Punch: Punch (81.1881)

193 PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI. [OdroBflR 29, 1881.

OUTWARD BOUND,

Smythe, Forbes, and Parkinson, fearing lest they should succumb to the charms of Maud, Marian, and Margaret
wllmot (and the wiles of those young ladies* clever mamma), secure berths on eoard the tfians-oceanic steam yachting
Company's. Vessel Colombo for a Trip round the World. Just as they have paid thetr Fares (£800 each), whom should
they meet coming into the company's office but mrs. wllmot herself, with her three lovely daughters at her heels
—all Four evidently bent on the same errand !

PACE TO PACE; OB, THE TWO FORCES.

No Force ? Hypocritical Anarchy's plea !

The plaint of the bludgeon-armed burglar at hay ;
The cry of brute strength against strength sworn to free ;

The protest of plague 'gainst the power that would stay I

No Force ? When frank Yiolence fronteth the light,

■And sinister cruelty slinks in the dark ;
When against the black terror that haunteth the night,

The weak find no bulwark, the honest no ark.

No Force ? When 'tis only hrute force that is free,
When the will of the lawless seems stronger than law;

When Justice stands swordless and hinging her knee,
And Freedom struck nerveless seems palsied with awe !

Mad rant, maudlin sophistry. Force, at stern need,
Is the right arm of Eight against violent Wrong ;

To 'stablish the just against pitiless greed,

And compass the weak with, the arm of the strong.

Two Forces, sworn foes ; and they stand face to face,
One calm, unvindictive, not hurried by hate

Or made ruthless by wrath, with a touch of stern grace
In those iron-set lips, to which duty is fate.

Protective and passionless, setting straight blade
At the breast of its foe, yet uneager to strike.

That foe, blind and brutal, takes hate as a trade.
Both Forces, 'tis true, but how strangely unlike.

And "Force is no remedy ! " Granted, but force
Must protect patient healing when passion at flood

Would whirl helpful Eight from its steadfast set course,
And drown Love's best hope in brute blindness and blood.

0 Erin, much maddened, take heart, face the light!

There is safety, not scathe, in that straight-levelled steel.
If our voice is for Force, 'tis the Force of the Eight,

Not to crush, not to wound, but to guard and to heal.

IRISH NOTES.
Justice to Ireland.—Injustice to Landlords.

Land-League Policy.—-Not honesty — generally considered the
best. (?) Advocacy of swindling,
Irish Rebellion.—Smashing windows.

Irish Martyrs—Well-fed gentlemen in a Government boarding-
house.

Irish Want.—To see a tax-spender as well as a tax-collector.
(?) The Prince of Wales or the Luke of Connaught.

Police Patchwork.

[At the Industrial Exhibition at the Alexandra Palace, a police-sergeant
won the prize for a patchwork quilt.]

He must have had little to do—lived in peace,
To indulge in such patchwork that sergeant of p'lice.
And we 're rather afraid that the work of the rest
Of the Force is but patchwork when ta'en at its best!

Educational Progress.

French is very thoroughly taught at our Public Schools now-
adays. Paterfamilias asked his son what was the English tor
" etonner." After a glance at the spelling, the ready answer was,
"Oh, I know,—to go to Eton." Should the World requrre a new
French-Puzzle Editor, here's the very boy for the place.