The Autumn days are flying fast; Across the bleak skies overcast Scurries the wind; Where are those plums of purple hue, Mother? I only wish that you Had disciplined My pampered youth To face the truth. The time for wasps is nearly done, And what is life without the sun, Mother, my Queen? Dull stupor numbs your royal head; Torpid my sisters lie--or dead; Come, let me lean Back on my sting And end the thing. * * * * * SUGGESTIONS FOR A GENERAL PAPER. (_For the benefit of the Examiners in the Oxford School of English Literature._) (1) Compare, in respect of pulpit oratory, (_a_) Dr. SOUTH with "WOODBINE WILLIE," and (_b_) Dr. MICHAEL FURSE (Bishop of St. Albans) with the JUDICIOUS HOOKER. (2) Give reasons in support of Mr. BEVERLEY NICHOLLS' emendation of the lines in _The Ancient Mariner_-- The wedding guest he beat his breast, For he heard the proud SASSOON. (3) Re-write "Tears, idle tears" in the style of (_a_) Dr. JOHNSON, (_b_) CALISTHENES, (_c_) the SITWELLS. (4) What do you know of CASANOVA, KARSAVINA, CAGLIOSTRO, KENNEDY JONES, Captain PETER WRIGHT, EPSTEIN, ECKSTEIN and EINSTEIN? When did Sir OLIVER LODGE say that he would not leave _ein Stein_ unturned until he had upset the theory of Relativity? (5) Give a complete list of all the poets, major and minor, at present residing on Boar's Hill, and trace their influence on the Baconian controversy. (6) Distinguish by psycho-analysis between (_a_) SYDNEY SMITH and SIDNEY LEE, (_b_) GEORGE MEREDITH and GEORGE ROBEY, noting convergences as well as divergences of mentality, physique and sub-conscious uplift. (7) Would Jason, who sailed in the _Argo_, have laid an embargo on MARGOT as passenger or supercargo? Estimate the probable results of her introduction to Medea, and its effect on the views and translations of Professor GILBERT MURRAY. (8) What eminent Georgian critic said that TENNYSON's greatest work was his _Idols of the Queen_? (9) Estimate the effect on Reconstruction if Mr. BOTTOMLEY were to devote himself exclusively to theological studies, and Mr. WELLS were to take up his abode permanently in Russia. * * * * * =Another Impending Apology.= "FIRE AT CHILDREN'S HOME. LADY HENRY SOMERSET'S WORK." _Daily Paper._ * * * * * From a Pimlico shop window:-- "GENTLEMEN'S WAR ROBES BOUGHT." Apparently not worth a "d." * * * * * "Professor ----, the pianist, who is trying to complete 110 hours' continuous playing, completed fifty-five hours on the first day." _Cologne Post._ That makes it too easy. * * * * *