The above, Friend PUNCHINELLO, was as seen by,

Ewers faithfully,

HIRAM GREEN,

Lait Gustise of the Peece.

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Birds of Passage.

The African ostrich is sometimes trained to carry passengers on his back, but the player of “our national game” is often seen “going out on a Foul.”

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[Illustration:  A VERY NECESSARY PRECAUTION.]

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BLOCKS AND BLOCKHEADS.

Mr. Punchinello:  As the acknowledged redresser of American wrongs and the enemy of public nuisances, we beg your attention to a vice which seems to be upon the increase, and which grows in strength with what it feeds upon.  As the vice in question appears to be upon the increase, and to fascinate its victims by the allurements of the excitement, we consider it worthy of PUNCHINELLO’S lance, or, in other words, of being transfixed upon PUNCHINELLO’S quill.

We refer to the loafing which invariably takes place upon the occasion of the relaying of the wooden pavement.  I say wooden more particularly, inasmuch as new fangled varieties of pavement, such as Concrete, Nicholson, etc., although they have their day, cannot be said to compete for a moment in public regard with the good old fashioned kind first described.

Of all the causes that arrest public attention, surely this laying of wooden pavement is the most enduring and effectual.

People of every grade and degree make a dead halt as they approach this centre of interest, and at once settle down for a prolonged inspection of the works before them.  It is true that everybody has seen the same thing one hundred and fifty times, but this description of indulgence appears to grow by what it feeds upon, and the fascinated victim watches the operation of the workers with a gratification which knows no abatement.  The usual formula gone through upon these occasions is as follows: 

Citizen approaches the scene of interest, and sees crowds of spectators upon each side; he glances at the workmen, and, after taking stock of both them and the overseer, proceeds to read the opinion of his fellows in their faces, after which he settles down in right earnest with his hands in his pockets for a prolonged stare.  This latter may continue for periods varying from ten minutes to an hour and three quarters, according to inclination or opportunity.

If the spectator is a man of business, it is just possible that he may content himself with measuring the size of the blocks with his eye, and then pass on, content to know that he, as one out of many taxpayers, is getting the value of what they are called on to pay for.  But with the mass of the onlookers, the pouring of the hot pitch into the gravelled interstices is watched with a satisfaction ever new, like that bestowed in the pantomime upon the application by the clown of the red-hot poker.