It was James, by the way, who created such a sensation the first time he appeared on parade with all his impedimenta. There was a shout of laughter from the company--and then a quiet voice behind me said reflectively, "He decided _not_ to bring the parrot." A. A. M. * * * * * "There is a story here of a reservist, arriving from the provinces, who saw on the Nevsky a brilliantly lighted picture palace, and took off his hat before it and crossed himself devoutly. The point of that story is that the man, when pointed out to me on the parade-ground, was working in rubber gloves upon the installation of field wireless apparatus."--_Daily Chronicle._ Ha-ha! (Yes, just for a moment it escaped us). _Ha-ha!_ HA-HA-HA! * * * * * VALHALLA. (_A vision and a protest._) I saw in the night unbroken, In the land the daylight shuns, At their long tables oaken The Sea-kings and the Huns. Strong arms had they for smiting, To them death only gave More feasting and more fighting, More plunder for the brave. Scant use had they for pleaders, They boasted of their war, The pitiless bright-eyed leaders, And their battle-god was Thor. And "When this right hand falters," Quoth one, "the soul is fled;" "And I made so many altars Ruinous," this one said. And lo! as they sat and vaunted Across the mist of the years, There came to them one that flaunted The helm of the war-god's peers. A little shape and a mightless, And the strong men laughed and roared: "Is our father Odin sightless That bade _him_ share the board? "From what realms spoilt and plundered, From what shrines burnt art come? Has thine hand hewed and thundered On the crosses of Christendom?" And he said, "I too had legions, I fouled where ye defiled, I trod in the selfsame regions And warred on woman and child. "Tricked out in my shining armour And riding behind my Huns, I harried the priest and farmer, I followed the smoking guns." But the kings cried out and shouted As they drained the sweetened mead: "Was it thus that the Franks were routed, When we made Europe bleed? "This king with a leaden rattle And death that comes from afar, What pride hath he of the battle? What lust to maim or mar? "The loot and the red blood running Were the only signs we saw; But the gods that gave thee cunning Have also given thee law." And a Northman spake: "With seven Fair churches when I died I had paved my path to heaven; Their pillage was my pride. "I tore the saints from their niches With the red hands of my rage;" But what hast thou in thy ditches To do with a craftless age? "Thou hast felt no Viking's starkness; Thou hast lost a Christian's throne." And they drove him forth in the darkness To find a place of his own. EVOE.