And there are scores of characters so vivid
They make us friends or enemies for life:
_Hortense_, half-tamed she-wolf, with envy livid;
The patient _Snagsby_ and his shrewish wife;
The amorous _Guppy_, who poor _Esther_ chivvied;
Tempestuous _Boythorn_, revelling in strife;
_Skimpole_, the honey-tongued artistic cadger;
And that tremendous woman, _Mrs. Badger_.

No wonder then that, when we seek awhile
Relief and respite from War's strident chorus,
Few books more swiftly charm us to a smile,
Few books more truly hearten and restore us
Than his, whose art was potent to beguile
Thousands of weary souls who came before us--
No wonder, when the Huns, who ban our fiction,
Were fain to free him from their malediction.

* * * * *

"WHAT PEOPLE SAY.

"One of the collectors for the ---- Hospital Sunday fund seems to
have got more than either he or the committee desired.

"On approaching a house he was received by a dog which persisted in
leaving its compliments on one of his legs.

"Happily the injury, though treated by a chemist, was not serious."
--_Provincial Paper_.