VOCES POPULI.
BEFORE THE MECHANICAL MODELS.
A SKETCH AT THE ROYAL NAVAL EXHIBITION.
SCENE—The Grounds. A string of Sightseers discovered passing slowly in front of a row of glazed cases containing small mechanical figures, which are set in motion in the usual manner.
BEFORE A SCENE REPRESENTING A DYING CHILD.
A Gallant Swain. That's the kid in bed, yer see. Like to see it die, POLLY, eh? A penny does it.
Polly (with a giggle). Well, if it ain't too 'arrowing. (The penny is dropped in, and the mechanical mother is instantly agitated by the deepest maternal anxiety.) That's the mother kneeling by the bed, I suppose—she do pray natural. There's the child waking up—see, it's moving its 'ed. (The little doll raises itself in bed, and then falls back lifeless.) Ah, it's gone—look at the poor mother 'idin' her face.
The G.S. Well, it's all over. Come along and see something more cheerful.
Polly. Wait a bit—it isn't 'alf over yet. There's a angel got to come and carry her away fust—there, the door's opening, that'll be the angel come for it, I expect. (Disappointed.) No, it's only the doctor. (A jerky and obviously incompetent little medical practitioner puts his head in at the door, and on being motioned back by the bereaved mother, retires with more delicacy than might have been expected.) Well, he might ha' seen for himself if the child was dead! (The back of the bed disappears, disclosing a well-known picture of an angel flying upwards with a child.) I did think they'd have a real angel, and not only a picture of one, and anyone can see it's a different child—there's the child in bed just the same. I call that a take-in!