ospect appals me.

_Saturday._--The employers, who seem to be determined on a strike, have
offered the men two shillings if they will consider the question of
working five days a week instead of four. We refused their offer and
demanded that our claim should be conceded unconditionally by noon,
failing which our members would cease work.

_Later._--The strike has commenced. Heaven knows that I did everything
to prevent it which human being could do. The capitalists seem to have
made up their minds to force civil war and all its horrors upon the
country. The spectacle of little children starving causes me acute
distress.

* * * * *

A GUIDE TO GREATNESS.

[Mr. JACOB EPSTEIN maintains in _The Daily Mail_ that a man
to be a creative genius must lead an orderly domesticated
life.]

I COURTED the Muse as a stripling,
Immured in a Bloomsbury flat,
And yearned for the kudos of KIPLING
For fees that were frequent and fat;
But editors, far from discerning
The worth of the pearls that I placed
At their feet, had a way of returning
The same with indelicate haste.

But, espousing, a year or two later,
The sweetest and neatest of wives,
I found, after peeling a tater
Or imparting a polish to knives,
I could scribble with frenzy and passion,
That the breaking of coal would inspire,
In a truly remarkable fashion,
My soul with celestial fire.

Serenity reigns in the household;
I've cancelled my grudge against Fate;
My lyrical efforts are now sold
At a simply phenomenal rate;
And, whether I'm laying the lino
Or bathing the babes, I regard
The job as a cushy one: _I_ know
The way to succeed as a bard.

* * * * *

[Illustration: THE SCALES OF JUSTICE.

SIR ROBERT HORNE. "I WANT TO KEEP THE BALANCE. NOW THEN, BOTH TOGETHER."

THE MINER. "NO. _YOU_ BEGIN--AND THEN PERHAPS I'LL THINK ABOUT IT."]

* * * * *

[Illustration: _P. C. GREENWOOD._ "ARRAH! GET OUT WID YEZ AND LET THE
LADY PASS."]

* * * * *

ESSENCE OF PARLIAMENT.

_Tuesday, October 19th._--A start was made with half a hundred
Questions, and, considering that most of them had been in cold storage
since before the Recess, it was surprising how fresh they remained.
Persia and Mesopotamia--not to mentio