A FIN DE SIECLEISM.
Sympathetic Lady. "I hope you had a good Holiday, Miss Smith."
Overworked Dressmaker. "Oh yes, my Lady. I took my Machine with me, you know!"
S. L. "What a pity; you should give up Needle and Thread when you're out for a——"
O. D. "Oh, I don't mean my Sewing Machine! I refer to my Bicycle!"
"SIC TRANSIT GLORIA HOODI."
A traditional relic of the picturesque poacher prince of Sherwood Forest, were it even "no bigger than an agate-stone on the forefinger of an alderman," would, we presume, be worthy of jealous preservation. It is, therefore, the more surprising that Yorkshiremen have not taken adequate means for the protection of "a massive piece of millstone grit which, from time immemorial, has stood on a rising ground overlooking the Aire Valley." Reclining in the shade of this historic stone—named after him—"bold Robin Hood would, with his Maid Marian, sup and bowse from horn and can," using it as a kind of half-way house, so to speak, on his journeys to York. But oh, shade of Friar Tuck, thou genial exemplar (dare we hint it?) of what is known as the "sporting" parson—a type, alas! rapidly becoming as extinct as thyself—the Vandal hordes, in the shape of the Bradford Corporation, have come with their destroying trail of dynamite, and, under base pretence of making way for a water conduit, have cloven the Robin Hood stone into four parts! Not until the blasting powder was in position did the people realise the full horror of the dread deed about to be wrought; and then, to save that which once sheltered an outlaw, they sent for a policeman, who, of course, arrived "after the blast was over." "The occurrence has caused a feeling of indignation throughout the district," says the Yorkshire Post, adding, "and it is unlikely that the incident will be passed over in silence." It certainly was not accomplished "in silence"! Yorkers! why did you not shut the stable door before the steed was stolen?