Then she looked about her and saw what a nice room it was, and was happy.

The next morning in came the bee with a great fluster and bumped all over
the room.

"Hullo," he said to the little primrose, "you here?"

She told him all her adventures.

"Well, what I said is right, isn't it?" the bee remarked. "It's all very
jolly here, isn't it?"

"I suppose so, but I wish I didn't feel so weak. I never had an ache when I
was in the wood."

"Ah, but you weren't among the nobs then," said the bee; "make the most of
your time while you're here, for it won't be for long, you know."

"Come and see me to-morrow," the little primrose whimpered. "I feel so
lonely here. I was happier in the wood."

"You won't be alive to-morrow," said the bee cheerily. "But never mind, you
have seen the world." And out he bashed again, blowing his motor-horn to
clear the way.

* * * * *

[Illustration: OUR YOUNG VETERANS.

_He._ "I SAY, YOUR GRANNIE SEEMS RATHER PUT OUT TO-NIGHT. WHAT'S UP?"

_She._ "HUSH! POOR DEAR, SHE'S JUST HEARD MY OTHER GRANNIE IS ENGAGED AND
SHE'S SO AFRAID SHE MAY BE LEFT ON THE SHELF."]

* * * * *

AT THE PLAY.

"PYGMALION."

The original Pygmalion took a block of dead ivory and made of it so fair a
figure of a woman that he fell in love with his own creation, and
Aphrodite, at his request, brought it to life. Mr. SHAW'S _Pygmalion_ takes
a live flower-girl, turns her into a lifeless wax figure fit for a
milliner's shop-window, and flatters himself, as an artist, on the result,
but, as a man, proposes to take no interest in it, moral or physical. So
you can easily see why almost any other proper name you can think of would
have done better for the title.

The play itself shows the same typical inconsequence, the same freedom from
the pedantry of logic. _Eliza Doolittle's_ ambition is to become fitted for
the functions of a young lady in a florist's shop. _Henry Higgins_,
professor of phonetics, undertakes for a wager to teach her the manners and
diction of a duchess--a smaller achievement, of course, in Mr. SHAW'S eyes,
but still a step in the right direction. And he is better than his word.
After six months she has acquired a mincing speech, from which she is still
liable to lapse into appalling indiscretions; but after another six months
the product might pass muster in any _modiste's_ showroom. And then she
turns on him and protests that