In the sweet month of August no longer I choose,
By the river or seaside to tarry!
Preferring, in depths of the country to lose
All chance of encounter with "'ARRY!"

* * * * *

"MINIME!"--The other day the SPEAKER admitted that he couldn't
remember the Latin for "Yes." What a lot of time, trouble, and money
our own countrymen would be spared could they only occasionally forget
that there is such a word as "Yes" in English! How many marriages,
which have ended in misery, would never have come off but for this
mischievous monosyllable! But to continue this is to be Hamletising,
and to consider too curiously. For the SPEAKER to own it, stamps him
as the genuine article, a Candid PEEL.

* * * * *

[Illustration: TROP DE ZÈLE.

_Clerical Customer_. "I WANT TO BUY A NICE DIAMOND BROOCH FOR MY
BETTER HALF."

_Over-anxious Shopkeeper_. "CERTAINLY, SIR. WE HAVE JUST THE VERY
THING. WE CAN ACCOMMODATE YOU ALSO FOR YOUR OTHER HALF, IF YOU WISH."
[_They did not trade._]

* * * * *

THE WAIL OF A PESSIMIST POET.