TO JOHN BUCHAN, Author of "Greenmantle," "The Thirty-Nine, Steps," "The Power House" and other ingenious and delectable romances. LOVER and son of Scotland, in whose blood And yet the wonder ever daily grows JOHN BULL. "A TON FOR A TON.' THAT SEEMS A SOUND IDEA." ESSENCE OF PARLIAMENT. Tuesday, October 31st. Ministers were not in their best form to-day. Mr. ASQUITH was away and his colleagues were perhaps depressed by the 216 questions awaiting them. Encouraged by the addition of a quarterof-an-hour to Question-time Members have nearly doubled their output. Lord ROBERT CECIL missed an opportunity in regard to Miss EMILY HOBHOUSE. The lady obtained a passport to Italy on the plea of ill-health, and eventually proceeded to Switzerland and. thence into Germany. Lord ROBERT could only protest that it was not the fault of the Foreign Office, and that; there should be no repetition. But surely the proper course would be to copy the procedure adopted in the case of the notorious Boy-ED, to whom the Government guilefully accorded a safeconduct on the ground that he was likely to be less dangerous in Germany than in America. Next time Miss HOBHOUSE wants a passport let her have one marked "Not available for return." At the close of a short sitting Mr. a suspicion of a pun) the propping up of RONALD MCNEILL invited the Govern- German propaganda, paid some comment to explain our relations towards pliments to M. VENIZELOS, and declared Greece. Usually strenuous to the point that wherever the majority of the Greek A pas seul among the eggs of Greece." Lord ROBERT CECIL. The House was disappointed to learn from Mr. BALFOUR that the German destroyers which raided the of violence, Mr. MCNEILL on this OCChannel last week escaped unscathed casion did his spiriting so gently as to from our gunfire. If any were sunk, elicit a remonstrance from the fiery Mr. as the first Admiralty report indicated, LYNCH, who compared his speech to the it was by running on to mines. For-performance of a lady pianist. Mr. tunately for the Government, Mr. LYNCH himself banged and thundered PEMBERTON-BILLING interposed with a suggestion that these raids were only possible through the enemy's possession of Zeppelins. The FIRST LORD quietly remarked that he did not think Zeppelins would be much use on a night which was exceptionally dark, and in the ensuing laughter the main question was forgotten. But there is no truth in the report that, as a reward for his kind assistance, Mr. BILLING is to be appointed Flight-Commander of Admiralty canards. Some sixteen years ago the Government of the day contemplated the introduction of a measure for compelling persons in trade to register their real names. The War has revealed the ramifications of enemy-trade in our midst, and made the proposal much more urgent. Yet even now the Board of Trade has not grappled with the matter itself, but has been content to adopt a Bill of a wholly inadequate AMUSEMENT." population recognised him as their de facto ruler the British Government would recognise him too. Then with a touch of the traditional Cecilian hauteur he reprimanded the critics. They might turn out the Coalition if they liked, and the Coalition, we were invited to believe, would welcome relief from a task which really transcended human powers. But until they did so the Government must bear its own responsibility, and not be called upon to share it with the House of Commons or anybody else. Wednesday, November 1st.-We are given to understand that more men are urgently required for the Army, but to judge by the proceedings of some Government Departments this must be a mistake. Early in Question-time Dr. MACNAMARA related at considerable length the history of a conscientious objector still employed by the Admiralty at a high salary, despite the fact that not only did he refuse to fight, but had been prohibited by the military authorities from remaining at Portsmouth. A little later Members heard, with amazement that a junior clerk in the office of an Irish Surveyor of Taxes at Dundalk had been refused leave to join the Army, and informed that if he did so he could not have a promise of Pre reinstatement. "The duties are very. technical" was Mr. MACKINNON WOOD'S excuse for regarding this warlike young Irishman as "indispensable." suming, I trust correctly, that the SECRETARY OF THE ADMIRALTY and the SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY are on speaking terms, I suggest that they might consider the possibility of turning the conscientious objector of Portsmouth into a tax-collector at Dundalk. If there were a General Election to-morrow no one would be entitled to vote who acquired his qualification later than 1914, and of those qualified a large proportion, being in the trenches or in distant munition-works, would be unable to exercise the franchise, and the election would consequently be decided by slackers and stay-athomes. But when the Government tried to meet the difficulty by introducing a Special Register Bill the House showed little enthusiasm. kind sent down from the House of MR. SPEAKER "COMBINES INSTRUCTION WITH Lords. Mr. PRETYMAN'S description The Bill was down for Committee of it might be summed up as a poor away in a style reminiscent of RUBIN- to-day, but first a long list of proposed thing, not mine own," and naturally STEIN at his noisiest. Lord ROBERT Instructions, by which Members sought failed to commend the measure to CECIL, called upon at short notice to to widen its scope, had to be disposed Sir EDWARD CARSON and other critics execute a pas seul among the eggs of of. It takes a very clever man to frame who wanted something with far more Greece, was obviously somewhat em- an Instruction which will pass "ginger" in it. barrassed. He hotly disclaimed (with SPEAKER'S Scrutiny. In a pretty long the SECOND SIGHT. I SAT at one end of the garden bench, Elizabeth at the other. We were waiting to start for the station to meet the 12.55 from London. We were ready much too soon, as one always is for an untoward event, and, as I pulled my watch out for the third time in ten minutes, Elizabeth looked at me wanly and suggested my meeting the train alone. No, not like the Bombardier and the the sun, while she made a rigorous poor soldiers who have to walk with tour of inspection among the buttons crutches. Uncle George can walk if of his tunic. we hold his hand, but his eyes were Having satisfied herself that all were Betty was dumbfounded. "Not see gerlaniums? Not see Betty?" she asked incredulously. Then," after a terrible pause-" then, Mummy, I can walk him home from the station." For this Heaven-sent solution to our Perhaps it might make things immediate problem we were amazed easier," she said, "if you met him and thankful and, as Betty danced alone; he has never seen me, and- before us on our way to the train, She stopped abruptly, and with a fresh courage and hope crept back to our pang I realised that my brother George, hearts for the first time that day. my dear old brother, would never see Elizabeth now, for he was coming to us blind! George, who had written those jolly letters from India these past ten years; hero of many frontier expeditions; the big splendid brother of my youth-George who had led his native regiment across France -now wearer of the V.C., and -blind! I pushed the gravel about with my stick and stared at the bright geranium bed, round which our little Betty frolicked with her watering-pot. "There, daddy," she cried, sprinkling the last few drops. over her shoes and dancing towards us. "Gerlaniums now nice for Uncle George!" At once we knew something must be done. Betty, for whom the world was a bright dream, even Betty must know the price that is paid for dreams. * * * * * "This is Betty," we were saying a few moments later as the tiny hands "Not a little bit can't you see?" she coaxed at last, in a whisper. "Not if I do that," twinkling her tiny fingers across his brow. 66 Not a little bit," he answered with a patient smile. That is-not the things you see, Betty." "What then?" she urged, anxiety and curiosity creeping into her voice. "What then can you see?" We held our breath. "Oh, fetch her away!" said Elizabeth in a whisper. But the dear fellow was now holding his catechist tightly round the waist, his brown check against her yellow curls, and as she lay very still for his answer we heard him say: 66 When the sun is warm, Betty, and the trees rustle overhead like this, I see beautiful birds in the branches, and presently they will flutter away into the blue, blue sky of India. Some have scarlet heads and green and yellow feathers, some have dainty white crests and long, such long forked tails. Golden oriels fly across the tree tops, too, and parrakeets in all kinds of blue and green. And there are peacocks skirring below the big mountains. Mr. Peacock doesn't fly very fast, perhaps because he is a vain bird and wants to show his feathers." Prim Lady. "I WANT A USEFUL PRESENT FOR MY NEPHEW IN THE TRENCHES.' Tobacconist. "" 'PIPE? TOBACCO-POUCH? CIGARETTES? Elizabeth took the watering - pot | stroked his trouser-leg. "She thought away and wiped the little fingers care- she would like to come and take you fully, then, in what she hoped was a home." matter-of-fact voice, she reminded Why, that's first-rate," answered Betty that Uncle George was ill; that the dear fellow cheerfully, throwing he had been wounded in the big War, back his head and squaring his shouland that we were all going to be very ders in the old inimitable way. "Come quiet and very careful of him. along, Betty," as she took his big hand; "tell me when we come to the ditches. By Jove, I can smell blackberries!" "Peacock proud bird," agreed Betty importantly. Then?" "Then, when I smell the hot and dusty roads, I see elephants padpadding across the plains; big crinklyBetty looked solemnly pleased. She coated elephants that carry us into the had been petted too often by wounded jungle where the tiger lives, and the soldiers to feel overawed by the pros- I stayed behind to-well, to give black buck with the gentle eyes. And pect of having one permanently in the instructions to the orderly about bag- the jungle is full of wonderful trees house. She saw herself handing in- gage, and when I caught up the three and bushes, bushes that smell so sweet numerable plates of bread-and-butter, figures by the garden gate Betty had as the elephant crushes them with his at all hours of the day, to a sick soldier the situation entirely in hand. She big black hoofs. who would be dressed in a blue suit had reached the safe topic of clothes, "When you take me down to the and a scarlet tie, and she was mani- and was retailing her dislike of mackin- sea to-morrow, as you promised, Betty, festly happy. toshes, 'cos they buttoned up your and I hear the swish of the water, I But, darling," said her mother legs and smelt," and the shout of joy shall see red-sailed dhows and yellowfirmly, "I want you to listen. Uncle from her new companion was good George was not wounded in the arm to hear. or the leg." |