As soon as we had agreed to allow the Parish Meeting Chairman to preside, BLACK BOB jumped up and proposed that Mrs. LETHAM HAVITT should be elected to the chair. She was a lady whose excellences he need not dilate on. She had excellent business habits, and, with all respect to Mrs. MARCH, she had as much right to a seat on the Council as that lady. Then a miracle happened. Mrs. MARCH not only did not resent this reference, but actually seconded Mrs. HAVITT. It was essential, she said, that women should be represented as fully as possible, and she should, without hesitation, embrace this opportunity of securing a woman colleague. This made the situation serious, not to say hopeless. After she had sat down, there was an ominous pause. At length I rose and proposed myself. In impressive tones I pointed put that the hand of the electors had pointed in no uncertain way to myself, and that since no one else had proposed my election, at the risk of being misunderstood _once more_, I had, on public grounds, to do it myself. After another painful pause the Parson seconded my nomination. Then the voting. Mrs. HAVITT'S name was put first. She got 4 votes--Mrs. MARCH, BLACK BOB, and his two comrades. I got 3--the Squire, the Parson, and my self. And so I was foiled again--by the Eternal Feminine. And so our Parish Council is at last complete, and ready for action, a corporate body in the eyes of the law. Possibly, in these pages I may from time to time be permitted to relate how Mudford progresses under our rule. Possibly, I may not. But in any case I ought to add that, being beaten by Mrs. HAVITT has not--well, improved the domestic atmosphere. Wifely devotion seems to be out of fashion in these _fin de siècle_ days. * * * * * DUTCH ENTERPRISE. The question of alien immigration as affecting the British Labour Market is one that occasionally occupies the attention of the Legislature. The subjoined advertisement cut from the _Daily News_ suggests something even worse:-- HOLLAND.--THE FIRST NETHERLAND STEAM MUSTARD and SPICE MILLS, visiting the whole country, wishes to represent a first English house in articles of daily consumption. It is bad enough to have foreign labourers competing with our people. But if they are going to send over, bodily, their mills and other labour shops, JOHN BULL will be obliged to put his foot down and kick somebody. * * * * * SEASONABLE(?) GREETING FOR A CHINAMAN.--A Jappy New Year to you! * * * * * VIVE LE TAILLEUR DU ROI. ["Le duc d'Orléans a voulu donner une leçon aux mauvais patriotes; il habite Londres, il charge un tailleur parisien du soin de garnir sa garde-robe."--_French Press._]