Dear Betty, in the good old days,
Before this Armageddon stunt,
We floated down still water-ways
Ensconced within a cushioned punt;
With mingled terror and delight
I felt the toils around me closing,
Until one starry moonlit night,
Discreetly veiled from vulgar sight,
I found myself proposing.
You heard my ravings with a smile,
And then confessed you liked my cheek,
But thought my nose denoted guile
And feared my chin was rather weak;
My character with fiendish glee
You treated to a grim dissection,
Then as a final _jeu d'esprit_
You cynically offered me
A sisterly affection.
But now within my faithful heart
New hope has sprung to sudden life;
In fancy (somewhat _a la carte_)
I see you more or less my wife;
The way is found, the path is clear,
The resolution moved and carried--
If you have pluck enough, my dear,
To risk a rather new career ...
We might be _slightly_ married.[A]
[Footnote A: In his book, _What is Coming_, Mr. H. G. WELLS sees "a
vision of the slightly-married woman."]
* * * * *
In a Good Cause.
The Veterans' Club, for which the LORD MAYOR is to hold a meeting at
the Mansion House on Thursday, June 22nd, at 3.30, is the nucleus of
a movement to offer the chance of rest and convalescence to those
who have fought and suffered in defence of their country; to secure
suitable employment for those whose service is finished, and friendly
help in the hour of need. The Club at Hand Court, Holborn, has already
welcomed seven thousand men of the Navy and Army to its membership. A
great effort is needed to enlarge this scheme for providing a centre
of reunion and succour for our fighting men from all parts of the
United Kingdom and its Dominions--a scheme which, if generously
supported, should serve as an Imperial Memorial of the nation's
sacrifice.
Gifts and inquiries should be addressed to the Organising Secretary,
Veterans' Club Association, 1, Adelphi Terrace House, Adelphi, W.C.
* * * * *
"Mr. Balfour ... revealed that a number of the guns on
monitors came from America and stated that certain of
Churchill's speeches are so faulty that they are unuseable."
_Montreal Gazette._
Mr. BALFOUR may have thought this, but we don't remember his saying
it.
* * * * *