Page:Mr. Punch's history of the Great War, Graves, 1919.djvu/81

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Flora Yields to Ceres


Lord Kitchener." The concession is something. Most of the importunate questionists are on the other side:

"Take from us any joys you like," they cry;
"We'd bear the loss, however much we missed 'em;
Let truth and justice, fame and honour die,
But spare, O spare, our Voluntary System!"


A HANDY MAN
Marine (somewhat late for parade: "At six o'clock I was a bloomin' 'ousemaid; at seven o'clock I was a bloomin' valet; at eight o'clock I was a bloomin' waiter; an' now I'm a bloomin' soldier!"

Amongst other the times the increase of girl gardeners and the sacrifice of flower beds to vegetables are to be noted. But War changes are sometimes disconcerting, even when they are most salutary. For example, there is the cri de cœur of a passenger on a Clydebank tramcar in Glasgow on Saturday night, with a lady conductor: "I canna jist bottom this, Tam. It's Seterday nicht an' this is the Clydebank caur, an' there's naebody singin' an' naebody fechtin' wi' the conductor." Liquor control evidently does mean something.

The War vocabulary grows and grows. "Pipsqueaks," "crumps" and "Jack Johnsons," picturesque

equivalents for un-

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