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.
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