[pg 109]

Punch, or the London Charivari

Volume 105, September 9th 1893

edited by Sir Francis Burnand

A BROWN STUDY IN AUTUMN TINTS.

(Being a Fragment from a Matter-of-fact Romance.)

And he walked along thedeserted streets and could see no one. Here and there would be a pile ofstones and wooden blocks, telling of an impededthoroughfare, but the place itself was empty. Therewere seemingly no inhabitants in this deserted city. They had vanishedinto thin, or, rather, murky air.

Then he looked at whatappeared to be a playhouse.The doors were closed, andthe bill-boards were pasted over with blue paper. Evidently the portals ofthe theatre had not beenopen for weeks, perchance for months.

And it was the same inthe parks. Only the leavesmoved, and then only when the wind agitated them.There were a few sparrows in the trees, but they seemed to be ashamed ofthemselves, and chirruped (so to speak) with bated breath. Oh it was indeeda scene of desolation.

And the shops, too!Many of them were closed,and those which were open seemed to be tenantless. There were no customers;no counter attendants.Trade seemed to be as deadas the proverbial door-nail.

And the hoardings too! Even they had suffered.Old posters, manifestly outof date, fluttered in tatters; it had been noone's business to restore the rotting paper,and it had gone the way of other grass. Theplacards were worse than useless; they could not be deciphered.

And yet again he marched on. There wereexhibitions, and no one to see them; museums,and no visitors to inspect them; and churches,and no one to fill them. At length he cameupon a guardian of the public peace who waslazily gazing into the sluggish river over theparapet of an embankment.

"Good sir," said he, "can you tell me ifthis dreadful, lonely, deserted place is the City of the Dead?"

"Go along with you!" cried the policeman,good-humouredly; "it's only London in September!"

And then he felt that he had been deceived by appearances!

History Repeats Itself Again.

["The alleged unemployed who assemble onTower Hill are becoming worse even than mountebanks.One of the speakers declared yesterdaythat 'The secret societies of London are goingto-night to wait on Mr. Gladstone, to ask whathe is going to do. If the Prime Minister doesnot give a definite reply, they will take him ontheir backs and throw him into the Thames.'"—TheDaily Telegraph, Sept. 1.]

THE MINOR ILLS OF LIFE.

Portrait of a Gentleman attempting to regain his Tent after theMorning Bath.

JABEZWOCKY.

["In the House of Lords a Bill strengtheningthe power of making Directors liable in respect ofmisconduct or neglect in the winding-up of Companiespassed its second reading."—Daily Paper.]