* * * * *

L'ALLEGRO.

Haste thee, Peace, and bring with thee
Food and old festivity,
Bread and sugar white as snow,
The bacon that we used to know,
Apples cheap, and eggs and meat,
Dainty cakes with icing sweet,
And in thy right hand lead with thee
The mountain nymph (not much U.P.).
Come, and sip it as you go,
And let my not-too-gouty toe
Join the dance with them and thee
In sweet unrationed revelry;
While the grocer, free of care,
Bustles blithe and debonair,
And the milkman lilts his lay,
And the butcher beams all day,
And every warrior tells his tale
Over the spicy nut-brown ale.
Peace, if thou canst really bring
These delights, _do_ haste, old thing.

* * * * *

"WINTER SPORTS IN FRANCE.--Sledges were constructed out of
empty ration-boxes, whilst the old flappers used for dispersing
poison-gas from dug-outs did duty as snow-shoes."--_Daily Paper_.