W.1.
* * * * *
A Credit to the Commonwealth.
"COCKATOO, Australian, splendid talker, does not
swear."--_Newcastle Evening Chronicle_.
* * * * *
=THE HAT AND THE VISIT.=
"Francesca," I said, "does my hat really look all right?"
When I put this momentous question we were in a train, being bound on
a visit to Frederick at his preparatory school. A sudden doubt had
just assailed me as to my presentability. Should I, as a father, be
looked upon as a credit or a disgrace to my son? Francesca took some
time before she answered my question. Then she spoke.
"Your hat," she said, "is well enough."
"I see what it is," I said; "you think I ought to have worn a top-hat.
There are still occasions when a top-hat may, nay, must be worn; and
this, you think, is one of them. There are solemnities and venerations
that only a top-hat can inspire in the naturally irreverent mind of
youth. A father in any other hat is a ridiculously youthful object and
has no business to inflict himself on his son.
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