Punch (99.1890)

30

PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

[Jult 19, 1890.

WHAT OUR ARTIST (THE ILLUSTRATOR) HAS TO PUT UP WITH.

Fair Authoress, "And, for the Frontispiece, I want you to draw the Heroine standing proudly erect Br the Sel-

shore, gazing at the still image OF herself IN the troubled waves. TlIE Sun is setting ; in the East the new moon IS
rising—a thin crescent. Her face is thickly veiled ; AN unshed TEAR IS glistening in her blue eye ; her slender,
•white, jewelled HiKD< arb clenched inside her MuFF. the curlews are calling, unseen-"

F. A.'s Husband. "Yes; don't forget the Curlews—they come in capitally! I can lend you a stuffed one, you know
—to Draw from I" &c, &c , to,. &c, &c.

THE LYING SPIRIT.

The Lying Spirit! " Dootrine hardl " some
mutter,

Dictated by unsympathetic scorn ;
A dootrine that on light would draw the
shutter,

And close the opening gateways of the
morn.

No so; no guiding light would Punch ex-
tinguish,

Or chili true champion of the toiling crowd;
But wisdom at its kindliest must distinguish

Between true guides and tricksters false as
loud. [upbraided
The blameless King his headlong knights

In kindly grief for "following foolish
fires," [faded,
False flames that in mere dun marsh-darkness

Leaving lost votaries to its mists and mires;
And here 's an ignis fatuus, fired by folly,

And moved by violence as fierce as blind ;
The gulf before 's a bourne most melancholy,

And what of those fast following behind ?
Well-meaning hearts, maybe, all expectation

Of glittering gains upon a perilous Toad,
Stirred by wild whirling words to keen
elation,

Pricked on by poverty's imperious goad ;
Hoping,—as who of hope shall be forbidden ?—

Striving,—as who hath not the right to
strive ?— _ [hidden !

For flaunted gain through perils shrewdly

Oh, labourers hard in Industry's huge hive,

What wonder, if, ill-paid and tired, you
hasten

To follow the loud bauble and the lure,
Or gird at those who your wild hopes would
chasten,

Or guide you on a pathway more secure !

And yet beware ! No oriilimme of battle
Is that false radiance round yon impish
brow.

The jester's bladder-bauble, with its ratth
Of prisoned peas, is not the tow-row-row

Of Labour's true reveille. Bonnet Phrygian,
Cap of Bham Liberty, the spectre wears ;

But he will plunge to depths of darkness
Stygian

"Whom anti civic Violence ensnares.
Plain Justice, honest Hope are good to follow,

But Insubordination, fierce and blind,
Mouthing out furious threat or promise hollow,

Is the sworn foe of civilised mankind ;
Breaking up ancient bonds of love and duty,

All social links that bear abiding test,
With no sound promise of a better beauty,

A fairer justice, or a truer rest. [den,
No ; patient Labour, with its long-borne bur-

And guardian Force, with its thrice-noble
trust, [guerdon,
Claim from the State the fullest, freest

And all wise souls, all spirits fair and just,
Must back the Great Appeal that Time
advances,

And Pro?ress justifies in this our time.
Bat civic Violence, in all circumstances
Now like to hap, is anti-social crime,

Foul in its birth and fatal in its issue.

Tyrannic act, incendiary speech,
Recklessly rend the subtly woven tissue

That binds Society's organs each to each.
Strong Toiler, deft Auxiliar, stalwart Warder,

Your hour has struck, your tyrants face
their doom,
But let hot haste unsettle temperate order,

And Hope's bright disc will feel eclipse's
\ gloom.

This is a lying spirit, sly and sinister,
Its promise false, its loud incitements
vain.

Not to your true advantage shall it minister,
Mere Goblin Gold its glittering show of
Gain:

Spectre of Chaos and the Abyss, it flutters
Before you flaunting high its foolish fire,

But there's a lie in each loud word it utters,
And its tme goal is Anarchy's choking
mire! _

Time the Avenger!

0$ the 24th of June, 1871, Mr. Punch sang,
apropos of the Germans desiring to purchase
Heligoland—

" Though to rule the waves, we may belieye they
aspire,

If their Navy grow great, we must let it;
But if one British island they thinlc to acquire,
Bless their hearts, don't they wish they may
get it ?"

And they have got it!