THE RECRUITING PROBLEM SOLVED.

The recruiting problem would surely be solved easily if Lord KITCHENER
would send for _Captain Desmond, V.C._, and his legions from Lahore. It
will be remembered that in a polo tournament at that military station
_Captain Desmond_ and his team reached the final after "they had fought
their way, inch by inch, through eight-and-twenty matches." (Ch. XVI.,
_Captain Desmond, V.C._, by MAUD DIVER.) If we generously assume that
the hero's team played in the only tie in the first round the rest being
byes--we arrive at the result that there were 268,435,457 teams or
1,073,741,828 men playing. Might not just a small percentage of these,
if brought over to France, decide the issue at once in favour of the
Allies? Some of the four or five billion ponies might also be utilised
for remounts and for transport. Nor should the committee which
successfully managed this tournament be lost sight of. They showed a
power of organisation which could scarcely fail to be of use now at the
War Office.

* * * * *

"Rosa pulled off her hat as she spoke, throwing it carelessly on the
bed, and she laughed nosily."--_Ottawa Citizen._

This is generally supposed to be an American habit.

* * * * *

A censored letter from a correspondent at the Front tells us that the
most popular song with our Troops is the following:--

"It's a long way to ----,
It's a long way to go;
It's a long way to ----,
To the sweetest ---- I know,
Goodbye ----, farewell ----;
It's a long, long way to ----
But my heart's right ----."

It will be interesting to hear further details as soon as they can be
divulged without giving the position away to the Enemy.

* * * * *

TO THE NEUTRAL NATIONS.

If you elect to stay outside
And run no risk, on shore or sea,
Where men for all men's sake have died
In this the War of Liberty
(The same whose figure points the pilot's way,
Larger than life, in New York Bay);--

If you prefer to fold your hands
And watch us, at your guarded ease,
Straining our strength to sweep the lands
Clean of a deadly foul disease,
Which must, unless our courage find a cure,
Fall on your children, swift and sure;--

Stay out by all means; none shall ask
The help that your free will declined;
We'll bear as best we may the task
That duty's