ard poultice and a hot bath. Polus laughed the hearty
laugh of rude health and youth. “You, dear old people, you forget I’m
only thirty-five. I’ve had a pleasant walk from Tegea--greased my boots
well--only rolled over twice. I’ve come for a talk. Dear me! dear me!
Didn’t I see a moth there on the curtains? Curious that they should
come out in such numbers when you’re snowed up! May I help you to get
rid of the pests?”

The man had come to show his defiance of the laws of nature and
ordinary prudence. In fact, he had come for mere _cussedness_! Also
he had come for a conference. What was the subject to be this time?
“Anything but the education question,” said I; “we must draw the line
somewhere. Woman’s rights, Man’s wrongs. Agricultural depression. The
People’s Palace. The Feudal System. The Bacon-Shakespeare--anything you
please in reason--but Education! No! Not for worlds.” It was not long
before the cat jumped out of the bag. Polus was bent on floating a most
magnificent new International League. His ideas were a trifle mixed,
but so are those of many men in our times. Polus makes the mistake of
_bottling_ his grand schemes and laying them down, as it were, when
they ought to be kept _on draught_. The result is that there’s always
a superabundance of froth--or shall we call it foam?--that we have to
plunge into before we can taste of that pleasant draught; and when
you have drunk about half your fill, there’s a wholly unnecessary
and somewhat disagreeable sediment at the bottom, which interferes
with your enjoyment. Thus the new League was to be so comprehensive a
League, for effecting so many desirable objects, that it was difficult
to discover what the main object was--or, in fact, if the main object
did not resolve itself into an assemblage of objects, each of which was
struggling with the rest for prominence and supremacy.

On this occasion Polus had the effrontery to begin by assuring me that
I was in honour and conscience bound to join the League, for the idea
of it had b