[Illustration: SWEET DELUSION.--_Chorus of Young Ladies_ (_speaking technically_). "No _spooning_, Mr. Lovel! No _spooning_ allowed _here_!" _Miss Tabitha_ (_with the long curls_). "Those naughty, _n-n-naughty_ girls! I suppose they allude to you and me, Mr. Lovel. But, lor'! never mind them!--_I_ don't."] * * * * * [Illustration: SO READY!--_Snooks_ (_coming out conversationally_). "I think that every woman who is not out-and-out plain considers herself a beauty." _Miss Rinkle._ "Does that include _me_?" _Snooks._ "Oh, of course not!"] * * * * * [Illustration: THE MOMENTOUS QUESTION _Eligible Bachelor._ "Shall I follow you up, Annie; or leave myself for Lizzie?"] * * * * * [Illustration: [According to _Country Life_, Croquet, which was revived last summer, is likely to increase in popularity this year. A splendid opportunity to revive the pastime and the costumes of the early sixties at the same time.] ] * * * * * THE WOOING [The sporting instinct is now so keen among girls that a man who gallantly moderates his hitting in mixed hockey is merely regarded as an _incapable slacker_ by his fair opponents.] When first I played hockey with Kitty, I was right off my usual game, For she looked so bewitchingly pretty When straight for the circle she came; As a rule I'm not backward, or chary, Of hitting and harassing too, But who can be rough with a fairy-- Not I--so I let her go through. She scored, and we couldn't get equal; The others all thought me a fool, And Kitty herself, in the sequel, Grew most unexpectedly cool. They gave us a licking, as stated, I was sick at the sight of the ball, She thought me a lot over-rated, And wondered they played me at all. But she frankly approved Percy Waters, Who uses his stick like a flail, And always impartially slaughters Both sexes, the strong and the frail; A mutual friendliness followed, I watched its career with dismay-- Next match-day my feelings I swallowed. And hit in my orthodox way. I caught her a crunch on the knuckle, A clip on the knee and the cheek, She said, with a rapturous chuckle, "I see--you weren't trying last week." Such conduct its cruelty loses When it brings consolation to both, For after she'd counted her bruises That evening we plighted our troth. * * * * * [Illustration: AN ALARMING THREAT.--_Miss Dora_ (_debating her stroke_). "I have a great mind to knock you into the bushes Mr. Pipps!" [_Mr. Pipps (who is a complete novice at the game) contemplates instant flight. He was just on the point of proposing, too._ ] * * * * * [Illustration: LADIES AT HOCKEY (_From an old Print._)]