imist--
That Union which shall bring to ancient foes peace,
When all who lap the Boyne
Beg on their knees to be allowed to join.

Still (to be frank) 'tis not alone the dream
Of leagued Hibernians kissing lips with Ulster
That warms my heart; there is another scheme
That with a livelier motion makes my pulse stir;
And this can never be
Till we have posted REDMOND oversea.

But, when he's planted on his local throne,
The Federal Plan should find him far less sniffy;
We shall have Parliaments to call our own
Modelled from that high sample on the Liffey,
And crown the patient years
With joy of "England for the English" (_Cheers_).

Meanwhile, amid the present rude hotch-potch,
We natives must forgo this satisfaction,
For still the cry is "England for the Scotch"
(Or else some other tribe of Celt extraction);
That's why I shan't be happy
Till Erin's tedious Isle is off the tapis.

O. S.

* * * * *

THE BOMB.

I was rather glad to spend my eighteenth birthday in Germany, because I
knew my people would make a special effort in the matter of presents.
They did, and I turned the other girls at the _pension_ green with envy
when I wore them. The only thing that spoilt my day was that there was
nothing at all from Cecil, which was rather a blow.

However, the next morning I received an official document referring to a
parcel waiting for me at the Customs House, and lost no time in getting
there.

It was a long, low building, strewn with packing cases, cardboard boxes
and dirt, with a row of pigeon-holes--some big enough to take an
ostrich--on one side, and a counter defending a row of haughty officials
on the other. Several people were wandering aimlessly about, but no one
took the least notice of me, or appeared to realize I was in my
nineteenth year. So I approached an official in a green uniform with
brass buttons, standing behind the counter. He was tall and stout, and
his hair, being about one millimetre long, showed his head shining
through. He had a fierce fair moustache, and, owing to overwork or
influenza coming on, was perspiring freely.

Trusting he would prove more fatherly than he looked, I held out my
paper. He drew back haughtily, ejaculating: "_Nein!_" and jerked his
head towards a kind