[An agitation for the total disuse of the Latin character, we learn from Press quotations published in The Daily Chronicle, is raging through the German Empire, and the Prussian Minister of the Interior has forbidden the use of any other character than German Gothic in the publications of the Statistical Bureau.]

  The ways of the Hun comprehension elude,
  They’re so cleverly crass, so painstakingly crude;
  For, in spite of his cunning and forethought immense,
  He is often incurably stupid and dense
  To the point of allowing his patriot zeal
  To put a large spoke in his own driving-wheel.

  An excellent instance of zeal of this sort
  Is the movement, endorsed by official support,
  To ban Latin type in the papers that flow
  From the press of the Prussian Statistics Bureau.

  Now the pride of the Germans, as dear as their pipe
  And their beer, is their wonderful old Gothic type;
  It makes ev’ry page look as black as your hat,
  For the face of the letters is stodgy and fat;
  It adds to the labour of reading, and tries
  The student’s pre-eminent asset, his eyes,
  And in consequence lends a most lucrative aid
  To people engaged in the spectacle trade. 
  But these manifest drawbacks to little amount
  When tried by the only criteria that count: 
  Though the people who use it don’t really need it,
  It exasperates aliens whenever they read it. 
  It is solid, echt-Deutsch, free from Frenchified froth,
  And in fine it is Gothic, befitting the Goth.

  So when the great Prussian Statistics Bureau
  Proscribes Latin letters and says they must go,
  They are giving a lead which we earnestly hope
  Will be followed beyond its original scope;
  For the more German books that in Gothic are printed
  The more will the spread of Hun “genius” be stinted,
  And the larger the number, released from its gripe,
  Of the students of Latin ideas—­and type.

* * * * *

“Furniture for Poultry:  2 easy chairs, solid walnut frames, nicely upholstered and sound, 12/6 each; also 2 armchairs, 4 small chairs, walnut frames, nicely upholstered and sound, L2; 5 other chairs, upholstered in tapestry and leather, 5/- each.”—­The Bazaar.

Has this sort of thing Mr. PROTHERO’S approval?  Some hens are already too much inclined to sit when we want them to lay.

* * * * *

THE TIPINBANOLA.

“There,” I said, “you’ve interrupted me again.”

“Tut tut,” said Francesca.

“And the dogs are barking,” I said, “and the guinea-hens are squawking.”

“I daresay,” she said; “but you can’t hear the guinea-hens; they’re much too far away.”

“Yes, but I know they’re squawking—­they always are—­and for a sensitive highly-strung man it’s the same thing.”