and efficiency of
the fleet which is without a parallel in history, and it is to be
remembered that this testimony has been accorded to us by those who
were in the best position to judge. I desire to express my thanks and
appreciation to all who assisted me in maintaining the fleet in instant
readiness for action and who have borne the arduous and exacting labors
which have been necessary for perfecting the efficiency which has
accomplished so much."

THE LITTLE OLD ROAD

There's a breath of May in the breeze
On the little old road;
May in hedges and trees,
May, the red and the white,
May to left and to right,
Of the little old road.

There's a ribbon of grass either side
Of the little old road;
It's a strip just so wide,
A strip nobody owns,
Where a man's weary bones
When he feels getting old
May lie crushing the gold
Of the silverweed flower
For a long lazy hour
By the little old road.

There's no need to guide the old mare
On the little old road.
She knows that just there
Is the big gravel pit
(How we played in it
As mites of boys
In our corduroys!)
And that here is the pond
With the poplars beyond,
And more May--always May,
Away and away
Down the little old road.

There's a lot to make a man glad
On the little old road
(It's the home-going road),
And a lot to make him sad.
Ah! he'd like to forget,
But he can't, not just yet,
With chaps still out there. . . .
She's stopping, the steady old mare.
Is it here the road bends?
So the long journey ends
At the end of the old road,
The little old road.

There's some one, you say, at the gate
Of the little old house by the road?
Is it Mother? Or Kate?
And they're not going to mind
That, since "Wypers," [1] I'm blind,
And the road is a long dark road?

GERTRUDE VAUGHAN.

[1] The Battle of Ypres.

HARRY LAUDER SINGS

Harry Lauder, an extremely popular Scotch singer and entertainer, gave
his services to help cheer the soldiers on the western front.

The men went wild with enthusiasm and joy wherever he went. One day I
was taking Harry to see the grave of his only child, Captain John
Lauder of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, as fine a lad as ever
wore a kilt, and as good and brave a son as ever a father had.

As we were motoring swiftly along, we turned into the town of Albert
and the first sharp g