As I am not a banker or a high official swell,
I never felt a pressing need for dressing extra well;
And yet there were occasions, in days not long remote,
When I assumed the stately garb of topper and frock-coat.
But war's demands, if you desire to tread the simple road,
Are somewhat hard to reconcile with the Decalogue of Mode;
So I gave away my topper to the man who winds our clocks,
With a strangely mixed assortment of collars, ties and socks.
And if I haven't parted from my dear old silk-faced friend
It isn't out of sentiment--all that is at an end--
It's simply that the highest bid, in cash paid promptly down,
I've had from any son of SHEM is only half-a-crown.
* * * * *
"The plots cultivated by the men who have learned in the best
school of all--experience--stand out clearly among the others.
There is no overcrowing on their land."--_Evening News_.
The truly great are always modest.
* * * * *
"Wanted, September and October, a comfortably Furnished
House; five bedrooms, in adjoining counties."--_East
Anglian Daily Times_.
It sounds a little detached.
* * * * *
[Illustration: THE COUNTERBLAST.