"Two Frenchmen, one of whom, however, gives the name of Smith, are in custody, charged with the commission of several burglaries in the suburbs of the Metropolis."
You would have liked to hear one of the Frenchmen give the name of Smith. His tongue, surely, betrayed him. M. Vaurien, or whatever his real name was, of course, in attempting to give the name of Smith, gave that of Smeet or Smis. Give the name of Smith, indeed! A Frenchman might as well try to give the password of Shibboleth.
A WORKING MAN ON WORK.
At the National Congress of Trades Societies at Nottingham, last week, a Mr. Graham said:—
"In his opinion it was one of the rights of a free man to cease work when he wished, either for reasonable or even unreasonable causes."
This is so exactly Mr. Punch's belief that, wishing at this identical moment to cease work, for the reasonable or unreasonable cause that he feels more inclined to smoke, he knocks off, without appending any proper and moral observations to Mr. Graham's dictum. Whether Mr. Graham keeps any sort of servant, and if so, whether Mr. Graham recognises the right in question when he wants his beer fetched, or his boots cleaned, is the only query that Mr. Punch chooses to exert himself to put. But he must add that the world would go on delightfully if this rule were always acted upon; and he is glad that the Trade Societies are enlightened enough to do their best to bring on a Millennium.
Suggestion to Mr. Lowe.
Lay a heavy tax on all persons telling old jokes, making old puns. Let the tax be doubled in the case of any person attempting to pass off such old joke or pun as "a good thing he's just heard," or as "a funny thing that happened to his cousin the other day." Mr. Lowe will find public-spirited men ready to hand in nearly all clubs who will voluntarily give their services, and for a moderate percentage will act as Collectors of this particular form of taxation at every dinner-party (where the name and address of the offender will be taken down), and in Society's drawing-rooms. This and a tax on photographs will bring in a handsome additional revenue for Eighteen-Seventy-Two.