a e ou o youyouyou i e ou o
youyouyou
drrrrdrrrrdrrrrgrrrrgrrrrrgrrrrrrrr
beng bong beng bang
boumboum boumboum boumboum.

* * * * *

“Gentleman, Interested in Tattooing and largely covered, would like to
hear from other enthusiasts to compare notes.”—­Times.

We trust the “bare-back” mode is not going to spread to the more modest sex.

* * * * *

From a “stores” circular:—­

    “THIS WEEK’S ECONOMY OFFERS.

    Honey in Sections, each 3/9, three for 14/0.”

The economy consists, of course, in buying them one at a time.

* * * * *

WATER-BABIES.

  In a limbo of desolate waters,
    In the void of a flood-stricken plain,
  You will find them—­the sons and the daughters
          Of tropical rain.

  For when rivers are one with the ocean,
    When the ricefields and roads are no more,
  There’s a feeling of magic, a notion
          Of fairyland lore;

  And the babies of Burma can revel
    In a nursery of whirlpool and slime,
  Where it thunders and rains like the devil
          For weeks at a time.

  They paddle their rafts through the jungle;
    They swim through a network of leaves;
  They clamber with never a bungle
          To dive from the eaves.

  ’Tis an orgy of goblins, an image
    Of nudity flouting the flood,
  Of shorn-headed brownies who scrimmage
          And splash in the mud.

  As we row neath a tamarind, one’ll
    Roll off with a gesture of fright,
  Bobbing up like a cork at our gunwale
          And gurgling delight.

  But never a stanza shall measure
    The joy of that desperate crew
  Of four-year-olds scouring for treasure
          Astride a bamboo.

  Their fathers smoke, huddled in sorrow,
    Their mothers chew betel and fret,
  And the pariahs howl for a morrow
          Which shall not be wet;

  The plovers wheel o’er them complaining,
    And it’s only the babies who pray
  That the skies may be raining and raining
          For ever and aye.

  J.M.S.

* * * * *

ANOTHER MESOPOTAMIAN SCANDAL.

    “The commodious and fast ss. 40 will leave Basrah for Baghdad and all
    intermediate ports on Saturday morning at 9 A.M.  Passengers will embark
    at 10 A.M.”—­Basrah Times.

* * * * *

    “END OF COTTON SUIT.

    DRAMATIC COLLAPSE.”—­Daily Paper.

We are more than ever convinced of the superior wearing qualities of woollen.

* * * * *

    “The Government of the Commonwealth of Australia agrees to the
    admission on passport of Indian merchants, students, tourests, with
    there irrespective wives.”—­Indian Paper.