Ah, men in those great days were men
When JACK and I wore gowns at Cambridge.

We paid our fines, we paid our fees,
And, though the Dons seemed stony-hearted,
We both got very fair degrees,
And then, like other friends, we parted.
And when we said good-bye at last
I vowed through life to be his brother--
And more than forty years have passed
Since each set eyes upon the other.

And so through all these changing years
With all their thousand changing faces,
Their failures, hopes, successes, fears,
In half a hundred different places,
JACK still has been the same to me,
As bright within my memory's fair book
As when we met in '43,
And smiled about that fallen prayer-book.

Ah well, the moments swiftly stream
Unheeded through the upturned hour-glass;
I've lived my life, and dreamed my dream,
And quaffed the sweet, as now the sour glass.
But old and spent my mind strays back
To pleasant paths fresh-strewn with roses,
And I would see my old friend JACK
Once more before the curtain closes.

* * * * *

ANNOUNCEMENT.--The Earl of LATHOM (who, being quite six feet or
more, cannot be described as Small and Earl-y) is to lay the
foundation-stone of "The Cross Deaf and Dumb School for N. and E.
Lancashire." Now the Deaf and Dumb are, as a rule, exceptionally
cheerful and good-tempered. It is quite right, therefore, that
exceptions to this rule should be treated in a separate establishment,
and that the "Cross Deaf and Dumb" ones should have a house to
themselves. _Prosit!_

* * * * *

A HIGHLY-POLISH'D PERFORMANCE.--HENRY IRVING as _Le Juif Polonais_ in
_The Bells._

* * * * *

[Illustration: TUNING THE HARP.]

* * * * *

A FRIEND TAKES ME FOR A QUIET DRIVE.

[Illustration: 1. "Don't be alarmed, Jack--it's only her way. She
always does this at starting. Never knew her to come over."]

[Illustration: 2. "May as well get out. She always makes me walk up
here."]

[Illustration: 3. "Look sharp, Jack, and get the reins from under her
tail or we'll have an accident!"]

[Illustration: 4. "Curious thing how she hates trains!"]

[Illustration: 5. "Better be on the look-out for a soft spot, old
chap!"]

[Illustration: 6. "Now this is the second time she has turned me out
just here!"]

* * *