STRANGE EXPERIENCE OF A HERMIT.

DEAR SIR,--My grandfather, who died in the 'fifties, used to tell a story
of a hermit who lived in Savernake Forest, an extraordinarily absent-minded
man with a beard of such colossal dimensions that several of the feathered
denizens of the forest took up their abode in its recesses. This curious
phenomenon was, I believe, commemorated in verse by an early-Victorian
poet, but I have not been able after considerable research to trace the
reference. I have the honour to remain,

Yours faithfully, ISIDORE TUFTON

(Author of _The Growth of the Moustache Movement, The Topiary Art as
applied to Whiskers_, and the article on "Pogonotrophy" in _The
Hairdressers' Encyclopædia_).

PRESENCE OF MIND IN A PORBEAGLE.

DEAR SIR,--The following verses, though not strictly relevant to the
crocodile incident, commemorate an occurrence illustrating the extent to
which piscine intelligence can be developed in favourable circumstances:--

"There was an unlucky porbeagle
Who was picked up at sea by an eagle;
On reaching the nest
It began to protest
On the ground that the speed was illegal."

I am Sir, Yours faithfully,