Her masts were sprung from fore to mizen (Away O, my poor old clipper!) And freights was poor and dues had risen, And there warn't no sense in rigging her new, So they laid her up for a year or two; And there they left her, and there she lay, And there she might have been laying to-day, But when cargoes are many and ships are few A ship's a ship be she old or new (And away, my poor old clipper!). So in nineteen hundred and seventeen (Away O, my brave old clipper!) They've rigged her new and they've scraped her clean And sent her to sea in time of war To sail the seas as she sailed before. And in nineteen hundred and seventeen She's the same good ship as she's always been; Her ribs are as staunch and her hull's as sound As any you'd find the wide world round (And away, my brave old clipper!). The same as they were when she went to sea (Away O, my Clyde-built clipper!) In eighteen hundred and seventy-three, Fine in the lines and keen in the bow, The way they've forgotten to build 'em now; Lofty masted and heavily sparred, With stunsail booms to every yard, And flying kites both high and low To catch the winds when they did blow-- (And away, my Clyde-built clipper!). C.F.S. * * * * * [Illustration: THE LAST CRUSADE. COEUR-DE-LION (_looking down on the Holy City_). "MY DREAM COMES TRUE!"] * * * * * ESSENCE OF PARLIAMENT. _Monday, December 10th_.--One would gather from the hoardings that the Government wished to encourage the sale of War Bonds by every possible means. Yet the CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER threw cold water on the efforts of certain firms to increase the sale by the offer of cash prizes, and thought it undesirable that this inducement should be imitated. The advocates of Premium Bonds were a little depressed by this announcement, but cheered up somewhat on observing that the conscientious CHANCELLOR has no intention of refusing the millions already raked into the Treasury by these "schemes of doubtful legality." [Illustration: THE BAD BOYS OF BROMPTON AND OXFORD STREETS.] On the vote for an increase of fifty thousand men for the Navy Mr. GEORGE LAMBERT solemnly announced that the Admiralty was "fumbling with a magnificent weapon." It is distressing to think that a body which for nearly ten years enjoyed his services as Civil Lord should have deteriorated so rapidly since he left it. Mr. LYNCH does not think much of the new scheme for securing unity of effort among the Allies. He called it "the analogue of the Aulic Council" (pronounced "Owlic," to give more effect to the description). The Chequers Estate Bill passed through all its stages amid a chorus of praise, despite the injunction of the generous donors that there should be "no flowers."