Punch: Punch (81.1881)

134

PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI [September 24, 1881.

A POWERFUL QUARTET.

(At all events it Looks and Sounds like one.)

THE ANSWER TO THE RIDDLE OF THIS DAY WEEK.

{September 14, 1881.)

" Why, for long odds, did he leave six to four ?

Our fav'rite, sheet-anchor, last chance, Iroquois ! "

And who is right now, Mr. Punch or the other Prophets ? What did the Sporting
Prophets of the penny papers say ?—"I must reluctantly throw over my old favourite."
The same favourite, by the way, whom he abused most strongly before the Derby. "It is
with great regret that I put my original selection on one side." The original selection who
he declared could not win the Derby if no other horse started—&c, &c. ? Mr. Punch
referred to Iroquois as his favourite, his sheet-anchor, and his last chance,—of backing a
winner of a great " Classic Race." If the thousands who read that last Wednesday did not
back the winner, why it is their own fault. Mr. Punch feels confident that thousands how-
ever did, and he congratulates them, America, Mr. Lorillard, Fred Archer, Jacob Pincus,
and last, but not least, himself.

THE FATE OF THE FLOWER-
GIRL.

Roses red and roses white !
Herrice: would have loved the sight,
Leaden town's one touch of light

This grey Autumn morning.
Say they 're wired and skewered ! What
then ?

Let such trifles trip the pen
Of o'er-cultured critic men,
Who love scorning.

And the vendor ? Well, you see
She 's no Maid of Arcady,
No flower-girl of Italy,

Saucy-eyed and sunny.
Simply honest Stepney Nance,
Cross-shawl'd, coarsish, bold of glance,
Seeking, reckless of romance,

Merely money!

She, to catch the careless eye

Of the dandy lounging by,

Trims her blossoms. Well, and why

Stay such petty traffics ?
Nance must live, mayhap must bring
Food to helpless lips ; a thing
Honester than some they sing

In soft sapphics.

Nance is honest yet; she sells
Not herself, but buds and bells.
What if, driven hence, she swells

Vice's viler legions ?
Will the harsh " Move on! " have done
Public service, adding one
To the throng who fain would shun

Foider regions ?

'' We must give the

world clear way,"
Civic Bumbledom

may say.
Nance obstructs.

Poor soul ! she

may,

But 'tis surely little.
Where's the churl
who Nance would
spurn

From her " pitch," or grudge to turn
Just aside, that she may earn
Honest victual ?

Here's no hyper-tearful touch,
Sentiment strained overmuch.
Realism's ruthless clutch

Holds us though we shrink so.
But deriders of romance
May afford a passing glance
At the case of Flower-Girl Nance.

Don't you think so ?

The (Mary-le-)Bone of Contention.

The Revising Barrister of the Maryle-
bone district has struck the Premier's
name off the Electoral Register because the
Right Hon. Gentleman only occupied "a
room on the second floor and part of the
linen room" of No. 73, Harley Street.
Under these circumstances Mr. Gladstone
must console himself with the thought, that
so long as the present Recorder of London
remains Member for the borough, Maryle-
bone will not want the best possible repre-
sentative of Chambers!

the proposed new pish market.

What would be the result to the White-
bait if it had to be served up after coming
from Black Fryers ?