Punch (99.1890)

150 PUNCH, UK THUi LuJNDON CHARiVAKI. [September 27, 1890.

black syrens.

This is how the lovely and accomplished Miss B-ns {of —, Portland Place) managed to defray the expenses of their Sea-side Trip, this*

A v tumn, without anybody being any the wiser !
" o-hi-0 i o-hi-ho i
There never was a finer
Girl than Dinah,
Down by the Ohio I"

THE BRITISH LION AND THE GERMAN
FOX; OR, A MISTAKE SOMEWHERE.

the sequel of a fable.

{See "The German Fox and the British Lion,"
Punch, November 17, 1888.)

" Whew Fox with Lion hunts, one would be
sorry

To say who gains—until they 'ye shared the

quarry

r»

Such was the Moral
Of the first chapter of our modern Fable.
Is the co-partnership still strong and stable,

Or are there signs of quarrel
More than mere querulous quidnuncs invent
To break companionship and mar content ?

Reynard has settled down into that latitude,

Pilgrim, perhaps, but certainly a Trader.
Does he not show a certain change of
attitude,

Suggestive rather less of the Crusader,
Eager to earn the black-skinned bandsman's
gratitude.

Than of the Bagman with his sample-box ?

Ah, Master Fox!
Somehow the scallop seems to slip aside.
And that brave banner, which, with honest
pride

You waved, like some commercial Quixote —
verily

'lis not to-day so valorously flaunted,
And scarce so cheerily.

You boast the pure knight-errantry so
vaunted,

Some two years since,
Eh ? You unfeigned Crusading zeal evince ?

Whence, then, that rival banner
Which you coquet with in so cautious
manner ?

Hoisting it? Humph! Say, rather, just

inspecting it.
But whether with intention of rejecting it,
Or temparising with the sly temptation

And making Proclamation
Of views a triile modified, and ardour
a little cooled by thoughts of purse and

larder.

Why, that's the question.
Reynard will probably resent suggestion
Of playing renegade, in the cause of Trade,
To that same Holy, Noble, New Crusade.
" Only," he pleads, "don't fume, and fuss,

and worry,
The New Crusade is not a thing io harry;
I never meant hot zealotry or haste—
Things hardly to the solid Teuton taste !

And Leo ? Well, he always had his doubts,
Yet to indulge in fierce precipitate flouts

Is not his fashion.
The Anti-Slavery zeal, with him a passion.
He knows less warmly shared by other
traders;

But soi-disant Crusaders
Caught paltering with the Infidels, like
traitors,

And hot enthusiast Emancipators

Who the grim Slavery-demon gently tackier
Wink at the scourge, and dally with the-
shackle,

Such, though they vaunt their zeal and ortho-
doxy,

Seem—for philanthropists—a triile foxy!

Reclame (Gratis).—Where is the Lessee
of the Haymarket ? He ought to have been
in 1 ndia. He was wanted there. The Daily"'
News, last week, told us in its Morning
News Columns that "at a place called
Beerbhoom "— clearly the Indian spelling oi
Beerbohm —"there was a desirable piece oi
land lying waste"—the very spot for *
theatre —'' because it was reputed to be
haunted by a malignant goddess,"—that
wouldn't ma.tter as long as the " gods" were
well provided for. Then it continues,'' They
(who?) "did all they could to propitiate her»

setting apart a tree-." Yes; but it wasn't

the right tree: of course it ought to have
been a Beerbhoom Tree. His first dram*
might have shown how a Buddhist priest
couldn't keep a secret. Thrilling !

Woman's Happiest Hour.

{By a Sour old Cynic-.)

A Yankee Journal raises wordy strife
About "the happiest hour of Woman's fife.'
I '11 answer in less compass than a sonnet:—~
"When she outshines her best friend *
smartest bonnet! "