Mr. DAWSON MILWARD'S clever careful method made the _Colonel_ a very live and plausible figure. Some of his intimate touches were exceedingly adroit. The authors deserve a fair share of the credit. Indeed there was throughout a suggestion of clever characterisation conspicuously above the average of this _genre_. _Penelope_ was an excellently developed part, rendered with unexpectedly mature skill by Miss STELLA JESSE. The _Vicar_ promised at first to be a new type, but the authors seemed to have lost interest in him half-way, and not even Mr. LAWRENCE HANRAY'S skill and restraint could quite save him. I rate Mr. EADIE as an actor too high to be much amused by him in obviously EADIE parts. "A man's reach must exceed his grasp." I think it just to Miss HOEY to say that she seemed a little handicapped by efforts of memory, a condition which will duly disappear and leave her charm to assert itself. Mr. GEORGE HOWARD was quite admirable as a Scots bank manager; Miss BLANCHE STANLEY, a really sound combination of essential good-nature and wounded dignity as a cook on the verge of giving notice. Miss GERTRUDE STERROLL tackled a vicaress of the Mid-Victorian era (authors' responsibility this) with a courage which deserves both praise and sympathy. T. * * * * * [Illustration: THE OPTIMIST. "IF THIS IS THE RIGHT VILLAGE THEN WE'RE ALL RIGHT. THE INSTRUCTIONS IS CLEAR--'GO PAST THE POST-OFFICE AND SHARP TO THE LEFT AFORE YOU COME TO THE CHURCH.'"] * * * * * THE AIRMAN. Jack loves dreadnoughts, Peggy loves trains, But I know what I love--aeroplanes. Jack will sail the high seas if he can stick it; Peggy'll be the girl in blue who asks to see your ticket; But I will steer my aeroplane over London town And loop the loop till Nurse cries out, "Lor', Master Jim, come down!" Jack will be an admiral if he isn't sick; Peggy'll take the tickets and punch them with a click; But I will make a splendid hum up there in the blue; I'll look down on London town, I'll look down on you. Jack will hunt for U-boats and sink the beasts by scores; Peggy'll have a perfect life, slamming carriage doors; But I shall join the R.F.C. and Nurse herself will shout, "There's Master Flight-Commander Jim has put them Huns to rout." * * * * * "A well-known Liverpool shipowner and philanthropist is giving £70,000--£100 for each year of his life--to various charitable and philanthropic objects."--_Scotsman_. He might almost have lived in the time of the Patriarchs, but we gather that he preferred the days of the profits. * * * * * "Often it was impossible to detect the existence of underground works until their occupants opened fire. At one such spot a white hag was displayed, and when our men charily approached a burst of fire met them."--_East Anglian Daily Times_.