an grimly.

----
WHEN THE FRENCH BAND PLAYS.
----

There's a military band that plays, on Sunday afternoons,
In a certain nameless city's quaint old square.
It can rouse the blood to battle with its patriotic tunes,
And still render hymns as gentle as a prayer.
When it starts "Ave Maria" there is no one in the throng
But would doff his cap, his heart to heaven raise;
And who would shrink from combat when, with brasses sounding strong,
There is flung out on the breeze "La Marseillaise"?

When it starts to render "Sambre et Meuse," the march that won the day
At the battle of the Marne, one sees again
The grey-green hosts of Hundom melt before the stern array
Of our gallant sister-ally's blue-clad men.
And when it plays our Anthem, with rendition bold and clear--
While the khaki lads stand steady--then we feel
That, though tongues and ways may vary, we've found brothers over here,
Tried in war, and in allegiance true as steel.

For it's olive-drab, horizon-blue, packed closely side by side,
Till their color sets ablaze the grey old square;
And it's olive-drab, horizon-blue, whatever may betide,
That will blaze the path to victory "up there."
So, while standing thus together, let us pledge anew our troth
To the Cause--the world set free!--for which we fight.
As the evening twilight gilds the ranks of blue and khaki both,
And the bugles die away into the night.

----
WHEN PACKS ARE LIGHTEST
----
BY CHAPLAIN MOODY.
----

Probably the cow is the least complaining and discriminating of all
animals, yet it is worthy of note that the wise farmer who understands
his cows does everything to make them as happy as possible and studies
their comfort and convenience as far as possible. This is not because he
is a sentimentalist, but for the very opposite reason. He knows his cows
will give more milk and he will get more money therefrom if they are
contented in their bovine minds and not worried by the high cost of
living and other problems.

The expert poultry man will tell you that the frame of mind of his
feathered employes has a very direct bearing on the egg output, and so
he tries to study their hap