rashing waters well-nigh riven--
Ugh! Here it is in black and white,
Clearly described by FREDERICK NIVEN.

Published by HEINEMANN (six bob),
The book relates the ceaseless battle
Which they must wage whose steady job
Is valeting a mob of cattle;
And yet they pant to get a ship,
For jobs the owners they importune
At--mark you this!--one pound the trip!
I wouldn't do it for a fortune.

It's just a tale of common men,
Who never went to school or college,
Writ by a skilled and practised pen
Most certainly from first-hand knowledge;
It has no very obvious plan,
No movement, no connected story;
And yet I don't see how you can
Fail to enjoy The _S.S. Glory_.

You'll meet some men you're sure to like--
Men who would greet you as a brother;
One is that honest fellow, _Mike_,
And _Cockney_, possibly, another;
Unpolished, quick to wrath and slow,
When roused, to lay aside their cholor,
Yet are they types you ought to know
As well as did the hero, _Scholar_.

* * * * *

[Illustration: THE UNINTERNED PERIL IN OUR MIDST.

Portrait of Herr Pfunk ("Sister Susie"), who edits "Our Mites' Corner"
in the well-known weekly, _Mum's Pets_, and also conducts a column of
"Hints to Mothers," which is having an alarming effect on infant
mortality.]

* * * * *

In an eloquent foreword to _The Queen's Gift Book_, (HODDER AND
STOUGHTON), we are told by Mr. GALSWORTHY that it is "in the nature of a
hat passed round, into which, God send, many hundred thousand coins may
be poured." The coin that we are asked to put into what I hope will be a
very widely circulating hat is half-a-crown, and whatever you may or may
not think of Gift Books I can promise you that in this instance to pay
your money is to get its worth. It is true that some of the contributors
have given us work that we have already had an opportunity to know; but
even here I am not grumbling, for among the stories that have already
been published is Mr. LEONARD MERRICK'S "The Fairy Poodle," a tale so
full of sparkle that the oftener I see it the better I shall be pleased.
All tastes, however, are catered for. You can read tales by Sir J. M.
BARRIE or Mr. JOSEPH HOCKING, verses by Sir ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE, Mr. JOHN
OXENHAM or Mrs. HENRY DE LA PASTURE, sketches by Mr. CONRAD or "SAPPER."
But I advise you to read the lot. An especial wor