... ...

... CHESS. ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. mini --We are much obliged for your letter and problem. t'p (Tiiwewich). Your prer.ty game is very welcome. J. are glad to hear from you once more, and thank you for three No. 302, by D. L. A. HarroMgate) is correct. S°lution of Problem No. 303 (Mr. II. Jackson's) by E ,L. and Julia fihort is B^U-We have posted a letter to you. Solution op Pkohi.km No. 302. ...

... OUR CAPTIOUS CRITIC. THE PICKPOCKET. WITH the tricks and the man ners of the feloniously-inclined I can claim an acquaintanceship which I flatter myself is beyond the average. One of the boxes from which I have witnessed many curious and interesting per formances on the stage of life is located in the Bow-street Police Court. Erom it I have perforce studied for hours the peculiar ...

... OUR CAPTIOUS CRITIC. THE END OF A STORY. AND Mr. Charles Wyndham again marries Miss Mary Moore! This is all that was said by the man behind us; but it was enough to confirm one's own idea that Mr. Wynd ham's recent productions have been too similar. It would not be so bad were he the only actor-manager. In a single theatre among many the public might care to find the gentleman who keeps the ...

... Roll Up Carve Up By T. A. LAYTON THE days of the family joint are with us again. But is there not a lost genera tion who have never known the art of carving. Let's face it; this is a man's job. True, the woman can often do it better than the male, but somehow you always feel that it isn't her place to do so, any more than it is hers to buy, decant or pour the wine. The word carve comes from ...

... I AM assured of the truth of this incident. During the early stages of the Open cham pionship at Sandwich three grizzled and semi- veteran spectators were watching the play when a keen-eyed steward came up to them. Stand back there, he rebuked. Don't you know anything about golf? The three old 'uns looked at each other and grinned philosophically. They were Messrs. Taylor, Vardon and Braid ...

... How weary state, flat, and unprofitable seem to me all the uses of dramatic criticism! That I should labour on week after week with unflagging energy and unexampled intel- ligence to correct the faults of the British stage is not extraordinary, for I am devoted to the theatrical profession. But that my labours should have so little result is most strange and unnatural. I console myself, ...

... THE Yuletide gift par excellence is Howlers Encored, by that indefatigable collector Mr. Cecil Hunt (John Lane, 18. 6d.). Let me quote a few choice samples: Mr. Joseph Chamberlain was a conservatory. He used to be in the House of Lords, and had a glass eye. Henry the Eighth was the world's greatest widower, and in later life he developed a limp through having an abbess on his knee. ...

... Vl(Th^ A VERY enterprising young man who had just built a laundry in a certain small town had the im pertinence to call upon the local M.P. and ask him to make a speech declaring the building open. The Member was in irritable mood that morning, and he said, Well, what do you want me to do? Tear the first shirt to pieces? MOST famous of all English amateur soccer teams, the Corinthians ha ve ...

... OUR CAPTIOUS CRITIC. JACK 0' JINGLES, AT THE NEW THEATRE. THERE are at least two unusual features about this melodrama. One is that the hero is operating for the overthrow of his king, and that king a Stuart, whereas it has long been a received law of melodrama that your hero lives with ''God Save the King!'' for ever on his lips. Women love royalty, or its ceremonial, more than men, and ...

... vtiTfr^ THE whole vexed question of the legality and morality of big sweepstakes may well come to a head after the Derby. My own feeling in the matter, which I know is shared by many thousands, is that if I draw a horse, sweeps may well be considered O.K., and that if I am unlucky in this respect, sweeps should receive the K.O. ALTHOUGH the Government officially dis countenances ...

... Vtfh^ /(Tr>&&U& NEWCASTLE UNITED'S first goal in the Cup Final is destined to give rise to warm argument for many a day. Some people who were discussing sporting tragedies the other day thought that the greatest of these was Roger Wethered's accidental act of treading on his ball in 1921. This robbed him of victory in the Open. One man cited the extraordinary case of a rower in the Diamond ...