It will be interesting to hear further details as soon as they can be divulged without giving the position away to the Enemy. * * * * * TO THE NEUTRAL NATIONS. If you elect to stay outside And run no risk, on shore or sea, Where men for all men's sake have died In this the War of Liberty (The same whose figure points the pilot's way, Larger than life, in New York Bay);-- If you prefer to fold your hands And watch us, at your guarded ease, Straining our strength to sweep the lands Clean of a deadly foul disease, Which must, unless our courage find a cure, Fall on your children, swift and sure;-- Stay out by all means; none shall ask The help that your free will declined; We'll bear as best we may the task That duty's call to us assigned; And you shall reap, ungrudged, in happier years The harvest of our blood and tears. Only--when this long fight is done, And, breathing Freedom's purer air, You share the vantage we have won-- Think not the honour, too, to share; The honour shall be theirs and theirs alone By whom the thrall was overthrown. Meanwhile a boon: if not your swords, Give us your sympathy at need; Show us the friendship which affords At least to let its pockets bleed; And get your tradesmen kindly to forgo Their traffic with a common foe. O. S. * * * * * HISTORY'S REPETITIONS. [_It may be interesting to compare modern war items with some which have been culled from our own contemporary records of the past._] From _The Early British Weekly, circ._ 50 B.C.:-- The Chief Druid's Fund to provide woad for our gallant troops at the Front continues to progress. Tried yesterday for flint-and-steel signalling to the enemy, a Roman spy was convicted and axed. News from Rome continues to show that the capital of the enemy is growing very uneasy. A force of special lictors has been enrolled to keep order in the event of a popular rising. An account of the fighting by an Eye-Witness with the Headquarters of CASSIVELAUNUS appears on another page. From _The Saxon Chronicle_, 878 A.D.:-- KING ALFRED has given his patronage to a scheme for sending comforts to our troops in the trenches. Contributions are already pouring in, and it is said that the KING was particularly touched by a gift of confectionery from the wife of a humble neatherd. From _The Saxon Standard_, 1065 A.D.:-- The Norman Lie Factory continues to try to frighten us by means of invasion stories. The latest tale of terror is to the effect that a great army is to be landed at Hastings before we know where we are. We are to be crushed under the mailed fist of Normandy. The General Staff of KING HAROLD can, we think, be trusted to deal with such dangers--_when_ they come. * * * * * UNWRITTEN LETTERS TO THE KAISER. NO. IX. (_From General VON BERNHARDI._)