FIFTH EMPTYING. 7S 



off and returns late at night with one reel and two small 

 fish. Oh, you men ! Yours truly, 



HARRIET E ." 



" SIR, Things are really coming to such a pass that I can 

 no longer refrain from writing to you about the way you 

 fishermen are going on, and my husband in particular. Oh, 

 you men ! if you don't know how to enjoy yourselves and 

 leave your poor wives out in the cold all the time, it is a pity, 

 tlieve ! Frank says it is almost all your fault, and that if you 

 would be quiet the others would be quiet too, and we poor 

 slaves might see more of our husbands. Unknown to Frank 

 I have been keeping a record of the dinners he has been to 

 without me since the middle of November, and find it comes 

 to nineteen angling dinners, three club dinners, a masonic 

 initiation, and what he calls a ' financial refresher/ whatever 

 that may be. I suppose it really signifies a gorgeous banquet. 

 Mr. Goschen was there, and Frank paid a whole guinea for 

 his ticket. Not that he told me so catch him at it but I 

 found it out, you may be sure. There is nothing mean looking 

 into such matters, particularly when one has to stay at home 

 through it all. I should like to know very much what you 

 men find to do and say at these dinners, buttering one another 

 up, as you call it, all the time, no doubt. One thing I can't 

 make out, and that is that the morning after the masonic 

 initiation, Frank could not find his singlet anywhere, and he 

 can give no explanation of it to this day. I think it is time 

 the law gave us poor women power to enquire into these 

 things. What I wish to write about is to protest against 

 this so-called contemplative man's recreation, as you call it. 

 What do you contemplate, I should like to know ? Oysters 

 and ice pudding ? Larranagas and Curasoa ? Pine-apple 

 and Romance ? Beauties of nature indeed ! Triumphs of 

 apoplexy more likely. Calling yourselves generous, unselfish, 



