inuing the submarine atrocities.

_The President._ The Germans will soon be undeceived. We will not suffer
this wrong, and we will fight, if need be, in order to prevent it. God
knows we have striven to keep the peace through months and years of racking
anxiety. If war comes it is not we who have sought it. Nobody can lay that
reproach upon us. Rather have we striven by all honourable means to avoid
it. But we have ideals that we cannot abandon, though they may clash with
German ambitions and German methods. There we are fixed, and to give way
even by an inch would be to dishonour our country and to show ourselves
unworthy of the freedom our forefathers won for us at the point of the
sword. That is the conclusion I have come to, having judged these matters
with such power of judgment as God has given me.

_Mr. G._ And to that every true American will say Amen.

* * * * *

[Illustration: WAR-SAVINGS.

SULTAN. "THE OLD 'UN SEEMS TO WANT THE WHOLE WORLD AGAINST HIM, SO AS TO
SAVE HIS FACE WHEN HE'S BEATEN."

FERDIE. "I DON'T CARE WHAT BECOMES OF HIS FACE SO LONG AS I SAVE MY HEAD."

SULTAN. "SAME HERE."]

* * * * *

[Illustration: HOME DEFENCE.

"AND WHAT'S YOUR CORPS, MY LAD?"

"PARKS-AND-OPEN-SPACES-WIRE-WORM-CABBAGE-CATERPILLAR-AND-INSECT-PEST-
EXTERMINATING-PATROL, SIR."]

* * * * *

THE WATCH DOGS.

LVI.

MY DEAR CHARLES,--The weather is very seasonable for the time of year, is
it not? A nice nip in the air, as you might say; thoroughly healthy for
those at liberty to enjoy it _al fresco_. I assure you the opportunity is
not being wasted out here; all the best people are out-of-doors all the
time. For myself, with thirty degrees of frost about, it seemed to be the
exact moment to slip over to England and help keep the home fires burning.

Accordingly I repaired to a neighbouring port, and when I got there an
officer, who appeared to be looking for something, asked me what my rank
was. In peace times I should have loved a little unexpected sympathy like
this; as a soldier, quite an old soldier now, I dislike people who take an
interest in me, especially if they have blue on their hats. I thanked him
very much for his kind inquiry, but indicated that my lips were sealed. His
curiosity thereupon became positively acute; he was, he said, a man from
whom it was impossible to keep a secret. He still wished to know