ad the Bloods no longer flourish;
Balliol is bare of all but mild Hindoos;
The stalwart oars that Isis used to nourish
Are in the trenches giving Fritz the Blues,
And many a stout D.D.
Is digging trenches with the V.T.C.

Why press the search when every hallowed close is
Cluttered with youthful soldiers forming fours;
While the drum stutters and the bugler blows his
Loud summons, and the hoarse bull-sergeant roars,
While almost out of view
The thrumming biplane cleaves the astonished blue?

It is a sight to stir the pulse of poet,
These splendid youths with zeal and courage fired,
But as for Private Me, M.A.--why, blow it!
The very sight of soldiers makes me tired;
Learning--detached, apart--
I sought, not War's reverberating art.

Yain search! But see! One ancient institution
Still doing business at the same old stand;
'Tis Messrs. Barclay's Bank, or I'm a Proossian,
That erst dispensed my slender cash-in-hand;
I'll borrow of their pelf
And buy some War Loan to console myself.

ALGOL.

* * * * *

THE GREAT INVESTMENT.

I am a fair man, even to Huns. When Germany pays an indemnity of
L2,000,000,000 I think we might knock off a tenner or so because the KAISER
has done so much to beautify our banks. Once they were cold cheerless
places. A suspicion of an overdraft always swept through them. Now I love
to go to the bank and see the beautiful blonde and brown and auburn heads
bent over the ledgers. If I could be quite certain that they were not
looking up the details of my account I should be perfectly happy.

Somebody told me that I could buy War Loan at 5-1/4 per cent. by borrowing
money from my bank at five per cent. This seemed to be the kind of
investment I had been looking for. I found that if I took a million on
those terms I should draw a net income of L2,500 a year. But I am a
patriot. It seemed to me that L2,500 a year was rather more than I was
worth to the nation. Was I better value than six M.P.'s? Of course I might
be worth six RAMSAY MACDONALDS. However I resolved to avoid greed and ask
for a simple hundred thousand.

So I went to my bank and said to a blue-eyed, Watteau type of beauty, "I
want to see the manager, please. Concerning an important investment in War
Loan," I added hastily, fearing lest the damsel should conclude that I
wanted an ordinary overdraft.

I was ushere