CHARIVARIA.
Even war has its humours. "In the midst of perfect peace the enemy surprises us," is a sentence from a proclamation not by the King of the Belgians but by the German Kaiser.
Wilhelm II. is said to be extremely annoyed in his capacity as a British Admiral that he is not being kept fully informed as to the movements of our Fleet.
The danger, of course, of a fondness for a place in the sun is that one may get burnt.
The coming generation would certainly seem to be all right. Even children are taking part in the fray. The Boy Scouts are helping manfully here, and at Liége the Germans, we are told, used nippers for cutting wire entanglements.
A vivid idea of the horrors of the return journey from the Continent to England after the declaration of war may be gained from the fact that a lady, in recounting her experiences in a contemporary, states that she was thankful to get back to Battersea.
General Villa, it is stated, has now virtually proclaimed his independence of General Carranza, and hostilities are said to be imminent. We caution these gentlemen, however, that we are not prepared at this juncture to take a great deal of interest in their little war, and, if they take our advice, they will postpone it.
At the present moment, fortunately, one does not hear much of the sex war, but sex-pride compels us to draw attention to an account in The Liverpool Echo of a recent agricultural show, from which we learn that "in a class for cows, in which there was a score of entries, Mr. S. Sanday won with pedigree dairy bulls."
The news that a large number of yachts had been placed at the disposal of the Admiralty was, no doubt, responsible for a statement in The Birkenhead News of the 8th inst., to the effect that the Hoylake Town Band, consisting of Bavarians, in a moment of patriotic fervour during the crisis struck up "Der Yacht am Rhein."
Overheard in the heather of a grouse moor:—"What ho! The Moratorium."
In feline circles it is being pointed out with some pride that not only are there Dogs of Wars but that Active Service Kits are being advertised very freely.
