says America’s intervention is no more than “a straw.”  But which straw?  The last?

* * * * *

[Illustration:  THE DEMOCRATIC TURN.

LITTLE WILLIE.  “THIS MAY BE FUN FOR FATHER, BUT IT WON’T SUIT ME.”]

* * * * *

[Illustration:  Proud Producer.  “WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THAT FOR A NEW POTATO?”

Friend.  “IT’S NOT A NEW POTATO.  YOU’VE SHOWN IT TO ME THREE TIMES ALREADY.”]

* * * * *

PHILIP.

Philip is the morose but rather dressy foreigner who resides in a cage on the verandah.  Miss Ropes, who owns him and ought to know, says he is a Grey Cardinal, but neither his voracious appetite for caterpillars nor his gruesome manner of assimilating them are in the least dignified or ecclesiastical.  It takes the unremitting efforts of Miss Ropes and the entire available strength of convalescent officers (after deducting the players of bridge, the stalkers of rabbits and the jig-saw squad) to supply Philip with a square meal.

Recently a caterpillar famine began to make itself felt in the parts of the garden near the house, and the enthusiasm of the collectors evaporated at the prospect of searching farther afield.

Ansell was the first to cry off.

“I’m sorry, Miss Ropes,” he said firmly, “but I have an instinctive antipathy to reptiles.”

“They aren’t—­they’re insects.”

“In that case,” he replied still more firmly, “the shrieks of the little creatures when Philip gets ’em rend my heartstrings.  I don’t think the doctor would approve.”

Haynes suggested that Philip’s behaviour savoured of unpatriotism, and that the one thing needful was the immediate appointment of a caterpillar controller.  Miss Ropes countered this by electing herself to the post, and declaring that the supply was adequate to meet all demands, as soon as the regrettable strike of transport-workers was settled.