This statement filled me with desperation; I fought and struggled through the vast crowd of persons “with wealthy and influential friends” until I reached the open street. By that time I was exhausted, and, finding that the street was even fuller than the station had been, I gave up the attempt. I saw that the reserve of gold at the Bank of England would not have sufficed to pay each applicant the promised L50. In any case I felt sure that by that time the whole of the money in the town must have been used up. So, without hat or umbrella, and with my coat as much divided up the back as up the front, I returned—to consciousness, and went on reading the newspaper.
* * * * *
“THE FORESTERS.”
All the greatest swells
Of the U.S.A.
Come to see a new,
Fascinating play.
Verses by a Lord!
Music by a Knight!
Just the thing in which
Democrats delight.
When the hearty praise
Bursts from Yankee lips,
“Pass and blush the news
Over glowing ships;”
What are “glowing ships”?
That I’ve never guessed,
“Pass the happy news,
Blush it thro’ the West;”
This I simply quote
From the poet’s muse;
Hang me if I know
How you “blush the news”!
Anyhow, you do,
If the lines will scan,
“Till the red man dance,”
Do you think he can?
“And the red man’s babe
Leap beyond the sea.”
Active sort of child,
Surely, that must be!
“Blush from West to East,”
Blush from left to right,
“Till the West is East,”
And the black is white,
DALY is the man!
Daily is the play,
“Dailies” puff it up,
In the kindest way.
* * * * *
MORE APPROPRIATE.—The Senate House, where the Degree Examinations take place, might well be termed “The Spinning House.” It is there that unfortunate Candidates are “spun.”
* * * * *
[Illustration: THINGS ONE WOULD RATHER HAVE LEFT UNSAID.
Little Jones. “YOU’LL GIVE ME A DANCE TO-MORROW NIGHT, WON’T YOU, MRS. FOOTE?”
Mrs. Foote (who is anxious to show her matronly consideration for Unmarried Girls). “WELL, I CAN’T PROMISE, AND IF THE MEN RUN SHORT, YOU KNOW, I SHAN’T DANCE AT ALL!”]