One kind of a film is always very dull and that is the kind that shows the King shaking hands with the Lord Mayor and people coming away from football matches. It is a very curious thing but nearly always when I get into a cinema this kind of film happens at once and goes on for a long time, so that it is very often too late to stay to the end of the story-film. I wish they would turn more books into films. A girl I know lived in Paris and saw _The Count of Monte Cristo_ and it was splendid. Lots of books would make good films. The other day we all said what books we would most like to see on the movies. Two girls came to tea and one said _The Black Tulip_ and the other _Little Women_. Jack wanted _Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea_ and I think one of Mrs. Nesbit’s books like _The Enchanted Castle_ would be splendid. One thing that I don’t like about the movies is that they give you too much time to read the short sentences in. It is funny how a high wind always blows in American drawing-rooms in the cinema. M.P.s when you see them on the movies going to the opening of Parliament always walk too fast. “DANDELION” [Illustration: UNFORTUNATE MISUNDERSTANDING NEAR CHELSEA HOSPITAL] HISTORICAL RHYMES II. LINES ON THE LANDING OF KING JOHN AFTER A CERTAIN TRAGIC EVENT “Long live the King” the people cried And cheered with all their might. They crowded to the vessel’s side To see King John alight. “Will he be clad in gold and silk?” The children, wondering, said. “Yes, and in ermine, white as milk With gold upon his head.” “Will he wear gems about his neck And hold a sceptre rare?” “Yes, when he stands upon the deck You’ll see them flashing fair.” But lo! whose is that skimpy form All bare and shivering? Whose are those thin and naked legs? It is—great Heavens!—the King! Why doth he cower beneath a sack, As cold as lemon-squash? The regal panoply, alack, Is missing in the Wash. “PANSY” A VISIT TO THE ZOO Last Saturday we all went to the Zoo. There were no lion or tiger cubs, but we went behind the cages in the reptile house and the keeper showed us some baby crocodiles and let us hold one. It had the funniest little teeth like a tiny saw, and a white throat which it can close up in the water, and a film comes over its eyes when it likes just like the shutter of a Brownie. The keeper said it was a few months old but would very likely live to be a hundred. Then he hooked a boa constrictor out of its cage and asked us to hold it. I was frightened at first but after Jack and the others had held it I tried. Its body feels terribly strong and electric and all the time it is coiling about and darting out a little forked tongue. I was very glad when the keeper took it away.