High Spring with Summer weaves delight;
"All right!" the black-cap calls, "all right!"
And life is very pleasant.

* * * * *

THE LANGUAGE OF COLOUR.

"My dear Clarice," I said, "I may say, in the circumstances, my very
dear Clarice, I like being engaged--to you, that is; no, I've never been
engaged before--but I don't see the sense of getting married. Even the
State seems to deride the idea of our union."

"What do you mean?" said Clarice. "I'm almost alarmed. Have they
discovered that you suffered from toothache as a boy?"

"It isn't," I said, "a question of eugenics. I was at Somerset House
to-day getting a copy of my birth certificate, and----"

"They surely didn't say anything about our engagement at Somerset House.
I didn't suppose they even knew of it," said Clarice.

"Ill news travels apace," I said. "But that by the way. I was about to
say that red is a noble colour. It is a bold, a striking colour. A day
on which a great event occurs is called 'a red letter day.' Black, on
the other hand, may mean nothing, or it may denote sadness."

"Why this going off at a tangent?" said Clarice. "Why this dissertation
on colours?"

"I say, that's a good word--I mean that long one just near the end. Did
you really learn it, or did you merely come by it? But, as I was saying,
red is a colour used for indicating notable events. The State considers
a birth is a notable event. Birth certificates are printed in red."

"And death certificates," said Clarice, "in black, I suppose?"

"Yes," I said, "a delicate hint that the State feels sad."

"And marriage certificates?" asked Clarice.

"Ah!" I said, "that's the strange thing. Nothing may be implied really,
but it is significant that they print them in----"

"Purple?" said Clarice eagerly.

"Verdant green," I said.

* * * * *

Illustration: THE NEW SHYLOCK.

MR. REDMOND. "LOOK HERE, I UNDERSTOOD YOU WERE TO GET ME MY FULL POUND
OF FLESH!"

MR. ASQUITH (_his counsel_). "YES, YES, I KNOW: BUT IT RATHER LOOKS NOW
AS IF WE MIGHT HAVE TO SETTLE FOR THREE-QUARTERS."

* * * * *

Illustration: MR. LLOYD GEORGE Regards MR. BALFOUR'S Attitude as
Bellicose.

"If every conciliatory offer put forward by the Government is to be
treated in the spirit displayed by the right hon. gentleman, that is the
way to promote civil war."

_Mr. LLOYD GEORGE._

*