Then cramming down flat
        Her quaint little hat,
  And shaking the old horse together,
        She was off like a bird,
        And the last that I heard
  Was a “Forrard!” that died in the heather,
        As she took up her place
        At the tail of the chase
  Like a ten-season lord of the leather.

W.H.O.

* * * * *

“In those same eighteen days, Sir Edward tells us, 607 ships of over a hundred tons arrived and 5,873 left our shores.  A German newspaper, it seems, has been asserting that the mere terror of the submarine has swept the seas clean at one blow.  Twelve thousand ships, in and out, in eighteen days, does not look, Sir Edward dryly remarked, so very like paralysis.”—­The Times.

Our Thunderer seems to have imitated its Bosch contemporary, for it has swept the seas of some 6,000 ships by a stroke of the pen.

* * * * *

“THE SPECTATOR” AND “THE TRADE.”

A PAINFUL RUMOUR.

Last week one of our representatives had the honour of calling at the offices of The Spectator to inquire into the credibility of certain strange rumours that have recently been current in The Trade.  They were to the effect that Mr. ST. LOE STRACHEY, Editor of The Spectator, having gallantly volunteered under the National Service Scheme, had had allotted to him, by one of the DIRECTOR-GENERAL’S subordinates, a post of national importance at Messrs. Bassopp’s Brewery.  Mr. STRACHEY’S fertile and forcible pen was (so the rumour went) to be employed by this firm in the drawing up of some pungent advertisements under the headings, “The Weakness of the Water Movement,” “Up, Glasses!” etc., including a verse series, in Horatian alcoholics, entitled, “Bonnie D.T.”

It was reported that in the ironic circumstances in which he found himself, Mr. STRACHEY felt it his duty to acquiesce loyally in the change of view imposed upon him, and to adopt a policy of “Down, Spectators!”

Our representative is happy to state that he has the highest authority for giving an unqualified denial to these sinister allegations.

* * * * *

From a description of a wedding-breakfast:—­

    “The toast of the presents was also duly honoured.”—­South African
    Paper.

After all, next to the bride and bridegroom they are perhaps the most important feature.

* * * * *

“Field Glasses, powerful magnification; sacrifice, 37/6; cost L175.”—­New Zealand Paper.

We don’t know about the magnification, but the diminution is most remarkable.

* * * * *

THE EVERLASTING ROMANCE.