The Big and redoubtable Three, ’tis confessed,
  By his talent and zeal were immensely impressed;
  But, conversely, the fact, which is painful, remains
  That they failed to impress the redoubtable KEYNES.

  So, after five months of progressive disgust,
  He shook from his feet the Parisian dust,
  Determined to give the chief Delegates beans
  And let the plain person behind the Peace scenes.

  Though his title is stodgy, yet all must admit
  That his pages are seasoned with plenty of wit;
  He’s alert as a cat-fish; he can’t be ignored;
  And throughout his recital we never are bored.

  For he’s not a mere slinger of partisan ink,
  But a thinker who gives us profoundly to think;
  And his arguments cannot be lightly dismissed
  With cries of “Pro-Hun” or of “Pacificist.”

  And yet there are faults to be found all the same;
  For example, I doubt if it’s playing the game
  For one who is hardly unmuzzled to guy
  Representative statesmen who cannot reply.

  And while we’re amused by his caustic dispraise
  Of President WILSON’S Chadbandian ways,
  Of the cynical TIGER, laconic and grim,
  And our versatile PREMIER, so supple and slim—­

  Still we feel, as he zealously damns the Allies
  For grudging the Germans the means to arise,
  That possibly some of the Ultimate Things
  May even be hidden from Fellows of King’s.

* * * * *

    “The ——­ Male Voice Choir and St. ——­’s Brass Band discorded Xmas
    music.”—­Local Paper.

We shouldn’t wonder.

* * * * *

“Another element in the industrial activity of Japan, which is brought forcibly home to the Westerner, is the obvious pleasure that the Japanese people take in doing the work which is allotted to them.  It is no uncommon sight to see men laughing merrily as they drag along their heavy merchandise, or singing as they swing their anvils in a manner almost reminiscent of the historic village blacksmith.”—­Provincial Paper.

And “children coming home from school” know better than to “look in at the open door.”

* * * * *

[Illustration:  “GRANDFATHER, I SIMPLY LOVE YOUR NICE LONG BEARD.  PROMISE ME YOU’LL NEVER HAVE IT BOBBED.”]

* * * * *

THE EGOIST.

On Monday morning Hereward Vale left home in an unsettled state of mind.  That was putting it mildly.  He was thoroughly unhappy.  Something was up—­he couldn’t tell what—­or whether it was his own fault or Mary’s.  Anyhow, it didn’t seem to matter whose fault it was.  The thing had happened.  That was the one overwhelming idea that concerned him.  The first shadow had fallen; their record of complete and perfect happiness was broken.