"As to the next paragraph," he continued, "I don't complain so much, though, personally, I consider '_Extract from Order made by the Secretary of State for the Home Department_' a very poor paraphrase of the resounding couplet in which I introduced him:-- "'Now speaks in genial tones, from heart to heart meant, The Secretary for the Home Department!' "I could have overlooked that, Sir, if they had retained the lines I had written for him. But they've only let him speak the first four words--'_Passengers in Railway Carriages_'--and then drivel on thus: '_which are provided with blinds must keep the blinds covered so as to cover the windows'_--a clumsy tautology, Sir, for which I am sure no Home Secretary would care to be held responsible, and from which I had been at some pains to save him, as you may judge when I read you the original text:-- "'Passengers in railway carriages Possess a sense which none disparages; So those who are not perverse or froward May be trusted to see that the blinds are lowered, To cover the windows so totally That no one inside can be seen, or see. Mem.--This need not be done, as lately decided, If blinds for the windows have not been provided.' "But," he went on, "the deadliest injury those infernal officials reserved for the last. If you read the concluding sentence, Sir, you will observe that it begins: '_The blinds may be lifted in case of necessity_!' (That, I need hardly say, is _entirely_ my own. There is a sort of inspired swing in it, the true lyrical lilt with which even red-tape has not dared to tamper! But mark how they go on): '_when the train is at a standstill at a station, but, if lifted, they must be lowered again before the train starts_.' And this insufferable bathos, forsooth, was substituted for lines like these:-- "'The blinds may be lifted in case of necessity; Thus, if the train at a station should halt, And the traveller hears not its name, nor can guess it, he Cannot be held to commit any fault, Still farther be fined, Should he pull up the blind Out of mere curiosity: had he not looked He might miss the station for which he had booked!' "Well," he concluded, "that is my case. But I can never put it before the public myself. My pride would not permit me. Though, if someone--yourself, for instance--would present my claims to redress--" I couldn't help thinking that he had been hardly treated, and so I undertook to do what I could for him. He gave me his verses, also his name, which latter I have unfortunately forgotten. However, I hope I have redeemed my promise here in other respects. There are times when I wonder uneasily whether he may not have been pulling my leg. But, after all, he could have had no possible object in doing that. Besides, if, the next time you travel by the L. & N.-W., you will study the printed instructions in your compartment, I fancy you will agree with me that they corroborate his statements to a rather remarkable extent.