Coal is my greatest need, the crest And pinnacle of my desires; And as I toil with feverish zest 'Twill be the dream of blazing fires That spurs me to my labour and inspires. I wonder if the miner too Has visions in his dark abyss Which urge him on to hack and hew That he may so achieve the bliss Of buying great and deathless songs (like this). * * * * * COMMERCIAL CANDOUR. Notice in a Canadian book-shop:-- "It often happens that you are unable to obtain just the book you want. We specialise in this branch of book-selling." * * * * * "Observing a straw stack on fire opposite her house a woman removed her baby from the bath and poured the bath water on to the flames."--_Evening Paper._ What we admire is her presence of mind in first removing the baby. * * * * * "Mr. and Mrs. John ---- wish to return grateful thanks to all who so kindly contributed to their late great loss by theft." _Local Paper._ Always be polite to burglars. You never know when they may call again. * * * * * We understand that Smith minor, who in an examination paper wrote _margot_, instead of _margo_, as the Latin for "the limit," has been reprimanded severely by his master. * * * * * [Illustration] _MR. PUNCH'S HISTORY OF THE GREAT WAR_ Self-praise, it used to be held, is no recommendation; but that was before the War. The War has altered so many things that it may have altered this too, and self-praise be the best recommendation of all. Mr. Punch hopes so, because he wants to indulge for the moment in extolling one of his own products; he wishes, in short, to urge upon all his readers the merits of "Mr. Punch's History of the Great War." Everything is here, in very noteworthy synthesis; the tragedy and the comedy inextricably mingled, as they must ever be, but as by more formal historians they are not. Such is Mr. Punch's opinion on Mr. Punch's own book, which is no formal history of the War in the strict or scientific sense of the phrase; no detailed record of naval and military operations. Rather it is a mirror of varying moods, reflecting in the main how England remained steadfastly true to her best traditions; a reflex of British character during the days of doubt and the hours of hope that marked the strenuous and wearying days of the War.