On Wednesday next the King will open Parliament in state,
the only alteration in the prescribed ceremonial being the temporary disuse of the glass coach. This alteration is due to a cause which, it is interesting to note, is reflected in every large household in the kingdom. So many members of the King's servants have gone to the front as soldiers that it is difficult to find a sufficient number of the men trained to the ceremonial work. Otherwise, and most properly, the state will be full state. We are sure that the country as a whole will most heartily endorse the King's decision. In one of Stevenson's "Fables" the Lieutenant, who comes to the Captain to announce that the ship is in great peril, is met by the remark : "That is no reason, Sir, for going about half shaved." Where it can be done, as it can in this case, without waste of national energy, we must maintain all the old form. Besides this, we are glad that the people of the capital should have an opportunity of showing their respect for the Sovereign and his Consort, and their admiration for the way in which the King and Queen have done their duty during the present crisis. Though the King's excellent habit of refusing to do his duty in a theatrical or sensational way may have some- what obscured the fact, no man has been working harder than he during the past three months. His almost daily inspection of the troops that are being trained for the defence of the realm has been of real practical service.
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