never brooked the German gag;
Bucking up your fellow-townsmen when their hearts were weak as wax--
Burgomaster MAX!

Now, alas! we read the foemen have decided to deport
And intern you for a season in some dismal German fort,
For your presence was distasteful to the Hun who sacks and "hacks"--
Burgomaster MAX!

Yet, whatever fate befalls you, as the ages onward roll
You will live in deathless lustre on your country's Golden Roll,
For you faced the German bullies with the stiffest of stiff backs--
Burgomaster MAX!

* * * * *

There are German financiers who now allude to him as "Dishonoured BILL."

* * * * *

A SEA CHANGE.

Ponto in town is strictly _comme il faut_,
A member of the most exclusive set
(His pedigree and dwelling all may know
Who read page 90 in the "Dogs' Debrett").

His mien is dignified, his gait is slow;
If upstart strangers try to catch his eye
He kicks the dust behind with scornful toe,
Averts his lifted nose and passes by.

His friends he greets with careful etiquette,
Permits his well-poised tail-tip to vibrate,
Then treads with them the solemn minuet
That antique custom and good form dictate.

But Ponto by the sea! ah, who would know
This damp wild ragamuffin on the strand
Who importunes the passers-by to throw
Big stones across the opal-shining sand?

Ponto dishevelled, ears turned inside out,
Has suffered some sea change; his social worth
Is all forgot; he leads a Comus rout,
Tykes of the shore and curs of lowly birth.

Yelping with joy he brings his wolfish pack
About my legs, as, dripping from the sea,
I pick my way thro' shingle and wet wrack
Beleaguered by this bandit company.

But when the day comes round to leave the shore
Ponto puts off this maniac _Mr. Hyde_;
Becomes a _Dr. Jekyll_ dog once more
And homeward goes serene and dignified.

* * * * *

AT THE PLAY.

"MAMEENA."

Those who are not in the mood just now for a whole evening of exotic
melodrama might look in at the Globe Theatre about 9.15, and derive a
few moments' distraction from a Zulu wedding dance. I found it a better
show than anything I have ever seen in the native compounds at Earl's
Court. The company, of course, was mixed, but the white contingent had
caught the local colour