rue Democrats that hold by Freedom's charter,
Resolved and covenanted for the Cause
To give their lives in barter!

I see young soldiers, too, who serve the KING
(For half the wage a Labour Member cashes),
Prepared, at honour's higher call, to fling
Their gallant dreams away in dust and ashes!
I care a lot for any laws they break,
But more I care to see what sacrifices
Men still are found to face for conscience' sake,
Knowing how hard the price is.

Ah, Sirs, and must you for a moment's gain--
I look to both your camps with like appealing--
Must you upon these virtues put a strain
Irrevocably past the hope of healing?
Cannot some gentler means be yet embraced
That, when the common peril comes upon her,
Such qualities of heart, too rare to waste,
May shield our Country's honour?

O. S.

* * * * *

EGBERT, BULL-FROG.

"Speaking," said my uncle James, "of dogs, did I ever tell you about
Egbert, my bull-frog? I class Egbert among the dogs, partly because of
his faithfulness and intelligence, and partly because his deep bay--you
know how those bull-frogs bark--always reminded me of a bloodhound
surprised while on a trail of aniseed. He was my constant companion in
Northern Assam, where I was at that time planting rubber. He finally
died of a surfeit of hard-boiled egg, of which he was passionately fond,
and I was as miserable as if I had lost a brother.

"I think Egbert had been trying to edge into the household for some time
before I really noticed him. Looking back, I can remember meeting him
sometimes in the garden, and, though I did not perceive it at first,
there was a wistful look in his eye when I passed him by without
speaking. It was not till our burglary that I began really to understand
his sterling worth. A couple of natives were breaking in, and would
undoubtedly have succeeded in their designs had it not been for Egbert's
frantic barking, which aroused the house and brought me down with a
revolver. It is almost certain that the devoted animal had made a
practice, night after night, of sleeping near the front-door on the
chance of something of the sort happening. He was always suspicious of
natives.

"After that of course his position in the house was established. He
slept every night at the foot of my bed, and very soothing it