And the Canal be a new Path for Peace
OUR BOOKING-OFFICE.
Our B. A. (i.e., "Baron's Assistant") begs to congratulate Mr. Gerald Campbell very heartily on the success of The Joneses and the Asterisks (John Lane). It is no easy task to write a story in a series of what may be called monological dialogues,—dialogues, that is to say, in which only one party speaks while the rest are understood,—and yet to keep that lightness of touch and that sparkle of wit without which dialogues become mere barren boredom. This is the task that Mr. Campbell has brilliantly accomplished. The Joneses and the Asterisks is as keen and telling a piece of social satire as it has been the B. A.'s good fortune to come across for many a long day.
Thursday. June 27, Mid-day. The Baron opens ventilators, doors, windows. Then, at haphazard, he takes up a book. Its title, What is heat?... Answer immediately given by thermometer, "95° in the shade." That's heat! And if that isn't, what is? The second title of book is, A Peep into Nature's Most Hidden Secrets. But the Baron is not Paul Pry; he doesn't want to peep; at all events he cannot undertake any exertion until about November, say, when he will be delighted to peruse the work of Mr. Frederick Hovenden, F.L.S., F.G.S., F.R.M.S.,—"Three single Fellows rolled into one." "Let me descend to the ice-cellar, or in cool grot let me sit, with a soothing iced beverage and a choice Havannah; let me read there About the North Pole, and Gunter's Tales of Ices," quoth the
Burdened Baron de Book-Worms.
SHAKSPEARE ON THE SITUATION.
Caius Marcius Coriolanus Mr. Ch-mb-rl-n.
Tullus Aufidius L-rd S-l-sb-ry.