I've got a new fountain pen. I don't pretend to have gone on
any very original lines; in writing about Peace the thing is
to say what everybody else is saying, only to say it better.
It begins with the usual ornithological emotion -


'When the widgeon westward winging
Heard the folk Vereeniginging,
Heard the shouting and the singing'" -


"Vereeniginging is good, but why widgeon?"

"Why not? Anything that winged westward would naturally
begin with a W."

"Need it wing westward?"

"The bird must go somewhere. You wouldn't have it hang
around and look foolish. Then I've brought in something
about the heedless hartebeest galloping over the deserted
veldt."

"Of course you know it's practically extinct in those
regions?"

"I can't help THAT, it gallops so nicely. I make it have all
sorts of unexpected yearnings -