To a Critic
You may whistle me in or whistle me off,
But that does not say, the whistler is smart.
A Candid Answer
A young actor was playing Razman in Schiller’s “Räuber” (Robbers). When he says to Moor: “Come, let us go to the Bohemian forest and gather a robber band,” Moor cries harshly: “Fellow, who put these words into your mouth!” The actor pointed at the prompter below, and said timidly: “The fellow down there.”
The Prelate and the Singer
The following humorous incident is told in verse of Prelate Carl von Gerok, the recently deceased author of “Palm Leaves.” It happened one spring-day in the King’s park at Stuttgart. Along the philosopher’s path, Gerok was walking deep in thought, and carrying an umbrella very carefully in his hand. On a sidepath, never thinking of a possible shower, walked a well-known singer. Suddenly it began to sprinkle, and in a few moments the rain came pouring down. The prelate, a gallant gentleman, offered to take the lady under his umbrella. Neither one knew the other. In pleasant conversation they arrived at the singer’s house, and Gerok begged to know the lady’s name.
The clever child of the muses
Has her answer quickly ready:
“From the question I portend,