A bit stiff, no doubt.

* * * * *

[Illustration: A DOWNING STREET MELODRAMA.

THE PREMIER. "COME ON IN, BONAR; I LOVE THESE FANCY BLOOD-CURDLERS. BEST
TONIC IN THE WORLD."]

* * * * *

[Illustration: _Disgusted Parent._ "NAH THEN, 'ORACE, SET ABAHT 'IM! ANYONE
CAN SEE THE 'ORSE 'AS LOST ALL RESPECT FOR YER."]

* * * * *

SPORTING GOLF.

(_With the British Army in France._)

"I noticed the old sapper instinct asserting itself in Mac when he tried to
tunnel out of that bunker at the seventh," said Denny after tea in the golf
club-house. "He'd have found some opportunities on a really sporting course
like ours at Villers-Vereux. Remember Villers, Ponting?"

"It wasn't a golf links as I remember it," said Ponting grimly.

"Bless you, I'm not speaking of those far-away days. I'm talking of a month
or two back, when I was there with a Chinese Salvage Company trying to
clear up the mess you made. Beastly quiet it was, too. The only excitement