doubt if he sleeps worse than James.
Personally, I lie awake all night listening to the snores of the others
and envying them their repose ... and I find that they all say they have
been doing the same.

It was James, by the way, who created such a sensation the first time he
appeared on parade with all his impedimenta. There was a shout of
laughter from the company--and then a quiet voice behind me said
reflectively, "He decided _not_ to bring the parrot."

A. A. M.

* * * * *

"There is a story here of a reservist, arriving from the provinces,
who saw on the Nevsky a brilliantly lighted picture palace, and
took off his hat before it and crossed himself devoutly. The point
of that story is that the man, when pointed out to me on the
parade-ground, was working in rubber gloves upon the installation
of field wireless apparatus."--_Daily Chronicle._

Ha-ha! (Yes, just for a moment it escaped us). _Ha-ha!_ HA-HA-HA!

* * * * *

VALHALLA.

(_A vision and a protest._)

I saw in the night unbroken,
In the land the daylight shuns,
At their long tables oaken
The Sea-kings and the Huns.

Strong arms had they for smiting,
To them death only gave
More feasting and more fighting,
More plunder for the brave.

Scant use had they for pleaders,
They boasted of their war,
The pitiless bright-eyed leaders,
And their battle-god was Thor.

And "When this right hand falters,"
Quoth one, "the soul is fled;"
"And I made so many altars
Ruinous," this one said.

And lo! as they sat and vaunted
Across the mist of the years,
There came to them one that flaunted
The helm of the war-god's peers.

A little shape and a mightless,
And the strong men laughed and roared:
"Is our father Odin sightless
That bade _him_ share the board?

"From what realms spoilt and plundered,
From what shrines burnt art come?
Has thine hand hewed and thundered
On the crosses of Christendom?"

And he said, "I too had legions,
I fouled where ye defiled,
I trod in the selfsame regions
And warred on woman and child.

"Tricked out in my shining armour
And riding behind my Huns,
I harried the priest and farmer,
I followed the smoking guns."

But the kings cried out and shouted
As they drained the sweetened mead:
"Was it thus that the