Punch: Punch (19.1850)

102

PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

MR. BRIGGS TRIES (EOR MANY HOURS) A LIKELY PLACE EOR A PERCH; BUT, UPON THIS OCCASION,

THE WIND IS NOT IN A EAYOURABLE QUARTER.

A very SimpTe Inquiry Made " in

the Name of Conscience."

" The Secretary of the South-Eastern Railway
acknowledges the receipt of Conscience Money," &c.

The above was the commencement of
an advertisement in the Times last week.
We put it on the file of immortality, as
being the first instance on record of Con-
science having anything to do with a rail-
way. But at present the conscience is all
upon one side. We wonder if any of our
railways will be attacked with similar fits
of conscience ? If shareholders return
conscience money to railways they may
have defrauded, why should not railways
also make the same conscientious offerings
to the innumerable shareholders they
have helped to defraud all over the
kingdom ?

But this proposed system, however just,
would be attended, unfortunately, with
one _ great difficulty—the want of means;
for if our railways were once to begin re-
turning " conscience monies," how many
solvent lines vrould there be to-morrow in
England ?

inscription por the proposed monu-
ment to the "good duke."

" (SracioujS <§ao3jncs'£!"

Minnow caught by Mr. Briggs, August 23rd,
1850.—Exact size op Life.

CALIFORNIAN COSTUMES.

A Correspondent of the Daily News-
gives us particulars of the Californian
costume at the mines. They are very inte-
resting, but we doubt if they are as accu-
rate as the following :—

Morning Dress.—Nothing very new
in morning dresses. Blouse with slashed1
sides, and a black belt, trimmed with
coideaux de chasse, and revolvers a I'Ame-
ricaine. Shoes, the strongest Bluchers,,
with iron heels and hobnails as big as-
fists. The only ornament, a powder-flask,
or a butcher's steel; the only walking-
stick a light carbine. No gloves.

It is generally the fashion, for a party
exceeding six, to travel about the country
with a small eight-pounder, which affords
capital amusement m the evening amongst
the natives.

Evening Dress, eor the Ball-Room
or the Gambling-House.—Waistcoats-
of shot silk. Handkerchiefs a light Robes-
pierre red. Coats a pale moonlight
colour, padded with horsehair, and made
of a thick, galvanised substance, almost
impenetrable. Under-waistcoat an elegant
bull's hide. Pistols de rigueur. Court
sword. Light cane, with a spring-blade -
or a life-preserver, filled with lead, and
gold tassels. Opera-hat of light sheet-iron.

Literary Discovery—Many books have been written to prove the
identity of the Man in the Iron Mask ! That man is now fully believed
—at least by the radway world—to be no other than George Hudson

The First Law of Nature—Has been called Self-preservation
which clearly means that the first Jaw of nature is to take care of
Number One.