And now is life bereft of half its beauty, Now the C.O., like some afflicted mare Whose cherished colts have been detailed for duty, Paws the parade where lute his yearlings were; We shall not lie with them in East-bound vessels, Nor see new shores in sunlit sweeper-craft, Nor (save in soul) be with them in their wrestles, Nor wear the ribbons that shall deck the draft; Not in our praise will laureates be loud; _We_ must turn to and train another crowd. * * * * * Villages are Cheap To-day. "LOCUM TENENS wanted for 3 months at least. Little or no week-day work. Offered: comfortable village, 6 or more bedrooms, garden produce: possibly small stipend. "WANTED RETIRED OR INVALID CLERGYMAN to accept nice house, stable, fowl-run, picturesque village, in return for one service on Sundays,"--_Church Times._ * * * * * "NEWS BY TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE. Napoleon died 95 years ago to-day."--_Daily Mail._ Delayed in transmission. * * * * * OUR BOOKING-OFFICE. (_By Mr. Punch's Staff of Learned Clerks._) Mr. H. A. VACHELL is to be congratulated upon having evolved in _The Triumph of Tim_ (SMITH, ELDER) one idea that is as ingenious as it is novel. _Tim_, who had no legal right to any particular name, started life as a blameless schoolboy under the designation of _Tim White_. Subsequent events having necessitated his retirement to the New World, he began again there as _Tim Green_, and so on, through a period of prosperity as _Brown_, one of adversity as _Black_, into the tranquil conclusion of _Grey_. Of course this did make it a little confusing for the other characters, one of whom (not without justice) called him "parti-coloured." Also, while providing a pleasant variety of interest, it goes rather against one's chance of forming any definite idea of _Tim_ as a coherent being. But, despite this, Mr. VACHELL'S longest novel is in many ways his best yet. There are obviously personal touches in his pictures of Californian life; and he seems equally at home in dealing with every phase of his hero's chameleon career. The other characters also are well drawn, notably _Ivy_, the unrepentant little wanton through whom came _Tim's_ first lapse in the colour scale. And the end, which restores him to England, home and unexpected fatherhood (unexpected, that is, to those whom familiarity with Mr. VACHELL'S methods had not kept on the watch for precisely this development), is both sincere and moving. * * * * *