Corkey is the School Attendance Officer and a terror to every boy in the neighbourhood. He looks at the truant and says fiercely, "Where was you?" Then he wags a savage finger at him. "Yes, you was," he says, "you was, you know you was. I caught you in the hact." No boy has ever been known to withstand him. Yet Corkey has a heart. William Frederick Wright is our chief boy scout. In the first great days of the war, William was on duty at a railway bridge up the line. Local fame placed him somewhere between FRENCH and KITCHENER. Sent to round up the truant, Corkey reported in glowing words, "_Guarding his country._" A second week's absence produced the same report. Then business instinct began to war with patriotism in the breast of Corkey. During the third week he once more looked the culprit up. His report was grim and terse. "_Warned him_," he wrote. On the following Monday William sadly returned. * * * * * THE AWAKENING. Ere our lesson to the KAISER, Self-anointed Lord of Earth, Left that furious monarch wiser _Re_ our troops' intrinsic worth, Frankly, I had thought you flighty, Callous to the very core; Lovely?--yes, like Aphrodite; Nothing more. Later, when you slaked your thirsting For an apron, cuffs and cap, Long before the war-cloud, bursting, Made a mess of Europe's map, Though your mind showed some improvement, Lady, I conceived you had Joined a purely social movement For a fad. Now the scales at length uplifted From my eyes in you reveal, Verily, a woman gifted With the power to help and heal. So I send, for shame, these verses Where you brave the battle's brunt, One of England's noble Nurses At the front. * * * * * OUR BOOKING-OFFICE. (_By Mr. Punch's Staff of Learned Clerks._)