VOLUNTEER REVIEW.

SCENE--_An Office._ BROWN _and_ JONES _discovered talking over the
incidents of the recent holiday._

_Brown._ Yes; I was up at six on the Monday.

_Jones._ Well, you were in luck; for I had to be ready by four. The
battalion had to be drawn up at the station by 4.45.

_Brown._ To be sure. You went down before we did.

_Jones._ Yes. I wish we had got some coffee before starting.

_Brown._ But you had your breakfast on your arrival, didn't you?

_Jones._ Yes, to be sure; but as we were a bit late, it was rather a
scramble.

_Brown._ Well, of course one has to get on to parade as soon as
possible. We cut it rather fine too. But that's the case with all of
us.

_Jones._ To be sure; and if you lose time at one end, you must make up
for it at the other--that stands to reason. And how did you get on?

_Brown._ First rate. We were on the march from nine to five.

_Jones._ So were we; and didn't have time scarcely to get to our
havresacks.

_Brown._ Just our fortune. Always on the move. I wore out my leathers
in fine style.

_Jones._ So did I. And then we had to go back to the train before we
could get any dinner.

_Brown._ My fate too. And, when I got home, the slavey had forgotten
to lay supper!

_Jones._ So had mine. But still it was a glorious holiday--now, wasn't
it?

_Brown._ I should say it was! A glorious holiday!

[_They return to their ledgers._

* * * * *

QUEER QUERIES.

ABSCONDRELISM.--I belong to a Building Society. At present the concern
is exceptionally prosperous, and I have no reason to suppose that the
Directors and Manager are not scrupulously honest. Still, it is as
well to be prepared for all eventualities, and, as a couple of years
seems to be about the time required by the authorities before they can
make up their minds to prosecute anybody, I should like to know if
I could apply for a warrant against the officials of my Society _at
once_, so as to have everything ready in case any of them should
develop fraudulent tendencies a few years hence? Would there be any
objection to this? Perhaps some legal reader would reply. Also, is it
a fact that Messrs. BALBERT AND HURLFOUR have started a model Colony,
on entirely new and philanthropic lines, in Mexico, and are inviting
English settlers (unconnected with the "Liberator" Society) to join
them there, the prospectus of the scheme being headed:--"By kind
permission of the Public Pro