ll, then, suppose we start by saying that HUERTA and WILSON
must _both_ be eliminated. That'll please both sides. HUERTA will be
tickled to death if WILSON has to go, and WILSON will be delighted at
our backing up his policy. What do you think?

_B. M._ I can't think at all in this noise.

_C. M._ Nor can I, but I daresay it's all right.

_A. M._ I'm glad you like the idea. It's fair to both sides, you see.
That's what mediation's for.

(_Left mediating._)

* * * * *

THE BATH UNREST.

My bath awaits me! It contains to-night,
Besides the customary water--stay:
Before I name ingredients, let me say
Exactly who and what I am who write.

(My bath awaits me!) I am known to fame,
First, as a rising music-hall artiste;
But, secondly and chiefly, I'm the beast
Who Puts Things in his Bath. You've met my name.

(My bath awaits me!) People come, you see,
With sample packets of the Lord knows what,
And want me to "endorse" the silly rot.
Well, I "endorse"; receiving L. _s._ _d._

(My bath awaits me!) But I specialise
In baths. I will not "like it in my soup,"
Nor "take five drops before I loop the loop";
Nor will I "find it helps to keep off flies."

(My bath awaits me!) Am I over-nice?
I cannot "thank you for the lovely sox,"
Nor shall "my children quarrel for the box."
I Put It In My Bath. Let that suffice.

(My bath awaits me!) Now, to take the list:
Mustard, by thirteen makers; salt, by six;
Saponica; Shampoona; Sozothrix;
Eau-de-Cologne (nine samples); Bathex; Vrist.

(My bath awaits me!) These and more than these
(I drop the catalogue) in pungent strife,
Stench hard at grips with stench for loathly life,
Yon seething cauldron holds. Excuse a sneeze.

(My bath awaits me!) Why the cauldron? Why
Not desecrate the dustbin? Here's the rub:
All the endorsements specify my tub;
The dustbin is not mentioned. Can I lie?

(My bath awaits me!) So I made a vow,
Soon as the groaning shelf could bear no more,
In one doomed bath to mix 'em. What I swore
I've done. The night of reckoning is now.

My bath awaits me! True. But then I said
Not "use" but "put." Why have my beastly bath?
Bed, too, awaits me; be the bedward path
My choice. I do not Put Things in my Bed.

*