Oh, Jeb Stuart, blithe and gay,
Beat Joe Hooker night and day!
And Hooker, fleeing, no more frowned and cried, ‘No, no, it will not do!
I cannot, cannot, winnot, winnot, munnot lose this battle too!’”
“We pass from the service of the Muses to our editorial of the day. Public Improvements and the Condition of Trade with a Glance at the Predicament of the Unemployed.”
The really able editorial was read at length. As it had the quality of being applicable as well as dogmatic, as indeed it accurately portrayed the conditions and beliefs of all present, it received full attention and unanimous applause.
The reader bowed his thanks. “Gentlemen, in all our career, we have been actuated by one sole ambition, and that ambition, gentlemen, was to become without any reservation, the Voice of the People! To-night that ambition is realized. We see that we are IT—and we thank you, gentlemen,—we thank you! We will now pass to the Standing Committees and their reports. On Finance; on Sick and Destitute; on State of the Church; on Public Education; on Cleanliness; on the Fine Arts; on Amusements—”
After reports of committees came a page of advertisements.
“A STITCH IN TIME SAVES NINE.—Bring your rips and rents to Captains Carter and Davenport, Division 10. Entire satisfaction given. Charges moderate.
“INSTRUCTION IN ORATORY, and PARLOUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS. Reginald De Launay, Division 13. I was once on the stage.