CCORDING TO THAT, MUMMY DARLING, JUST THINK WHAT
NICE _UN_SELFISH _GRAND_CHILDREN YOU'LL HAVE, IF WE EVER MARRY!"]

* * * * *

JUPITER TONANS!

"Shall I fetch your thunderbolt, Jove?" inquired
Ganymede.--_Ixion in Heaven._

_Modern Jupiter loquitur:--_

A bolt, a potent one, and brought at need!
That B-LF-R is a ready Ganymede.
And yet--and yet--ah, well, upon my soul,
A troublous function is the Thunderer's _role_.
'Tis vastly fine, of course; if fate would smile,
I fancy that the Cloud-Compeller's style
Would suit me sweetly; just the line I love;
Resolute rule's the appanage of a Jove.
But SHELLEY's dismal Demogorgon's self,
That solemn, shadowy, stern, oracular elf,
Plus obstinate Prometheus, did not play
Such mischief as the parties do to-day,
With Law and Order. Who would be a god
When force forsakes his bolt, and fear his nod?

Yes, here's the bolt forged ready to my hand,
But,--will it fly obedient to command,
And hit the mark I mean? Would I were sure;
Then should I hold my new-found seat secure,
Without a thought of Saturn, or that Hour
Which sets a term e'en to Olympian pow'r.
But what if like a boomerang, it fly
Back to my hand, or, worse, into mine eye?
Ah, Ganymede, Jupiter Tonans seems
A splendid part, in young ambition's dreams,
But, Ganymede, who would aspire, I wonder,
To be a Jove who's half afraid to thunder?
With doubts about the handling of my bolt,
And half Olympus in half-veiled revolt;
With hostile Titans mustering on the plain,
And old Prometheus "popping up again";
With Demogorgon lurking down below,
Disguised as Demos, with its muffled, low,
But multitudinous slowly-swelling voice,
How should I in Olympian power rejoice?
I grasp the bolt; I cannot well refuse it;
But--I half hope I may not have to use it!

* * * * *

"HOMES IN THE HILLS."

[The absence of skilled nursing in the British Military
Hospitals in India having long been felt to be a serious evil,
leading to the needless sacrifice of brave and valuable lives,
the SECRETARY of STATE has sanctioned the employment of
Lady Nurses in these hospitals. The Government of India have
undertaken the whole cost in connection with this scheme,
except the provision of "Homes in the Hills," as restorative
resorts for the Nursing Sisters, when their own h