Page:Mr. Punch's history of the Great War, Graves, 1919.djvu/209

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The Inconstant Moon


towns so far as military needs render us free to take such action."


A PLACE IN THE MOON

Hans: "How beautiful a moon, my love for showing up England to our gallant airmen!"
Gretchen: "Yes, dearest, but may it not show up the Fatherland to the brutal enemy one of these nights?"

In the earlier stages of the War we looked on the moon as our friend. Now that inconstant orb has become our enemy, and the only German opera that we look forward to seeing is Die Gothadämmerung. A circular has been issued by the Feline Defence League appealing to owners of cats to bring them inside the house during air-raids. When they are left on the roof it would seem that their agility causes them to be mistaken for aerial torpedoes. We note that the practice of giving air-raid warnings by notice published in the following morning's papers has been abandoned only after the most exhaustive tests. The advocates of "darkness and composure" have not been very happy in their arguments, but they are at least preferable to the members of Parliament deservedly trounced by Mr. Bonar Law, who declared that if their craven squealings were typical he should despair of victory. Meanwhile, we have to congratulate our gallant French allies on their splendid bag

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