room is bare and lofty, the bed is
small, the window is large, and the one solitary _bougie_ sheds
a gloom around which makes unpacking a difficulty. I pull up the
blind. A lovely moonlight night. In front of me, as if it had had the
politeness to put itself out of the way to walk up here, and pay me a
visit, stands the Cathedral, that is--some of it; but what I can see
of it, _au clair de la lune_, fascinates me. It is company, it is
friendly. But it is chilly all the same, and the sooner I close the
window and retire the better. Usual difficulty, of course, in closing
French window. After a violent struggle, it is done. The bed looks
chilly, and I feel sure that that stuffed, pillow-like thing, which is
to do duty for blanket and coverlet, can't be warm enough.

Hark! a gentle snore. A very gentle one. It is the first time I ever
knew a snore exercise a soothing effect on the listener. This is
decidedly soporific. It is an invitation to sleep. I accept. The
Cathedral clock sounds a _carillon_. It plays half a tune, too, as if
this was all it had learnt up to the present, or perhaps to intimate
that there is more where that comes from, only I must wait for
to-morrow, and be contented with this instalment. I am. Half a tune is
better than no tune at all, or _vice versa_: it doesn't matter. When
the tune breaks off I murmur to myself, "To be continued in our next;"
and so--as I believe, for I remember nothing after this--I doze off to
sleep on this my first night in the ancient town of Reims.

* * * * *

BUMBLE BROUGHT TO BOOK.

["Mr. Ritchie ... has taken the unusual step of preparing a
memorandum explanatory of ... the Public Health (London)
Act, which comes into operation on the 1st of January ...
The Vestries and District Councils ... have come out with
increased powers, but also with increased responsibilities.
They are in future known as 'the sanitary authorities'; they
must make bye-laws, and enforce not only their own, but
those made by the County Council; and, if they fail in their
duty--as, for example, in the matter of removing house-refuse,
or keeping the streets clean--they are liable to a fine. It is
pleasant to think that, in future, any ratepayer may bring Mr.
Bumble to book."--_The Times_.]

[Illustration: _President of the Local Government Board_. "THERE'S MR.
BUMBLE'S WORK, MADAM, AND IT'LL BE YOUR OWN FAULT IF YOU DON