t sea. For a
fleet to exist as a recognisable instrument is not necessarily for it to
be in Being. Only by exhibiting a desire to dispute Command at all costs
can a fleet be said to come into Being. On the other hand, by being in
Being a fleet does not necessarily obtain command or even partial
control. This is not simply a question of To Be or Not to Be (in Being).

In explaining these academic principles one always runs the risk of
being confronted with concrete instances. I shall be asked, "Is the
German Fleet in Being?" I can only reply that it is in a condition of
strictly Limited Control (I refer to the Kiel Canal), while the Baltic
is in Disputed Command so long as the Russian Fleet is Strategically at
Large.

This brings us to the question of the phrase "Strategically at Large,"
which has been loosely rendered "On the War-path." Let us say rather
that any fleet (in Being) which is ready (even without Putative Control)
to dispute Command is said to be Strategically at Large, so long as it
is imbued with _animus pugnandi_.

_Animus pugnandi_ is the root of the matter. A fleet is in a state of
disintegration without it. And so long as the German Fleet's activities
in the North Sea are confined to peeping out of the Canal to see if the
foe is in the neighbourhood one must conclude that this ingredient has
been overlooked in its composition.

BIS.

* * * * *

GENERAL UTILITY.

"Invalided soldier seeks job; domestic and lity. factotum in
bachelor menage, or musician, lyrist, dramatist, etc.; house
work mornings, lit. asst. afternoons, evenings; ex-officer's
servant; fair cook; turned 60, but virile and active; or working
librarian, cleaning, etc.; theatrical experience; nominal salary
if permanent."

_Daily Express._

If he hadn't called himself a soldier we should have almost thought he
was a handy-man.

* * * * *

PRO PATRIA.

[Illustration: A TRIBUTE TO WOMAN'S WORK IN WAR-TIME.]

* * * * *

[Illustration: _Mistress._ "And where is Jane?"

_Parlourmaid._ "If you please, Ma'am, Jane says she can't come to family
prayers any more while we have margarine in the kitchen."]

* * * * *

THE ROMANCE OF WAR.

We relieved the Royal What-you-call-'ems under depressing circumstances.
The front line was getting it in the neck, which is unfair after dark