Mr. HENDRIE'S _Fergus McLarnie_, whose people must have migrated to Northampton from the neighbourhood of Thrums, was an admirable crony; but he insisted too much and too deliberately on a Scottish accent that made for obscurity. In a broader vein Miss AGNES THOMAS played the part of _Ellen, the Maid_ (another Scot), with a humour which even an Englishman (like myself) found no difficulty in appreciating. Miss EDYTH OLIVE, as the hero's neglected daughter, acted with a very nice self-repression, which was all that could be expected of her rather colourless part. The first-night audience was very warm in its appreciation. Yet I must doubt whether a play that is chiefly concerned with the highly-developed paternity of a boot-manufacturer will make a very poignant appeal to the sentiment of the public. For one thing they may find the love-interest too sketchy. Of the boy's two fiancées one was impossible, and the other (_Rose_) just a perfunctory phantom that flitted vaguely from time to time across the stage. She must have known it was a play of father and son, where girls didn't really count. Poor _Rose_, so unassertive! How modestly she kept herself in the background in that last scene where _Tammas_, having "dreed his weird" (as they would say in Northampton) and redeemed his past, comes back from Canada, flings himself into his father's arms, remains there listening to a sustained exposition of parental loyalty, and only after a considerable interval remarks the presence of his future wife. She took it very well, but if I know anything of the British public it won't be so easily pleased. O. S. * * * * * [Illustration: SCOTS WHA HAVER. _Wallace Craigie_ MR. LOUIS CALVERT. _Fergus McLarnie_ MR. ERNEST HENDRIE.] * * * * * A Matinée in aid of the Housing Association for Officers' Families, of which the QUEEN is a Patron, will be held at the Winter Garden Theatre on Thursday, June 24th, at 2.30 P.M. The programme includes a Mime play, for which Mr. EUGÉNE GOOSSENS will conduct Mr. ARTHUR CLARKE JERVOISE'S music. Mrs. CHRISTOPHER LOWTHER, who appears in the play, is also arranging "An Elizabeth Episode," in which the STUART-WILSON Sextette will sing. * * * * * "Wanted, Lad, about 14 or 15, for telephone. Good wages; good opportunity to learn confectionery."--_Local Paper._ We often wondered how these telephonists occupy their time. * * * * * "Shop Window Wanted within stone's throw of Brook Street and Bond Street." _Daily Paper._ With so many Bolshevists about we think the advertiser should have used a less provocative phrase. * * * * * [Illustration: _Tommy._ "THAT'S THE SORT OF DOG I'M HAVIN'." _Nurse._ "TOMMY, YOU'RE FORGETTING THE 'G' AGAIN." _Tommy._ "GEE! THAT'S THE SORT OF DOG I'M HAVIN'."] * * * * *