Must serve your scheme of _Schrecklichkeit_,
"Justice," we said, "abides her day
And she shall set her balance true;
Methods like yours can never pay."
"Can't they?" you cried; "they can--and do!"

And now full circle comes the wheel,
And, prone across the knees of Fate,
You are to hear, without appeal,
The final terms that we dictate;
And, when you whine (the German way)
On presentation of the bill:
"_Ach, Himmel!_ we can never pay,"
"Can't you?" we'll cry; "you can--and will!"

O.S.

* * * * *

THE BRIGHTER SIDE OF PEACE.

I'm not out of the Army yet, but lately I was home on leave. At a time
like that you don't really care about being demobilised just yet.
After all, to earn--or let us say to be paid--several pounds for a
fortnight's luxurious idleness is a far, far better thing than to
receive about the same number of shillings for a like period of
unremitting toil. There you have an indication of the financial
prospects of my civvy career. None the less, to me in Blighty the
future looked as rosy as a robin's breast, and life was immensely
satisfactory. I deemed that I was capable of saying "Ha, ha" among