lf,
and, tapping the breakfast-table with his fork, he exclaimed,
"_Beroofen_!"

_Moral._--Be quite sure you're out of the wood, though maybe you were
never in it, and _even then_ don't congratulate yourself. "Mumm"'s the
word (so's "Pommery" also by the way, not forgetting "Greno," all such
being excellent Fizzic for the Epidemic), as to your state of health,
and don't forget the charm--"_Beroofen_!"

* * * * *

SUMMER!

(_SKETCHED, IN METRICAL SPASMS, BY A SUFFERER THEREFROM._)

[Illustration]

Damp days,
Chill nights;
Morning haze,
Evening blights;
Grey skies,
Sodden earth;
Butterflies
Weak at birth;
Gloom over,
Grime under;
Soaked clover.
Hail, thunder;
Wind, wet,
Squelch, squash;
Gingham yet,
Mackintosh;
Lawns afloat,
Paths dirt;
Top-coat,
Flannel shirt;
Lilacs drenched,
Laburnums pallid;
Spirits quenched,
Souls squalid;
Tennis "off,"
Icy breeze;
Croak, cough,
Wheeze, sneeze;
Cramped cricket,
Arctic squall;
Drenched wicket,
Soaked ball;
Park a puddle.
Row a slough;
Muck, muddle,
Slush, snow;
Hay-fever
(No hay!)
Spoilt beaver,
Shoes asplay;
Lilies flopping,
Washed-out roses;
Eaves dropping,
Red noses;
Pools, splashes,
Spouts, spirts;
Swollen sashes.
Gutters, squirts;
Limp curls,
Splashed hose;
Pretty girls,
Damp shows;
Piled grates,
Cold shivers;
Aching pates,
Sluggish livers;
Morn cruel,
Eve a biter;
Hot gruel,
Sweet nitre;
Voice a creaky
Cracked cadenza,
Face "peaky,"
INFLUENZA!!!
Gloom growing,
Glum, glummer
Noses (_and nothing else_) blowing,--
_That's_ Summer!

* * * * *

OPERATIC NOTES.

We're quite the gay Frenchmen now at the Italian Opera: _Faust_
in French, _Manon_ in French, _Romeo et Juliette_ in French, _Le
Prophete_ in French; American singers, and Dutch singers--for if Mr.
VAN DYCK isn't as much a Double Dutchman as VANDERDECKEN or any other
Van, except PICKFORD & CO.'s, then am I myself a Dutch native--and, by
the way, I'm always equal to a dozen of 'em any time during the right
and proper season. Not for many a long day and night has there been a
better show at Covent Garden. Miss EAMES, the Brothers DE RESZKE,
VAN DYCK, MELBA; the two RAVOGLI girls, specially GIULIA, as tunefu