"Every evening during dinner Madame tells us how she walked from
Louvain. Poor creature, she's not slender, and she had to walk mile
after mile for eight hours. It must have been dreadful. But she won't
remember that we've heard it all before. Everything reminds her of it.
We're terrified to speak, Andrew and I, for fear some little tiny word
will suggest walking from Louvain, and it always does.... Poor thing,
though!"
* * * * *
[Illustration: THE POLITICAL TRUCE.
_Little Boy._ "HAVE THE GERMANS KILLED MR. LLOYD GEORGE, MA?"
_Mother._ "OF COURSE NOT, DEAR. WHY DO YOU ASK?"
_Boy._ "WELL, I HAVEN'T HEARD NUFFIN 'BOUT HIM LATELY."]
* * * * *
Naval Notes.
A correspondent asks us what exactly are the duties of the marines. We
have not space to give him an exhaustive account of the work of these
handy men, but we can indicate their affectionate nature by the
following cutting from _The Liverpool Echo_:--
"One notable case in which a decoration was bestowed was of a
young seaman, who at tremendous risk to himself, freed a submarine
from a marine which had become attached to it off Heligoland."
Casual meetings off Heligoland are responsible for many such romances.
Our correspondent's further enquiries about the duties of the
destroyer and the torpedo we will let two other contemporaries
answer:--
"Fourteen Roumanian destroyers from the Austro-Hungarian army
arrived at Sinaia, Roumania, having crossed the Transylvanian
Mountains on foot."--_Bombay Chronicle._
"Newspapers state that a French torpedo entered Dunkirk on Friday
and reported having rammed and sunk a German submarine off
Westende."
_Indian Daily Telegraph._
In advertisement matters it is sometimes asserted that the right uses
of type is the great thing. It is, however, a relief to the writer
that a certain announcement with an ironic suggestion of reckless
benevolence has now been removed from most of the hostelries. Yet it
afforded instruction as to ringing the changes upon the sizes of
type:--
OUR
CHRISTMAS CLUB HAS COMMENCED.
PAY WHAT YOU LIKE.
HAVE WHAT YOU PLEASE.