“No, I am an optimist, and an incorrigible old fool, if you like, but I am certain that the spirit which won the War is not going to fail us at this second call.  Perhaps we have only been waiting for the actual consummation of Peace to settle down to our new and greater task.

“And now I must excuse myself from further dialogue, having a mission to perform in connection with this very task.  I go to distribute a corrective for some of the evils of Peace, as indicated by you.  My motor-lorry, stuffed with samples, awaits me without.”

“And what is the nature of your patent medicine?” said the Cynic, very cynically.

“It is,” replied Mr. Punch, very confidently but also very modestly,—­“it is a little thing of my own.  It is, in fact; my

[Illustration:  ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-SIXTH VOLUME".]

* * * * *

[Illustration:  INDEX]

* * * * *

CARTOONS.

  PARTRIDGE, BERNARD
    Babes in the Wood (The) 25
    Bear Turns (The) 443
    Cinderella 183
    Cramping his Style 283
    “Dora” discomfited 63
    Dove at Sea (The) 303
    “Dry” Humour 123
    England Expects 163
    Faith Restored 463
    First German Victory (The) 83
    Foch-Terrier (The) 203
    Germany Draws the Pen 383
    Ghosts at Versailles 363
    Giving Him Rope 143
    Honour Satisfied 423
    In the Subscription Lists 483
    Irresistible Claim (An) 223
    Loving Cup (The) 403
    Military Muzzle (The) 343
    1919 Model (The) 9
    Overweighted 243
    Peril Without (The) 263
    Philanderer (The) 503
    Progressive Weight-lifter (The) 103
    Reckoning (The) 323
    World’s Desire (The) 43

  RAVEN-HILL, L.
    Another Threatened Industry 215
    Army of Unoccupation (The) 275
    Cautious Dictator (A) 375
    Cheerful Pachyderm (The) 315
    Dawn of Intelligence in Berlin 155
    Distractions of an Indispensable 235
    Easter Offering (The) 295
    Finishing Touch (The) 475
    Goose that Lays the Golden Eggs (The) 135
    Great Renunciation (The) 415
    Home from Home (A) 175
    Imperial Preference 355
    International Stakes (The) 435
    Lost Ally (The) 75
    New Commercial Traveller (The) 55
    New Issue (The) 455
    Order of Release (The) 95
    Peace Queue (The) 395
    Reconstruction; a New Year’s Task 3
    Redress Rehearsal (A) 495
    Ruins of Empire 35
    Spring Defensive (A) 255
    Turn of the Tide (The) 195
    Victim (The) 115

  TOWNSEND, F. H.
    Menace of May (The) 335
    War Against the Public (The) 19

* * * * *

ARTICLES.

  ANDERSON, MAJOR GORDON
    Mistress and Maid 262

  ARMSTRONG, H.
    Labour Notes 449
    Rus in Urbe 428