Volume 147 — A PLEA FOR PEGASUS.
Reading edition
Ye mobilisers of that other arm Whose might is famed superior to the sabre's, Who furnish forth the wherewithal to charm The Special Correspondent to his labours, And by whose enterprise we're daily fed on Reports of Armageddon. List to my plaint. It is not that I tire Of those despatches—picturesque effusions— Which by the witness of a later wire Are proved to rank among the Great Illusions; Though much to be deplored, such news, I'm willing Freely to own, is thrilling. But when your pages, shrunken through the scare Of that worst blow of all, a paper famine, Dispense exclusively Bellona's fare, And, failing battle tales, you simply cram in Facts about spies, commodities and prices, I writhe beneath this crisis. I can support the other pains of war: Transport disorganised and credit shaken, The fear of hunger knocking at the door, And threepence extra on a pound of bacon; In fact, I'd be the most resigned of creatures If you'd compose your "features." Could you not lift a corner of the mask That makes these solemn days so much more solemn? A very little ray is all I ask To light the utter darkness—say a column Of "stories" which your slang describes as "snappy;" With these I could be happy; With these my topic Muse I might entice; But war has left her mute, and me despairing. They call for horses; must I sacrifice The steed with whom I've taken many an airing? Poor Pegasus—and none too well-conditioned! Must he be requisitioned?
From parallel columns in The Evening News:—
"Haelen is forty-five miles northwest of Liége; "The centre of the battle was at Haelen(thirty miles
it is fifty miles east of Brussels." northwest of Liége and thirty miles from Brussels)."
This is simply to deceive the Germans.
THE WORLD'S ENEMY.
The Kaiser. "WHO GOES THERE?"
Spirit of Carnage. "A FRIEND—YOUR ONLY ONE."
Fond Mother (full of war news). "Don't go too far out, girls. You can't be too careful with all this fighting going on."