The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-12-11
1.-THE WOMAN WIIH
 THE SERPENT TONGUE"
Mr. William Watson the Author of the Poem, and Our Own Dear "Dickie' LeGallenne, Doing Some Fine Adver tising-The Asquiths Mixed Up in the Melee. The Retort Courteous, in 'The Poet With
 the Coward's Tongue"
BY DOLLY DALRYMPLE.

Who sights the worthiest in land. Sneers at the just, eontemns the brave. And blackens goodness in the grave. What on earth do you suppose these Asquiths have done to the man to make him act so strangely?' was the next in quiry
 T gather that Mir Watson was in- vited to the Asquiths according to his theory" said I, ito sup cup of tea, presumably, at their home in Downing street. only to discover that he was to be held up to ridicule on account of his pro- Boer affiliations and opinions to which he steadfastly holds"
 Even then 1t was no excuse for him to betray what took place during pri- vate conversation" said my friend. He roundly scores the Asquiths and particularly the daughter. who he de- clares traduces the reputation of the ! predecessor of MT. Asquith, Sir Henry Campbell ell-Bannermann whom she alludes as e. B. in the most undignifed man. ner. She declares that his under secre- 1 taries wrote his speeches and really | throws off on him in & detestable way. | The person in the melee that I feel most l sorry for is poor MT. Asquith. His life I threatened by suffragettes when abroad, and his reputation threatened when at ] home by the serpent-tongued femininity of | his family. No wonder his pictures look 1 ill and worn and depressed"
 '.All of which proves that English wom- 1 en have a far more important position 1 politically than American women," said my friend. Here we can talk about statesmen and roast them and say that | other people write Sheir speeches and all sorts of things, and we are only con- sidered clever and bright, but we are never taken seriously by any man of 1 sense."
 Perhaps if we could capture lion of some sort In the poet line.'' I ven- tured, "who had just escaped being made laureate of his country and ply him with tea and conversation about people from Mrs. Pankhurst to James Jeffries, we might get a bit of notoriety, too"
 All of which corroborates my first sug
 gestton." said my companion. That the | whole thing is a big advertising scheme, which pays tremendously"
 But of very cheap variety" de- | clared. There never was any such non sense when William Nicholson wrote that fine character sketch of the late Queen 1 Victoria, nor when Kipling wrote The Rag and the Bone. and Hank of Hair, We just went liking those things, not | caring or knowing whether a real person !! was back of them or not. And now it ap- l pears that Miss AsQuith Is jumping into print and saying that Mir Watson wanted knighthood and was furious because she and her stepmother didn't influence the premier in his behalf, while she re- calls the story about Lord Beaconsfield
 who when asked why he sHdnt make a certain man peer, blandly remarked that he might make him a nobleman but
 nobody could make him a gentleman !"
 MT. aWtsons poem is really very un- usual' said my friend, "when the per- sonal application is eliminated-for one doesn't want any woman held up to
 public view, in such an uncomplimentary
 light, and r. for one. 'shant probe too
 deep into the mysteries concerning 1t. In
 fact, being perfectly sure of the Inner
 Shrine would not be playing the game,
 which is the same today as it was in Mir
 Barnum's time, and ever will be-
 'In the meantime MT. Watson is lunch
 ing very comfortably on crumpets and
 tea at the Piazza and was quite enthus-
 iastic in his invitation to Mir. LeGallienne
 few days ago to join him and his wife, " concluded, which after all proves tha t
 very clever poem which would have
 won out on it's own merits has been given an immense amount of cheap noteriety by an uncommonly game publisher, with Le- Gallienne sauce and Watson jam"