His eyes betrayed through gold-rimmed prism Myopia and astigmatism; But, head in air, he proudly strode, Declaiming down the fatal road, "Excelsior!" The sign-posts clustered left and right And waved their arms towards the height; He heeded not, but through the mist Plunged steeply down and fiercely hissed, "Excelsior!" "Put on the brake!" Experience said; "The stars, my boy, are overhead; The pit of Tophet's deep and wide." A sudden snarl of hate replied, "Excelsior!" "O stay," cried Sanity, "and cool Thy fevered head in yonder pool!" The balefire smouldered in his eye, And still he muttered, hurtling by, "Excelsior!" "Beware the awful precipice! Beware the bottomless abyss!" This was Discretion's last Good-night. He gurgled, as he dropped from sight, "Excelsior!" At day-break, when the punctual sun Explored the hill-tops one by one, And scoured the solitary steep, An echo rose from out the deep, "Excelsior!" And, from the deeper depths that lay Beyond the farthest reach of day, A thin voice wailed, and, mocking it, Crackled the laughter of the pit, "Excelsior!" * * * * * SOME JUMBO. "Jumbo, the giant elephant of the Stosch-Parasani Circus in Berlin, has been killed for food, telegraphs the Amsterdam correspondent of The Daily Express. He yielded fifty-five tons of flesh."--_Evening Paper (Glasgow)._ If this statement had not come from Amsterdam we should have found some difficulty in believing it. * * * * * "At a meeting of the King George High School, Kasauli: 'Resolved, that the school be closed for to-day to commemorate the recapture of Kut, for which permission has been so kindly accorded by Pundit Hari Das Sahib, M.A.'"-- _Indian Paper._ We are all, General MAUDE included, very much obliged to the Pundit. * * * * * A MISNOMER. Once upon a time, in the midst of the most detestable Spring ever known--a Spring consisting entirely of hopes of better weather, raised for no other purpose than to be so thwarted and dashed that the spirits of that brave and much harassed creature, man, might sink still lower--once upon a time, even in this Spring, there was a fine evening. It was more than fine, it was tender, and, owing to a North wind, wonderfully luminous, and I walked slowly along the hedges--which were still bare, although April was far advanced--and listened to the blackbirds, and marvelled at the light that made everything so beautiful, and was filled with gratitude to the late WILLIAM WILLETT for re-arranging our foolish hours.