Even war has its humours. "In the midst of perfect peace the enemy
surprises us," is a sentence from a proclamation not by the King of the
BELGIANS but by the GERMAN KAISER.
***
WILHELM II. is said to be extremely annoyed in his capacity as a British
Admiral that he is not being kept fully informed as to the movements of
our Fleet.
***
The danger, of course, of a fondness for a place in the sun is that one
may get burnt.
***
The coming generation would certainly seem to be all right. Even
children are taking part in the fray. The Boy Scouts are helping
manfully here, and at Liege the Germans, we are told, used nippers for
cutting wire entanglements.
***
A vivid idea of the horrors of the return journey from the Continent to
England after the declaration of war may be gained from the fact that a
lady, in recounting her experiences in a contemporary, states that she
was thankful to get back to Battersea.
***
General VILLA, it is stated, has now virtually proclaimed his
independence of General CARRANZA, and hostilities are said to be
imminent. We caution these gentlemen, however, that we are not prepared
at this juncture to take a great deal of interest in their little war,
and, if they take our advice, they will postpone it.
***
At the present moment, fortunately, one does not hear much of the sex
war, but sex-pride compels us to draw attention to an account in _The
Liverpool Echo_ of a recent agricultural show, from which we learn that
"in a class for cows, in which there was a score of entries, Mr. S.
Sanday won with pedigree dairy bulls."
***
The news that a large number of yachts had been placed at the disposal
of the Admiralty was, no doubt, responsible for a statement in _The
Birkenhead News_ of the 8th inst., to the effect that the Hoylake Town
Band, consisting of Bavarians, in a moment of patriotic fervour during
the crisis struck up "_Der Yacht am Rhein_."
* * * * *
Illustration: _GERMAN KAISER._ "Donnerwetter! No wonder I've missed my
appointment. The silly idiots have given me an 1870 time-table."
* * * * *