What is that sound?  ’Tis the stertorous breath
  Of a slumbering man,—­and it smacks of death! 
  Full sixteen hours of continuous toil
  Midst the fume of sulphur, the reek of oil,
  Have told their tale on the man’s tired brain,
  And Death is in charge of the clattering train!

  Sleep—­Death’s brother, as poets deem,
  Stealeth soft to his side; a dream
  Of home and rest on his spirit creeps,
  That wearied man, as the engine leaps,
  Throbbing, swaying along the line;
  Those poppy-fingers his head incline
  Lower, lower, in slumber’s trance;
  The shadows fleet, and the gas-gleams dance
  Faster, faster in mazy flight,
  As the engine flashes across the night. 
  Mortal muscle and human nerve
  Cheap to purchase, and stout to serve. 
  Strained too fiercely will faint and swerve. 
  Over-weighted, and underpaid,
  This human tool of exploiting Trade,
  Though tougher than leather, tenser than steel. 
  Fails at last, for his senses reel,
  His nerves collapse, and, with sleep-sealed eyes,
  Prone and helpless a log he lies! 
  A hundred hearts beat placidly on,
  Unwitting they that their warder’s gone;
  A hundred lips are babbling blithe,
  Some seconds hence they in pain may writhe. 
  For the pace is hot, and the points are near,
  And Sleep hath deadened the driver’s ear;
  And signals flash through the night in vain. 
  Death is in charge of the clattering train!

* * * * *

“WHAT TO DO WITH OUR GIRLS.” (Paterfamilias’s answer.)—­Give them away! (Matrimonially, of course.)

* * * * *

[Illustration:  “DEATH AND HIS BROTHER SLEEP.”—­Shelley.

(See Major Marindin’s Report to the Board of Trade on the Railway Collision near Eastleigh.)]

* * * * *

[Illustration:  “THE CAUSE” AND THE EFFECT.

Mr. ——­ moved, “That this Mass-meeting pledges itself to support the efforts of Messrs. ——­ & Co.’s men, by joining the Union, and further pledges itself to take all legal efforts to prevent anyone obtaining a job there so long as the dispute lasts.”  The resolution was carried by acclamation.

Coroner.  How is it the child’s father cannot get work? Witness.  Because he has no Union card. Coroner.  Then if men do not belong to the different Trades Unions they must starve.—­Coroner’s Inquest Report.]

* * * * *

ALL VERY VINE!

(WITH ACKNOWLEDGMENTS TO THE WHITE KNIGHT IN “THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS.")