* * * * *

[Illustration:  “OUT IN THE COLD!”

“I AM LIKE A TRAVELLER LOST IN THE SNOW, WHO BEGINS TO GET STIFF WHILE THE SNOWFLAKES COVER HIM.”

Speech of Prince Von Bismarck at Friedrichsruhe.]

* * * * *

“OUT IN THE COLD!”

["I am like a traveller lost in the snow, who begins to get stiff and to sink down while the snowflakes cover him.  In fact, I am gradually losing interest in politics, but the feeling, like that of the traveller sinking under the snow, is a pleasant one.”—­Prince Bismarck to the Deputation of Leipsic Students.]

AIR—­“Excelsior!”

The century was waning fast,
As through a wintry waste there passed
A man, who bore, ’mid snow and ice,
A banner with the strange device,

                    Excel no more!

His brows were blanched; his eye beneath
Flashed like a falchion from its sheath;
Red fields had heard his armour clang. 
But now he smiled and softly sang,

                    Excel no more!

In barracks huge he saw the might
Of mailed hosts arrayed for fight;
Afar the fierce Frank bayonets shone,
And from his lips escaped a moan,

                    Excel no more!

“Think of the Past!” the young men said,
“Like SAUL you towered by the head
Midst those three Titans, Prussia’s pride!”
Softly that once stern voice replied,

                    “Excel no more!”

“Oh, stay,” the young men cried, “and mix
Once more in Teuton Politics!”
“Nay,” said the Titan, “I grow old,
And, like poor TOM, I am a-cold! 

                    Excel no more!”

“Beware the snow-encumbered branch! 
Beware the whelming avalanche!”
“Thanks!” he replied.  “I know, I know. 
But—­well, I rather like the snow! 

                    Excel no more!”

“Lost in the snow!  An easy death! 
Gentle surcease of mortal breath! 
I sink, I stiffen, I’m foredone! 
The feeling though’s a pleasant one;

                    Excel no more!”

The traveller by his faithful hound
Half-buried in the snow was found,
Still muttering from a mouth of ice
That banner’s late and strange device,

                    Excel no more!

There in the snow-drift cold and grey,
Silent, but stalwart, still he lay,
Great “Blood-and-Iron,” brave and bold,
But—­for the nonce—­“Out in the Cold!”

                    Excel no more?

* * * * *

PARLIAMENT IN SPORT;

OR, A MEETING IN EARNEST.