* * * *

"Before lunch each section held its annual meeting in private,
and at two o'clock the company sat down to a substantial and
very acceptable repast, which was greatly relished by the
visitors. After being operated upon by a photographer the
party split."

_Ledbury Guardian._

We were rather afraid they had overdone it.

* * * * *

From a photographic catalogue:--

"This is a most complete little Projector.... It is quite
self-contained and will protect a thirty-inch picture anywhere
at a moment's notice."

It should be installed at the Royal Academy without delay.

* * * * *

BLANCHE'S LETTERS.

SOME OUTSTANDING FEATURES.

_Park Lane._

DEAREST DAPHNE,--The outstanding features of the season have certainly
been the Friendship Fete, the Kamtchatkan Scriptural opera-ballet,
"_Noe s'embarque sur l'Arche_," and the Cloak!

The Friendship Fete, to celebrate our not having had any scraps with
any foreign country for some little time, was simply immense. There
were descriptive tableaux and groups, and the one undertaken by your
Blanche--swords being turned into ploughshares and the figure of Peace
standing in the middle, with Bellona crouching at her feet--was said
to be an easy winner. I was Peace, of course, in chiffon draperies,
with my hair down. I hadn't the faintest notion what sort of thing a
ploughshare was, but I'd clever people to help me, and so it was all
right. But oh, my best one! the difficulty I had in getting a Bellona!
They all wanted to be Peace, and some of them were so absolutely
horrid about it that I couldn't help telling them they were only
showing how _fit_ they were to be Bellona! (I will tell _you_ in
confidence that I believe one of them was responsible for some of my
swords and ploughshares falling down with an immensely odious crash
just as the opening ceremony was going on.) Norty was given the group
of all nations, called, "All Men are Brothers," and he said on the
whole it was rather a rotten job; there was a lot of friction, and
at one time he was afraid things might get almost to _diplomatic_
lengths; however, it all went smoothly at last. Still he told me
_a l'oreille_ that he was glad it was well over, as two or three
Friendship Fetes would be enough to shake the peace of Europe to its
foundations!

But nothing matters much while one can go and see