Punch (55.1868)

Jolt ii, 1368.] PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI. n

DEMORALISING SABBATARIANISM.

Is there not in existence a Society for Suppression of Vice ? Because
then its attention is invited to the question thus raised by the Man-
chester Examiner :—

“Is it Lawful to Plat Cricket on a Sunday ?•—In Dr. Doran’s
recently published work
on ‘ Saints and Sinners,’
it is stated that ‘ at the
present time cricket is
the only game that can
be lawfully played on
Sunday. Either Dr.

Doran or the Leomin-
ster magistrates must
be in error, for the latter
have just fined four boys
a shilling and costs, with
the alternative of seven
days’ imprisonment, for
playing cricket on Sun-
day week.”

If Sabbatarian jus-
tices are indeed em-
powered by any law
to fine or imprison
people for playing
cricket on Sundays,
the Society for the
Suppression of Vice,
in case there is one,
ought immediately to
petition for its repeal.

It is a law of amost de-
moralising tendency.

■Cricket is as pure,
healthful, and manly
an amusement as any
that can be imagined.

It is difficult to con-
ceive how the gener-
ality of boys, or men
•either, could pass their
| time on a Sunday be-
j tween Church hours
| 'better than in a game
of cricket. Being no
[ manner of work, cric-
ket is, nevertheless,
occupation ; and can
therefore be displea-
sing only to the per-
sonage who “ finds
-some mischief still,”
as Dr. Watts says,

“ for idle hands to
do,” and must, one
j would think, especi-
| .ally object to a pas-
j time winch keeps any-
body out of mischief
j on Sundays. Whilst
! people are engaged in
j playing at cricket,

J they cannot at the
•came time booze in
I ,a pubhe-house, or
| lounge and loiter
! about _ outside of it,

| repeating odious
| words every half-
| minute. Neither, as
| the Sabbatarians
themselves might con-
! sider, can they travel
in excursion trains or steam-boats. All the while they are playing they
really rest the faculties which they have tasked during the week, and
recruit the nervous system on whose condition mental health depends.

A New Exhibition,

(Notice fc?/ Our Travelling Cockney.)

The Emperor, the Empress, the Prince Imperial, and Prince
Napoleon, as A Nappy Eamily.

A SEASONABLE PETITION.

To Sir Richard Mayne, and the Police in Scotland Yard as-
sembled—

The Humble Petition of the Dogs and Curs of London,

Sheweth,

That your petitioners are all, at present, of sound mind, although

many of them, un-
happily, are rather
weak in body.

That your peti-
tioners are afraid of
being driven out of
their senses by the
recent cruel order
that they must all
bemuzzled, when they
take their walks
abroad.

• That your peti-
tioners are by nature
able to perspire only
through their tongues,
and the wearing of a
muzzle impedes them
in so doing, and thus
induces fever, which
to madness is akin.

That your peti-
tioners will do their
best to keep in their
right minds, but if
they be goaded out of
them, their muzzles
must be blamed.

That your peti-
tioners would suggest
that if dog-fountains
were placed in con-
venient localities,
stray dogs would not
run the risk of being-
driven mad with thirst
in the. hot weather,
and this would super-
sede the need of tying
up their mouths.

That your petition-
ers have heard that
this is a free country,
but, while they are
not suffered to walk
about unmuzzled, they
beg leave to doubt the
fact.

Your petitioners
therefore humbly pray
that their muzzles be
removed, and that
they themselves be
suffered to walk about
unfettered as freeborn
British subjects, pro-
vided that they pay
the dog-tax, and in
every way discharge
their duty to the
State.

And your petition-
ers will ever pray, &c.

The Practice of
Baby Farming'.

The frequent men-
tion of Baby Panning suggests the question—“ What crops may a
baby be expected to yield ?” Thereto the only answer that can well
be given is—“ The usual exanthemata of infancy.” But, at this rate,
all the harvest a baby can afford would be reaped by the doctor.

Duet from “Norma,” arranged for a little Duck and a
Chorus of Green Peas.—“ Yes, we together /” &c.

Opera for Odd-Layers.—Bet-ly.