Past Pemberton Billing, past Kenworthy,
He shook them off, he was damp and earthy;
By Molton Lambert and Platting Clynes----
But I can't go on with these difficult lines.

* * * * *

The night closed down and the hunt was dead,
Alfred and Rother were tucked in bed;
The cold moon rose on a fox's snore
And everything much as it was before.

Evoe.

* * * * *

Our Erudite Contemporaries.

"'Her feet beneath her petticoat like little mice peep in and out.'

Yes, but when Bobbie Burns wrote that the lassies of Scotland
didn't wear Louis heels and extremely short skirts."--_Ladies'
Paper._

Any more than they did when Sir JOHN SUCKLING apostrophised the "wee,
sleekit, cow'rin', tim'rous beastie."

* * * * *

Our Sleuths.

"A Sheffield firm of solicitors have, this week, had stolen from
one of the pegs in the hall an overcoat belonging to one of the
principals. The solicitor concerned is of the opinion that someone
removed it between his arrival at the office the other morning
and going to find it in the evening, when it was
missing."--_Provincial Paper_.

* * * * *

The Sandringham Hat.

"Many women are making surprise presents of hats to their
husbands, and will take great pleasure in seeing them worn for the
first time on Christmas Day."--_Daily Mail_.

We understand that it will be the quietest Christmas on record, many
family men having decided to spend the day in the seclusion of their
own homes.

* * * * *

[Illustration: "WHAT I LIKE--]

[Illustration: --ABOUT SWITZERLAND IS--]

[Illustration: --THE COMPLETE CHANGE--]

[Illustration: --FROM LONDON LIFE--]

[Illustration: --AND ALL THAT--]

[Illustration: --NEEDLESS DRESSING-UP."]

* * * * *

[Illustration: _Doris._ "BUT, JIMMY, I THOUGHT YOU CAME TO BUY A
PRESENT FOR DADDY?"

_Jimmy._ "YES, IT'S ALL RIGHT, SIS, I _AM_ DOING. HE M'NOPOLISED
MY ENGINE LAST CHRISTMAS; I THOUGHT HE'D LIKE ONE FOR HIMSELF THIS
YEAR."]

* * * * *

THE HUMOURIST.

"Here's Alan," said Cecilia; "good."

"Really," I said, stopping and bowing slightly in several directions,
"I am touched. Such a reception.... I find no words----"

"Don't be funny," said Margery cuttingl