Farmer. "What the blazes are you doing? And with them 'orses standin' hidle?"
Tommy. "Cleanin' me buttons. 'Aven't you never been a soldier?"
THE DOLLS THAT DID THEIR BIT.
"Je vous tends mon corbillon: qu'y met-on?" asked Jeanne, holding out her basket towards the first of her dolls seated in a semi-circle before her. Most of them were quite familiar with the game, but for the sake of a new-comer Jeanne had explained that each player must place in the basket some object the name of which ended with on, to rhyme with corbillon. She had announced that this time the game was in aid of a cause, and that therefore it must be played with things and not with words only.
"Qu'y met-on, Marie?" repeated Jeanne. "Rappelez-vous bien que c'est une quête à l'intention des petites filles polonaises internées au camp de Havelberg!" What, Marie had nothing but her chain necklace, and that did not end in on? No, but the links of the chain did, argued Jeanne. "Donne des chaînons!" she prompted in a whisper. "J'y mets des chaînons," said Marie in Jeanne's thinnest voice, and the necklace found its way into the basket.
"Je vous tends mon corbillon: qu'y met-on? À vous, Marthe. Ô," exclaimed Jeanne, "tu y mets ton chignon? Eh bien, tu sais, n'est-ce pas, bêta, qu'il faut que tu t'y mettes avec!" and into the basket she went after a lingering caress from Jeanne.
"Je vous tends mon corbillon: qu'y met-on?" It was the turn now of Yvonne in her bed. "Comment," said Jeanne, affecting indignation, "si tu n'étais pas si frileuse tu donnerais ton édredon?" And what about the little poupées polonaises internées, snatched from their beds and carried off without any bedclothes at all, let alone an eiderdown! Presently, "J'y mets mon édredon," Yvonne was understood to say, and "Sage!" approved Jeanne.
"Je vous tends mon corbillon: qu'y met-on? Jacques, mon pauvre ami, tu n'as pas de chance, hein?" There was no help for it; it was the only thing he had that rhymed. "Imagine la joie des petites polonaises internées!" she urged, taking the necessary action. "J'y mets mon pantalon," piped a disconsolate little thread of voice.