Punch (99.1890)

November 22, 1890.] PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

241

DOUBLING THE PART.

Mr. S. B. B-ncr-ft, having re tired from the Stage, thinks of taking to the Booth.

" 'When the Cdb comes, call me.' Aw!—Very like Him—vertI"

[One day last week Mr. S. B. Bancroft wrote to the Daily Telegraph,
Baying, that so struck was he by " General" Booth's scheme for relieving
everybody generally—of course " generally "—that he wished at once to
relieve himself of £1000, if be could only find out ninety-and-nine other
sheep in the wilderness of London to follow his example, and consent to be
shorn of a similar amount. Send your cheque to 85, Fleet Street, and we '11
undertake to use it for the benefit of most deserving objects.]

A GOOD-NATURED TEMPEST.
It was stated in the Echo that, during the late storm, a brig
" brought into Dover harbour two men, with their ribs and arms
broken by a squall off Beachy Head. The deck-house and steering-
gear were carried away, and the men taken to Dover Hospital."
Who shall say, after this, that storms do not temper severity
with kindness ? This particular one, it is true, broke some ribs and
arms, and carried away portions of a brig, but, in the very act of
doing this, it took the sufferers, and laid them, apparently, on the
steps of Dover Hospital. If we must have storms, may they all
imitate this motherly example.

"What a Wonderful Bo-oy!"—In the Head-Master's Guide
for November, in the list of applicants for Masterships, appears a
gentleman who offers to teach Mathematics, Euclid, Arithmetic,
Algebra, Natural Science, History, Geography, Book-keeping,
French Grammar, Freehand, and Perspective Drawing, the Piano,
the Organ, and the Harmonium, and Singing, for the modest salary
of £20 a-year without a residence! But it is only just to add, that
this person seems to be of marvellous origin, for although he admits
extreme youth (he says he is only three years of age .') he boasts ten
years of experience ! O si sic omnes.' So wise, so young, so cheap !

If spectacular effects are worth remembering, then Sheriff Detjbi-
olantjs ought to be a member of the Spectacle-makers' Company.

ALICE IN BLUNDEKLAND.

(On the Ninth of November.)

[" Our difficulties are such as these—that America has instituted a vast
system of prohibitive tariffs, mainly, I believe, because . . . American pigs
do not receive proper treatment at the hands of Europe ... If we have
any difficulty with, our good neighbours in France, it is because of that un-
intelligent animal the lobster; and if we have any difficulty with our good
neighbours in America, it is because of that not very much nobler animal,
the seal."—Lord Salisbury at the Mansion Souse.']

The Real Turtle sang this, very slowly, and sadly:—

" We are getting quite important," said the Porker to the Seal,
"For we 're ' European Questions,' as a Premier seems to feel.
See the ' unintelligent' Lobster, even he, makes an advance !
Oh, we lead the Politicians of the earth a pretty dance.

Will you, won't you, Yankee Doodle, England, and gay France.

Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, let us lead the dance ?

" You can really have no notion how delightful it will be,
When they take us up as matters of the High Diplomacee."
But the Seal replied, " They brain us ! " and he gave a look askance
At the goggle-eyed mailed Lobster, who was loved (and boiled) by
France.

"Would they, could they, would they, could they, give us half
a chance ?

Lobsters, Pigs, and Seals all suffer, Commerce to advance! "

" What matters it how grand we are ! " his plated friend replied,
If our destiny is Salad, or the Sausage boiled or fried ?
Though we breed strife 'twixt England, and America, and France,
If we're chopped up, or boiled, or brained where is our great advance ?
Will you, won't you, will you, won't you chuck away a chance
Of peace in pig-stye, or at sea, to play the game of France ? "

"Thank you, it's a very amusing dance—to watch," said Alice,
feeling very glad that she had not to stand up in it.

"You may not have lived much under the Sea" (said the Real
Turtle) ("I haven't," said Alice), "and perhaps you were never

introduced to a Lobster—" (Alice began to say " I once tasted-"

but checked herself hastily, and said, " No, never"),—"So you can
have no idea what a delightful dance a (Diplomatic) Lobster Quad-
rille is I "

" I dare say not," said Alice.

" Stand up and repeat "Tis the Voice of the Premier,' " said the
Griffin.

Alice' got up and began to repeat it, but her head was so full of
Lobsters, Pigs, and Seals, that Bhe hardly knew what she was say-
ing, and the words came very queer indeed :—

" 'Tis the voice of the Premier; I heard him complain

On the Ninth of November all prophecy's vain.

I must make some sort of a speech, I suppose.

Dear Dizzy (who led the whole world by the nose)

Said the world heard, for once, on this day, ' Truth and Sense '

(I.e. neatly phrased Make-believe and Pretence),

But when Gladdy's 'tide' rises, and lost seats abound,

One's voice has a cautious and timorous sound."

"I've heard this sort of thing so often before," said the Rea
Turtle; " but it sounds uncommon nonsense. Go on with the next
verse."

Alice did not dare disobey, though she felt sure it would all come

wrong, and she went on in a trembling voice :—

"I passed by the Session, and marked, by the way,

How the Lion and Eagles would share Af-ri-ca.

How the peoples, at peace, were not shooting with lead,

But bethumping each other with Tariffs instead,

How the Eight Hours' Bill, on which Burns was so sweet,

Was (like bye-elections) a snare and a cheat;

How the Lobster, the Pig, and the Seal, I would say

At my sixth Lord Mayor's Banquet-"

" What is the use of repeating all that stuff," the Real Turtle

interrupted, " if you don't explain it as you go on ? It's by far the

most confusing thing I ever heard! "

" Yes, I think you'd better leave off," said the Griffin; and Alice

was only too glad to do bo.

Games.—It being the season of burglaries, E. Wolf and Son—
("Wolf," most appropriate name,—but Wolf and Moon would
have been still better than Wolf and Son)—take the auspicious
time to bring out their new game of " Burglar and Bobbies." On
a sort of draught-board, so that both Burglar and Bobby play " on
the square," which is in itself a novelty. The thief may be caught
in thirteen moves. This won't do. We want him to be caught
before he moves at all.

vol, xcxx.

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