be encouraged. I was never
one who believed that our battles have been won on the playing-fields
of Westminster. I am confident that I am not alone in the hope that
the old games at Westminster will be abandoned.

"It is most important that there should be no suppression of the
emotional nature. Rob politics of emotion and the newspapers are not
worth reading; and it must not be forgotten that what Westminster does
to-day is read of by the British Empire to-morrow. No effort should be
spared to awaken the artistic sense of the pupils. If the pictures and
sculptures in and about the corridors of the Houses of Parliament are
not enough, let others be prepared. No expense should be spared. For
my part I see no reason why a little music should not be introduced
occasionally.

"Freedom of opinion should also be encouraged. One fault of our
educational system has been its tendency to produce mass-thinking.
This will never do among our Unionist Members of Parliament. Yes, I
would even advocate that some of the seniors should be allowed to
read _The Herald_ if they wished to do so, and I question whether _The
Nation_ would do any of them any harm."

* * * * *

COMMERCIAL CANDOUR.

Notice in a watchmaker's window:--

"No repairs except to watches recently purchased."

Advertisement in Provincial Paper:--

"WALK IN,

But you will be happier when you go out."

* * * * *

"An extraordinary plague of rats prevails on the Sheffield
Corporation rubbish tips at Killamarsh. The rodents have
constructed beaten tracks eight inches wide, extending to
corn stacks on a local farm, where they have wrought munch
havoc."--_Local Paper_.

Quite the right epithet, we feel sure.

* * * * *

"We make a speciality of gorillas and chimpanzees. They are
wonderfully intelligent and can be trained right up to the
human standard in all except speech. One of our directors, Mr.
----, and his wife are both able to only be tamed to live in
captivity."--_Irish Paper_.

A perusal of the above paragraph is said to have stimulated Mr. ----'s
gift of speech in a startling degree.

* * * * *

[Illustration: IF THE POETS STRUCK WOULD THE MILITARY BE CALLED IN TO
DO THEIR WORK?]

* * * * *

FATHER THAMES TALKS.

One day last week, i