Watching these brisk and efficient male choruses at work, the thought has come to me--in fact has often been forced upon me by the martial nature of the musical number which they were engaged in rendering with so much capability and cheerfulness--that at a time when England is particularly in need of her young men in the field, the audiences of London might consent to forgo a little of the pleasure that comes from watching athletic youths covered with grease-paint and gyrating in the limelight, and, by expressing their readiness to see those necessary evolutions carried out by older men, liberate so much good material to join the Army. Such is the power of the make-up (I am told) that a man of fifty could easily be arranged to look sufficiently like a man of half his age, at any rate without imperilling the success of the entertainment from the point of view of the spectator. And of course the girls will remain in all their charm, since girls cannot enlist. The point may be worth considering. The decision, I feel sure, rests entirely with the public. If the public says: "Let the young men go, and give us more mature choristers for a while, and we will patriotically endeavour to endure the privation"--then all the young men will, of course, enlist as one. But unless the public says this they must remain in the choruses against the grain. I am, Sir, Yours gratefully, OVER AGE. * * * * * The Censor at Work. Beneath a photograph of a naval officer _The Daily Mirror_ says:-- "A daring raid has just been made by Commander Samson ... The small picture shows the commander." Beneath the same photograph _The Daily Mail_ says:-- "A famous British naval airman (nameless by order of the Censor)." But the order of the Censor came too late. _The Mirror_ had given the great secret away to the KAISER, and the whole course of the war was altered. * * * * * Illustration: _Recruiting Officer._ "WHAT'S THE GOOD OF COMING HERE AND SAYING YOU'RE ONLY SEVENTEEN YEARS OLD? GO AND WALK ROUND THAT YARD AND COME BACK AND SEE IF YOU'RE NOT NINETEEN." * * * * * Illustration: "I 'OPES YER MISTESS'LL 'SCUSE ME BEIN' SO LATE WITH THE WASHIN'. YER SEE, I DUSSENT COME IN DAYLIGHT FOR FEAR OF THE GOVERNMENT PINCHIN' MY 'ORSE FOR THE WAR." * * * * * THE SAVING OF STRATFORD. [_It has been decided, we gather, to go on playing SHAKSPEARE in Berlin, because SHAKSPEARE is so closely connected with the German race._] This was so good of you, so like your grace, Ye on whose brows the brand of Rheims is graven, To spare the poet of our common race And find forgiveness for the Bard of Avon; And all the little lore he feebly guessed, Phantasy, rhetoric, and trope and sermon, To clasp politely to your mailed breast, Refine, transmute and render wholly German.