DOI Heft:
January 2, 1892
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.17693#0013
January 2, 1892.] PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI. 3
'ARRY OUT 'UNTIN'.
'Arry {who goes to the Meet in a frost). '"Ave the 'Oitnds come, my Lads ? "
Little Girl {respectfully). "If you please, Sir, our 'Ounds don't 'tint in 'Ard Weather!"
so loud, clear, and sonorous—that the Bells seemed to strike him in
his chair.
And what was it that they said ?
"Punch and Toby! Toby and Punch ! Waiting for you, Toby and
Punch ! Come and see us ! Come and see us ! Come and see us!
Drag them to us ! Haunt and hunt them! Haunt and hunt them;
Break their slumbers! Break their slumbers! Punch, Toby; Toby,
Punch; Toby, Punch ; Punch, Toby ! ! " Then fiercely back to their
impetuous strain again, and ringing in the very bricks and plaster
on the Sanctum's walls!
Toby barked ! Punch listened ! Fancy, fancy ! No, no! Nothing
of the kind. Again, again, and yet a dozen times again. "Haunt
and hunt them! Haunt and hunt them ! "
"If the tower is really open," said Punch, " what's to hinder us,
Toby, from going up to the steeple, and seeing for ourselves?"
"Nothing," yapped Toby, or sounds to that effect.
******
_ Up, up, up! and round and round; and up, up, up! higher,
higher, higher up!
There was the belfry where the ringers came. Punch caught
hold of one of the frayed ropes which hung down through the
apertures in the oaken roof. But he started; other hands seemed on
it; he shrank from the thought of waking the deep Bell. The
Bells themselves were higher. Higher, Punch and Toby, in their
fascination, or working out the spell upon them, groped their way ;
until, ascending through the floor, and pausing, with his head
raised just above its beams Punch came among the Bells. It was
barely possible to make out their great shapes in the gloom; but
there they were. Shadowy, and dark, and dumb.
He listened, and then raised a wild " Halloa! " " Halloa! " was
mournfully protracted by the echoes. Giddy, confused, and out of
breath, Punch looked about him vacantly, and sank down in a
swoon.
******
He saw the tower, whither his charmed footsteps had brought him,
swarming with dwarf phantoms, sprites, elfin creatures of the Bells.
He saw them leaping, flying, dropping, pouring from the Bells
without a pause. He saw them, round him on the ground; above
him in the air; clambering from him by the ropes below; looking
down upon him from the massive iron-girdered beams ; peeping in
upon him through the chinks and loopholes in the walls ; spreading
away and away from him in enlarging circles. He saw them
of all aspects and all shapes. He saw them ugly, handsome,
crippled, exquisitely formed. He saw them young, he saw them
old ; he saw them kind, he saw them cruel; he saw them merry, he
saw them grim; he saw them dance, he heard them sing; he saw
them tear their hair, he heard them howl. He saw the air thick
with them.
Wh-o-o-o-sh ! With what a wild whirr of startled wings the owls
and bats scurried away, dim spectral hiding things that love the
darkness and the silence of night, and shrink from light and
cheerful sounds ! " Well rid of you! " murmured Punch, as Toby
barked at the flying phantoms.
But among the other swarming sprites, and circling elfs, and frolic
phantoms of the Bells, Punch beheld brighter things. That pleasant
pair, hand in hand, princely-looking both, and loving withal,
bring a music as of marriage-bells " all inthewild March morning."
And those other goodly and gracious presences, hint they not of
Health and Home Happiness, and Benignant Art, and Humanity-
serving Science, of Electric Sympathy, and Ready Rescue, of Mam-
mon-thwarting Bef orm, and Misery-staying Benevolence ; of all the
spiritual charities and fairy graces that can bless and brighten
country and hearth, Sire and citizen, master and servant, em-
ployer and employed, struggling man, suffering woman and help-
less child ? Punch read in their whirring forms and expressive
faces the signs and promise of all the best and brightest influences
of the time, happy and opportune attendants upon the auspicious
hour of this the opening day of the New Year!
^ ^fr ^ ^t* ^ *
Bim, Bom, Boom !! ! Clang, Cling, Clang!!! What are those
hands tugging at the ropes, swinging the Bells big and little, evoking
the stormy clashes and soothing cadences of the Chimes P
Surely those of the youthful New Year himself! An echo from
the long - silent lips of the great Christmas-glorifier and lover of
poor humanity seemed to ring in Punch''s ears:—
" Who hears in us, the Chimes, one note bespeaking disregard, or
'ARRY OUT 'UNTIN'.
'Arry {who goes to the Meet in a frost). '"Ave the 'Oitnds come, my Lads ? "
Little Girl {respectfully). "If you please, Sir, our 'Ounds don't 'tint in 'Ard Weather!"
so loud, clear, and sonorous—that the Bells seemed to strike him in
his chair.
And what was it that they said ?
"Punch and Toby! Toby and Punch ! Waiting for you, Toby and
Punch ! Come and see us ! Come and see us ! Come and see us!
Drag them to us ! Haunt and hunt them! Haunt and hunt them;
Break their slumbers! Break their slumbers! Punch, Toby; Toby,
Punch; Toby, Punch ; Punch, Toby ! ! " Then fiercely back to their
impetuous strain again, and ringing in the very bricks and plaster
on the Sanctum's walls!
Toby barked ! Punch listened ! Fancy, fancy ! No, no! Nothing
of the kind. Again, again, and yet a dozen times again. "Haunt
and hunt them! Haunt and hunt them ! "
"If the tower is really open," said Punch, " what's to hinder us,
Toby, from going up to the steeple, and seeing for ourselves?"
"Nothing," yapped Toby, or sounds to that effect.
******
_ Up, up, up! and round and round; and up, up, up! higher,
higher, higher up!
There was the belfry where the ringers came. Punch caught
hold of one of the frayed ropes which hung down through the
apertures in the oaken roof. But he started; other hands seemed on
it; he shrank from the thought of waking the deep Bell. The
Bells themselves were higher. Higher, Punch and Toby, in their
fascination, or working out the spell upon them, groped their way ;
until, ascending through the floor, and pausing, with his head
raised just above its beams Punch came among the Bells. It was
barely possible to make out their great shapes in the gloom; but
there they were. Shadowy, and dark, and dumb.
He listened, and then raised a wild " Halloa! " " Halloa! " was
mournfully protracted by the echoes. Giddy, confused, and out of
breath, Punch looked about him vacantly, and sank down in a
swoon.
******
He saw the tower, whither his charmed footsteps had brought him,
swarming with dwarf phantoms, sprites, elfin creatures of the Bells.
He saw them leaping, flying, dropping, pouring from the Bells
without a pause. He saw them, round him on the ground; above
him in the air; clambering from him by the ropes below; looking
down upon him from the massive iron-girdered beams ; peeping in
upon him through the chinks and loopholes in the walls ; spreading
away and away from him in enlarging circles. He saw them
of all aspects and all shapes. He saw them ugly, handsome,
crippled, exquisitely formed. He saw them young, he saw them
old ; he saw them kind, he saw them cruel; he saw them merry, he
saw them grim; he saw them dance, he heard them sing; he saw
them tear their hair, he heard them howl. He saw the air thick
with them.
Wh-o-o-o-sh ! With what a wild whirr of startled wings the owls
and bats scurried away, dim spectral hiding things that love the
darkness and the silence of night, and shrink from light and
cheerful sounds ! " Well rid of you! " murmured Punch, as Toby
barked at the flying phantoms.
But among the other swarming sprites, and circling elfs, and frolic
phantoms of the Bells, Punch beheld brighter things. That pleasant
pair, hand in hand, princely-looking both, and loving withal,
bring a music as of marriage-bells " all inthewild March morning."
And those other goodly and gracious presences, hint they not of
Health and Home Happiness, and Benignant Art, and Humanity-
serving Science, of Electric Sympathy, and Ready Rescue, of Mam-
mon-thwarting Bef orm, and Misery-staying Benevolence ; of all the
spiritual charities and fairy graces that can bless and brighten
country and hearth, Sire and citizen, master and servant, em-
ployer and employed, struggling man, suffering woman and help-
less child ? Punch read in their whirring forms and expressive
faces the signs and promise of all the best and brightest influences
of the time, happy and opportune attendants upon the auspicious
hour of this the opening day of the New Year!
^ ^fr ^ ^t* ^ *
Bim, Bom, Boom !! ! Clang, Cling, Clang!!! What are those
hands tugging at the ropes, swinging the Bells big and little, evoking
the stormy clashes and soothing cadences of the Chimes P
Surely those of the youthful New Year himself! An echo from
the long - silent lips of the great Christmas-glorifier and lover of
poor humanity seemed to ring in Punch''s ears:—
" Who hears in us, the Chimes, one note bespeaking disregard, or