Punch (99.1890)

November 1, 18S0.] PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

215

-mj are, judged in the light of the public interests. .. .

<>jt^_ Labour and Capital may have separate interests,

yet their separate interests are little, in the long
run, as compared with those in which they are
united."—Mr. Gladstone at West Calder.

" Till the war-drum throbVd no longer, and the hattle-flags were
In the Parliament of man, the Federation of the world" ; [furled,
So the youthful Poet Laureate pictured it in limpid verse;
Now the Federations fight each other 1 Better is't, or worse ?
See, the battle-flags are flying freely as on War's red field,
And the rival hosts are lugging, straining—neither means to yield.
Tor the war-drums, are they silent? Nay—they're not of
parchment now.

But, with printers' ink and paper, you can raise a loud tow-row;
Be it at a Labour Congress, Masters' Meeting, Club, or Pub,
Public tympana are deafened with their ceaseless rub-a-dub !

Tug of War! It it a Tug, and not, alas! mere friendly war,
As when rival muscles tusBle, Highland lad or British tar,
Tis a furious fight d outrance, knitted, knotted each to each,
Heels firm-planted, hands tense-clenching, till the knobby knuckles
bleach.

gulf is close bf hind ! ' jfS&=jgs£3HS

What is the most likely issue of such con- wSBSSSmf

flict fierce and blind ? , ^~

Unionism 'gainst Free Labour, Capital ' '

against mere Toil!
Is it better than two tigers fighting for some desert spoil ?
" Federate" the Libyan lions as against the elephant herds,
Will the battle be less savage ? Let us not be fooled by words!

Say the tense-strained rope-strands sunder, say that either band
prevail!

Shall not " coiquer" in the issue prove a synonym for "fail" ?

" Banded Unions persecute," and Federated Money"Bags

Will not prove a jot or tittle juster. Fools! Haul down those flags 1

Competition is not conflict. So the Grand Old Casuist says,

Speaking with the sager caution of his earlier calmer days.

True! Athletic rivals straining at the tense tough-stranded rope,

Strain in friendly competition, ruin not their aim or hope ;

But a lethal Tug of War 'twixt " federated'' foemen blind.

With a chasm at their feet, and each a yawning gulf behind,

On a precipice precarious! Truly, too, a foolish fight!

Rival Federated Wrongs will never further Common Right!

"GIVE IT TO THE BARD!"

Me. Robeet Ingebsoll speaking of, and at, Poet Walt Whit-
man on the occasion of presenting the aged and eccentric poet
with the " long contemplated testimonial," to quote The Times,
said, that"W. W. is intellectually hospitable "—this sounds like
'ready to take in anybody'—"but he refuses to accept a creed
merely because it is wrinkled, old, and white-bearded. Hypocrisy
wears a venerable look ; and relies on its mask to hide its stupidity
and fear." Now this was rather rough on the Bard, who is described
as " an interesting figure, with his long white hair falling over his
shoulders." It seemed as if Robert Ingebsoll wished to imply,
Don't be taken in and accept W. W. at his own poetic valuation as
a poet, simply because he is wrinkled, old, white-haired, and wears
a venerable look, which, after all, may be only a hypocritical mask ?
Mr. Ingebsoll couldn't have been more infelicitous if he had
" come to bury ' Whitman,' not to praise him." Then he went on,
"Neither does Whitman accept everything new." This clearly
excepted the testimonial, which, we may suppose, was brand new,
or at all events, had been so at some time or other, though having
been "long contemplated" it might have got a trifle dusty or
mouldy. Then finished the orator, magnificently, epigrammatically,
and emphatically, thus "He" (i.e., Walt Whitman) "wants
truth." And with all our heart and soul we reply, " We wish he
may get it."

Me. Punch's Peize Novels.—No. Y., "Mignon't Mett-Room,"
will appear in our next Number.

EMPLOYMENT OF CAPITAL.

Sib,—In the St. Jamet't Gazette of Thursday week there was a
quotation from Mr. Buchanan's Modern Review, where, in support
of his opinions, he quotes "Pope pastim." Whatever maybe the
outward and visible form of Mr. Buchanan's religion, it is dis-
courteous, at least, even for an ultra-Presbyterian Scotchman, to
spell the name of a Pope without making the initial letter a capital,
and it is unlike a Scotchman not to make capital out of anything.
Here, I may say, that Mr. Buchanan's contributions to recent
journalistic! literature have been mostly capital letters. But to
return. Why Pope pastim, and not Pope Ptitsim, or Pope Passim ?
Is it not mis-spelt ? In vain have I searched history for the name of
this Pope. Searchimut iterum. But I must protest, in the mean
time, of this particularly mean way of Bu-chananising a Roman
Pontiff. Please accept this as a Memo feom Nemo.

Something in a Name.—" Moie Tod Stoemouth Darling " (any
other names?) " Esq., Advocate, O.C., H.M.'s Solicitor-General for
Scotland"—phew!—a good mouthful all this, almost as great as
'' John Richaed Thomas Alexander Dwyer," of Rejected Addrestet
—has been elevated to the Scottish Judicial Bench. Good. The
Moie the Merrier! Tod is the first half of Tod-dy of which the
foundation is whiskey. Your health, More Toddy! Stoe- mouth is
as good a mouth as any other, whatever mouth may he chosen to store
away more Toddy. And finally, "Daeling" is a term sometimes
lawful, rarely legal, of endearment, and henceforth in Scotia ad
Stobmouth not " Charlie" is "our Daeling, our gay Cavalier!"