And the sought for the porter far and wide, and high and low, but he never did get hold of him, either somehow or otherwise, for he was gone.

Station-master But whether it is the true one or not, nobody ever saw the porter again. He passes out of these pages as shadowy and unexplained a figure as he passed out of the Boardroom that day, and out of Clapham Junction for good and all.

The general conclusion was, of course, that he was a lunatic -some orank with a permanent obsession who had descended from a higher position in society in order to secure a place in which he could give effect to his queer ideas with regard to his fellowcreatures. And that explanation would certainly account very nearly everything. It is, indeed, the only really sensible explanation available.

But for Mr Pecklebury the thing was done. Though Mrs Bath still dwells in unmitigated stateliness in Puddispor, majestically unmoved by the presence or absence of anybody, and sustaining to the full her permanent refusal to pander, her step-nephew is with her no longer. He had "changed" for ever at Clapham Junction.

L'ENVOL,

Gods there were in the days of yore,
So those tell us who lived here then.
Gods omnipotent, gods galore,
Lords of Nature, of Love, of War-
What if they some of them came again?
He, for instance, whose temple stands
Dark and void on the hills of Rome,

Whose terrible path in grave-strewn lands,
'Mid broken litanies, outstretched hands,
Never and never leads him home.
What if he for an instant turned,
Wearied and sick, from the fields of war?
Came-attentive-and undiscerned-
Past posts unguarded and barriers burned,
To wield for mortals a subtler power?
For more than the God of War was he!
To Him, twice-visioned, the Doors were given.
His the Beginnings on land and sea;
Of Seasons, of Thresholds, the Deity!
Janus-Patulous-Porter of Heaven!
Well, let the fancy pass! I draw,

Of one thing sure, to the end of my song.

If ever He came, He is here no more.

Look where, faster than ever before,

The world's fools crowd where they don't belong.

THE "GOOD OLD DAYS" IN MOROCCO.

BY WALTER B. HARRIS.

I.

FEW people in the world of Morocco, they entered a really appreciate radieal olosed house, tenanted by suschange, especially if radical picion, fanaticism, and dischange is forced upon them trust. The country considered by foreigners in race, in itself impregnable, and the language, and in religion. people looked upon the Yet, on the whole, the Moor "Christians" as a despised of Morocco is meeting it in race, condemned by their the same stolid spirit of dis- religion, unwarlike by nature, interest as he bore the former and ridiculous in appearance. persecutions of his own Sultans The Moor imagined that with and Government. He accepts a small Moslem army, aided all as the will of God, but finds by divine assistance, he could that he has now for the first easily defeat all the "Christtime I am speaking of the ian" forces of the world. French Protectorate of Mor. "Your shells and bullets will 0000 security of life and turn to water," they said, property. He dislikes all "for the Saints and Holy foreigners, but he acknow- Men who protect us will never ledges the improvement in allow the infidel to invade our his situation. He is richer, land. Storms will wreck your happier than he was. This ships, and even should your soldiers land, a handful of our horsemen would suffice to drive them back into the They really believed it.

he puts down to the merciful providence of God. In return he has to pay regular taxation, which he particularly dislikes, and that he puts down to the intervention of the French. He eases his conscience and takes advantage of the situation.

What a change has come about since then, and it is only thirteen years ago that the bombardment of Casablanca took place! From Yet gradual as the change time to time I accompanied is, much has already been the expedition that invaded accomplished. Only those who the Chaouia and the highknew the country before and lands beyond it, when one by who know it now can realise one the tribes gave way and the extent of what has been acknowledged that those two done. When the French French columns, advancing bombarded Casablanca and and ever advancing, were thus opened the road to their stronger than all the Saints occupation of the greater part in their tombs and than all

the Holy Men with their been avoided that could wound promises of victory. The the religious susceptibilities of Moor had to realise a fact. the people. They have had It was very difficult at first. the experience of Algeria and It changed his whole aspect Tunis. They have studied our of life, his whole mentality. action in Egypt. They have A few thousand Christians known what to adopt and were conquering his country! what to avoid. And the two columns were as irresistible as the fact itself. He took refuge in the supreme solace of his religion, oried, "It is the will of God," laid his rifle aside, and either went back to the fields or enlisted in the French army.

Behind the show of force there was another and still more important factor at work. As distriot after district was occupied and the troops passed on, there sprang up a new organisation, a new administration that safeguarded the interests of the people, their lives, and their properties. They experienced, for the first time for centuries, security. The ever-present fear of death, confiscation, and imprisonment, under the shadow of which they had passed their whole lives, as had their parents and their ancestors before them, disappeared. The extortion of the "Kaids" ceased, or was was greatly ourtailed, and justice was obtainable.

to

In the introduction of civilisation the French have shown admirable tact. Their every act and thought has been influenced by a desire ameliorate the condition of the people and to render them prosperous. They have built endless roads. They have opened hospitals and dispensaries, and everything has

They have maintained upon the throne a descendant of the ancient line of Sultans, and, governing in his name, they have been able to obtain an elasticity of administration which the codified laws of France could never have given, had a system of direct government been adopted. They have met with far less opposition than might have been expected. In fact the introduction of civilisation into Morocco, in times of great difficulty during the war, has been a fine example of the true spirit of pacification and progress. I, who have known Morocco for over thirty years, can bear witness that in the parts of the country occupied by France the improvement in the welfare of its people is immense. There is yet much to be done. Decades must pass before the work is complete, but I am convinced that the great policy inaugurated by General Lyautey in Morocco will be accepted in the future as the basis of governmentto the mutual benefit of the "Protecting" and the "Protected."

Yet there are those who still talk of the "good old days" of Morocco before the French came to the country. That any one can regret that time is incredible. Only those who failed to see beneath the

could be imagined more pitiable
than was the lot of the country
people, victims of robbery of
every kind, for, from the Sul-
tan to the village Sheikh, the
whole Makhzen pillaged and
lived on the poor. No man
could call his soul his own.
Thank God, the "good old
days" are
gone and done

with.

I sometimes wonder whether, in spite of all that has been written on the subject, the state of affairs existing in Morocco, up to the date of the introduction of the French Protectorate in 1912, is fully realised.

While Mulai Hafid was Sultan, from 1908 to 1912, in which year he abdicated, the palace was the constant scene of barbarity and torture.

surface and how little surface there was to hide the factscan possibly compare the two periods. The most that can be said against the French régime is that the native finds the introduction of regulations annoying. He has a regular tax to pay instead of suffering the extortion of his own authorities, as he did in the past. He dislikes regularity, and some Moors would probably prefer the uncertainty and gambling chances of the past to the uneventful prosperity of the present. It is true there was the risk of death, of confiscation, of imprisonment, but there was also the chance of loot and robbery, of acquiring a position by force or by bribery, and of being able in tolerable security to confiscate the The Sultan himself, neurasproperty of others and put others in prison: and if in the end one died in prison oneself well, it was God's will. The Moor is a gambler. He staked under that old régime not only his fortune but his life. Often he lost both; but sometimes he won, and it was the lives of others that were sacrificed and their properties that accrued till a great estate was built up, till palaces were built in all the capitals, till his slaves were legion and his women buzzed like a swarm of bees-and then one day the end came. If fate was kind, he died in possession of his estates-and they were confiscated on the day of his death; but more often he died in prison while his family Meanwhile, nothing

thenio, and addicted, it is said, to drugs, had his good and his bad days. There was no doubt that at first he meant to reform his country-or perhaps, more correctly, to save it from the encroaching intervention of France. He was possessed of a certain cunning intelligence and with an idea of government; but disappointment met him. Things had gone too far. Morocco was doomed. Finding all his attempts to preserve his country's independence futile, he gave way to temptations, and became cruel and avaricious.

Rebels taken in war-many no doubt were harmless tribesmen-had their hands and feet out off. Twenty-six were thus tortured at Fez in one day. Twenty-five succumbed, mostly

the Holy Men with their promises of victory. The Moor had to realise a fact. It was very difficult at first. It changed his whole aspect of life, his whole mentality. A few thousand Christians were conquering his country! And the two columns were as irresistible as the fact itself. He took refuge in the supreme solace of his religion, oried, "It is the will of God," laid his rifle aside, and either went back to the fields or enlisted in the French army.

been avoided that could wound the religious susceptibilities of the people. They have had the experience of Algeria and Tunis. They have studied our action in Egypt. They have known what Christians known what to adopt and what to avoid. They have maintained upon the throne a descendant of the ancient line of Sultans, and, governing in his name, they have been able to obtain an elasticity of administration which the codified laws of France could never have given, had a system of direct government been adopted. They have met with far less opposition than might have been expected. In fact the introduction of civilisation into Morocco, in times of great difficulty during the war, has been a fine example of the true spirit of pacification and progress. I, who have known Morocco for over thirty years, can bear witness that in the parts of the country occupied by France the improvement in the welfare of its people is immense. There is yet much to be done. Decades must pass before the work is complete, but I am convinced that the great polioy inaugurated by General Lyautey in Morocco will be accepted in the future as the basis of governmentto the mutual benefit of the "Protecting "Protecting" and the "Protected."

Behind the show of force there was another and still more important factor at work. As district after district was occupied and the troops passed on, there sprang up a new organisation, a new administration that safeguarded the interests of the people, their lives, and their properties. They experienced, for the first time for centuries, security. The ever-present fear of death, confiscation, and imprisonment, under the shadow of which they had passed their whole lives, as had their parents and their ancesters before them, disappeared. The extortion of the "Kaids" ceased, or was greatly curtailed, and justice was obtainable.

In the introduction of civilisation the French have shown admirable taot. Their every act and thought has been influenced by desire to Yet there are those who still ameliorate the condition of talk of the "good old days" of the people and to render them Morocco before the French prosperous. They have built came to the country. That endless roads. They have any one can regret that time is opened hospitals and dis- incredible. Only those who pensaries, and everything has failed to see beneath the