VOX CLAMANTIS (continued) For the sake of the lads, who have gone out there For the sake of us others, to do and dare;— But it's long and long the day is! "Rattle and clatter and clank and whirr," Was there ever, since ever the world was made, Oh, it's dreary work and it's weary work, FLORA'S BIT Flora, with wondrous feathers in her hat, "Wevver!" she cried, to P. C. E. 09,"Wevver, you calls it?-Your sort then, not mine! I calls it blanky 'NO.' So there you are,Bit of Old Nick's worstest particular. Wevver indeed! Not much, my little son, It's just old London's nastiest kind of fun. "Vi'lets, narcissus, primroses and daffs,— "Gosh!-but them 'buses is a fair disgrace, Squirting their dirty mud into one's face, Robert, my son, you a'n't half worth your salt, Or you'd arrest 'em for a blank assault! FLORA'S BIT (continued) "Primroses, narcissus, daffs and violets,— First come is first served, and pick o' basket gets. "Garn then and git! Ain't none o' you no good! Cawn't spare a copper to'rds a pore gell's food. Gives one the 'ump it does, to see you all go by, An' me a-sittin' 'ere all day, An' none o' you won't buy. Vi'lets, narcissus,-. . . Blimy! dumb! Strike me Garn! What's the good o' you?-lot o' dirty scum! Silly blokes!—stony brokes!—I'm a-goin' 'ome!" And then, from out the "Corner-House," Three pretty maids, three little Subs, Doing as young Subs do, When four days' leave gives them the chance Of a little bill and coo. "What ho!" they cried, as they espied Flora's bright flower-pot. "Hi!-you there with the last year's hat! Let's see what you have got! FLORA'S BIT (continued) And if they're half as nice as you, But, as they stood there chaffering, Packed full of lean, brown men, The halt, the maimed, the blind, the lame,The wreckage of the wars, Their faces pinched and full of pain, Their eyes still dazed with stress and strain,— The nation's creditors. The Subs, the girls, and Flora stood, There in the pouring rain, And shouted hearty welcomes to The broken, lean-faced men. And when they'd passed, the little Subs Turned to their fun again. But the biggest heart among them all Beat under the feathered hat; "Not me!" she cried, and up, and sped After the boys who had fought and bled,"Here's a game worth two o' that!" FLORA'S BIT (continued) She caught the cars, and in she flung Primroses!-daffs! Thenk Gawd you laughs, If it's on'y crooked smiles. We're glad, my lads, to see you home, They thanked her with their crooked smiles, Their bandaged hands they waved, Narcissus, vi'lets, prims, and daffs, They welcomed them with twisted laughs, Quite proper they behaved. And one said, "You're a Daisy, dear, And if you'd stop the 'bus We'd every one give you a kiss, A Daisy, dear, that's what you are." Then Flora swung her basket high, |