which occurred in a Club in London, where English officers were entertaining Americans. The beer had become flat, and an American pushed it aside, and when asked why, casually observed, "It is stale." The other hotly retorted, "Yes, it got stale waiting for you to get into the War!" which met with the sally, "But, after all, the 'A. E. F.' (meaning American Expeditionary Force) rendered some timely service." "And what," said the discomfitted one, "does 'A. E. F.' stand for?" Whereupon the American dryly remarked, “A. E. F.-After the English Failed!" I told that story at an Englishman's table, provoked by some veiled slur upon America, but it gave me no pleasure, because it produced no mirth.

Piloted by my old friend, T. P. O'Connor, M. P., who had enlisted the services of Mr. Joseph Devlin, M. P., I had no trouble in getting a place in the Visitors' Gallery of the House of Commons. "Tay Pay," as he is familiarly called, is the "Father of the House," being the member longest in continuous service. I cannot but recall that when first I visited the House, many years ago, as a boy, to hear Gladstone speak, I presented myself at the door with a card from Mr. O'Connor, and was relegated to the end of a long line without any hope of resurrection. I walked forward to the guardian of the gallery stairs, and said "Is there no way to hear Mr. Gladstone?" He said, "No, go back and take your place in line!" Then I said, "But I have come a very long distance, and it is a great disappointment." He enquired, "Where did you come from?" and when I said "California," he, quickly as a flash with an unmistakable look in his eye, whispered, "That is the land of gold!"-Then down I went, and up I went!

In a land of so much formality, I was, on another occasion, surprised, in the year 1900 en route to the French Exposition, when, while still Mayor of San Francisco, I called on the Lord Mayor of London and found him in his shirt-sleeves! I thought really that his position consisted principally of a livery. I soon learned that he meant no discourtesy, and the next day enjoyed an excellent lunch with his petty court, lady and High Sheriff in the Mansion House. He was beautifully bedizened. But no Englishman will ever believe me, that I was received by the Lord Mayor of London in his shirt-sleeves.

After the session of the House, I was led into the lobby by Mr. Devlin, and, with Representative in Congress Mr. Bourke Cockran, of New York, presented to Lady Astor. We had observed that, in the House, she flitted from one side of the Chamber to the other, and engaged in conversation with the members and/with the one other woman member, sitting for a labor constituency. She seemed to enjoy giving enjoyment. She evidently relieved the dull hours by her engaging manners, and was able to put through a resolution which she had upon the table. Lloyd George, who was at his best, parrying questions, and Winston Churchill and Austin Chamberlain, explained matters in response to the demands of members. Lloyd George, who never raised his voice, but spoke with much precision seemed to be master of himself, and moved from subject to subject with supreme confidence. He has the personality that "puts things over" and has taken on a certain degree of dignity and poise, of which nobody suspected him during the days when he was forging to the front. During our conversation with the distinguished Lady—