" THE FIRM WORD."
(To THE EDITOR OP THE '1 SPECTATOR.") SIR, In rummaging among some old, papers I have come across
the following lines, which .seem to me to be very appropriate to our present discontents :- " Blood is not shed by those alone Who cry for blood, if such there be: The faltering word, the dubious tone, The untimely plea for peace will free The dogs• of war; when the firm word, The level tone, the front of fate 'Had kept in sheath therhalf-drawn sword And turned the iceman from. our gatV!
Our foee areonow, •alas l• thosmoLour own.hooaehold, and in consequence of the "• faltering word " and " dubious tone " of our. so-called " Government " we already hear the .yelping of the, dogs of civil war. God ,grant that the " firm word" of Mr. Shortt and Sir N. Macready to. the Police Union may be the beginning of a wiser and stronger policy, and that the anarchical andRolshevik foeman may Indeed " turned from
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