And the face that all men sneered at, now is very much admired,
  And the public ne’er, apparently, of watching it grows tired,
  And the Merchant who dismissed him, in the Stalls is wont to sit,
  While the Sergeant and his sweetheart are applauding from the Pit.

  The moral of my narrative is easy to espy. 
  But still I’d better mention it, lest some should pass it by: 
  “Though it’s often very troublesome indeed to find it out—­
  There’s a proper sphere for everyone, beyond the slightest doubt.”

* * * * *

[Illustration:  TECHNICALITIES.

First Amateur Water-Colourist. “DO YOU WASH MUCH?”

Second Ditto Ditto.  “NO; I SCRATCH A GOOD DEAL!”]

* * * * *

“PUTTING ON THE HUG.”

[During President CARNOT’s tour he received at Aix-les-Bains “a delegation of children.”  One of these, clad in a Russian dress, offered him a bunch of flowers, repeating a stanza written for the occasion.  M. CARNOT, amid cries of “Vive la France!” “Vive la Russie!” “Vive Carnot!” “Vive la Republique!” kissed the little girl, saying, “J’embrasse la Russie!”]

  Yes—­“Vive la France!”—­and “Vive la Russie!” too.
    Vive—­why not?—­everybody! 
  Called once, “Monsieur le President Faute-de-Mieux"[2]
    (By Punch, that foe of shoddy). 
  I fancy I have justified the name,
    Ay, to the very letter. 
  I may not be a THIERS, but all the same,
    France has not found a better.

  Tall-talk is tedious, but one must not flinch
    When asked the task to tackle;
  And he’s no Frenchman true who, at a pinch,
    Cannot both crow and cackle. 
  Ah, Vive, once more, the Gallic Cock—­and hen! 
    These Talking-Tours are trying,
  But ’tis with windy flouts of tongue or pen,
    We keep the French flag flying.

  A sop for SAVOY neatly put, elicits
    Such “double rounds of cheering.”
  “Vive CARNOT!” To be sure!  My annual visits,
    France to the Flag endearing
  By sweet-phrased flattery of the Fatherland,
    Are sure to swell our legions. 
  “I wish, France, to be thine!” The effect was grand,
    In “Allobrogian” regions.

  Vive Everything—­especially la Blague!
    (What should we do without it?)
  Fraternity! the Fatherland! the Flag!—­
    I work them—­never doubt it! 
  Then “La Republique” and “La Russie,” linked,
    Pair off, ’midst acclamations: 
  Yes, I proclaimed—­and never winced or winked—­
    That “brotherhood of nations!”