Punch (62.1872)

PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI. [January 20, 1872.

A MISCONCEPTION.

Passenger. " And whose House is that on the Top of the Hill theke ? "

Driver of the " Red Lion" 'Bus. " O, that's Me. Umbekbrown's, Sir. He's what they call a R.A."

Passenger {Amateur Artist). " 0, indeed! Ah! a magnificent Painter! You must be rather Proud of such a Great
Man living amongst you Down here ! "

Driver. " Great Man, Sir? Lor' bless yer, Sir, not a Bit of it! "Why, they only Keeps one Man-Servant, and he
don't Sleep in the 'Ouse ! !! "

THE NEW YEAR'S FINE.

{Husband and Father sings.)

An Income-tax increased to pay,

And that assessed at higher rate !
Well, we must bear it as we may,

By means of thrift, my weeping Mate.
"We '11 pinch, in clothing and in cup ;

Thou shalt accustomed dress resign ;
I '11 give my Gladstone claret up,

To meet my Lowte's augmented fine.

"What though that heavy forfeit make

A small, uncertain income less ?
What if away the coin it take,

"Which I should hoard against distress ?
"What though my earnings needs must cease

As soon as I shall be no more,
And may not last till my decease,

But fail us both, my Wife, before ?

Still, whilst we wince beneath the Screw,

Put on with added stress this year,
We'll think how much, because we Few

Are taxed, the Many spend in Beer.
Our impost we '11 with joy endure,

Because it seems the only plan
From fiscal burdens to secure

Exemption for the "Working-Man.

The "Working-Man who works with tools,

Such tools as hammers, saws, and planes,
By hand ; whose numerous suffrage rules

Rejoice we that what we must spare,
The "Working-Man has got to spend.

"We 're privileged to pay his share,
Till our ability shall end.

At least when next another year,

Another Budget's weight shall bring
To bear on us, if we are here

Still, as plucked nightingales, to sing,
We've cause, another little call,

At any rate, of hope to see,
For payment of the needful all

To set the Breakfast-Table free.

AMERICAN INCREDULITY.

The smaller class who work by brains. flattered ourselves

In a speech delivered at New York on " Forefathers' Day," the
Rev. Henry Beecher., discoursing of the "Pilgrim Fathers," said:—

" That they had their faults we all know. They brought with them some
of the prejudices of Europe, and had not freed themselves from notions of per-
secution. They believed, above all things, in the existence and power of the
evil one. The devil was everywhere in their thoughts. In our modern times
we have gone free from that superstition. We of New York know there is no
such being."

In the early days of New England anyone who owned to being
an Adiabolist would have been deemed an Atheist. But then
there was no Tammany or Erie Ring. Plunder and fraud, picking
and stealing, are courses from which some natures can only be
restrained by the piety which firmly believes in the personality,
cornute and caudal, of Milton's hero. " We of New York know
there is no such being." Do we ? We think we do, but may have