[Illustration: EVIL COMMUNICATIONS &c.--_Elder of Twins._ "It's _very_ vulgar to say 'you be _blowed_' to each other, like those men do. Isn't it, Uncle Fred?" _Uncle Fred._ "I believe it _is_ generally considered so, my dear!" _Elder of Twins._ "Yes, indeed! Ethel and I, you know, _we_ always say, 'you be _blown_!'"] * * * * * [Illustration: MENS CONSCIA.--_Inspector_ (_who notices a backwardness in history_). "Who signed Magna Charta?" (_No answer._) _Inspector_ (_more urgently_). "Who signed Magna Charta?" (_No answer_.) _Inspector_ (_angrily_). "Who signed Magna Charta?" _Scapegrace_ (_thinking matters are beginning to look serious_). "Please, sir, 'twasn't me, sir!!"] * * * * * [Illustration: "TROP DE ZELE!"--(_Tommy, a conscientious boy, has been told that he must remain perfectly still, as his mamma wants to take a nap._) (_Tommy in the middle of the nap_). "Mamma! Mamma! what shall I do? _I want to cough!_"] * * * * * [Illustration: TENDER CONSIDERATION "Oh, _don't_ make faces at him, Effie! It might _frighten_ him, you know!"] * * * * * [Illustration: "BY PROXY". _Humorous Little Boy._ "Plea' sir, will you ring the bottom bell but one, four times, sir?" _Old Gent_ (_gouty, and a little deaf, but so fond o' children_). "Bottom bell but one, four times, my boy?" (_Effusively._) "Certainly, that I will!" [_In the meantime off go the boys, and, at the third peal, the irritable old lady on the ground floor----Tableau!_] * * * * * [Illustration: NEWS FROM HOME.--_Aunt Mary._ "I've just had a letter from your papa, Geoffrey. He says you've got a little brother, who'll be a nice companion for you some day!" _Geoffrey._ "Oh!----does mummy know?"] * * * * * [Illustration: UTILE CUM DULCI _Arry._ "Ain't yer comin' along with me, Bill?" _Piscator_ (_the Doctor's Boy_). "No, I _ain't_ a comin' along with you, I tell yer! I'm a runnin' on a errand."] * * * * * [Illustration: ZOOLOGY. (_It appears to be coming to that at the Board Schools._)--_Examiner_ (_to small aspirant to the twenty-fourth standard_). "Can you tell me anything peculiar about the cuckoo, in regard to nesting?" _Student._ "Yes, sir. Please, sir, he don't lay his own eggs hisself, sir!!"] * * * * * [Illustration: THEIR FIRST VISIT TO THE ZOO _Tommy._ "Them ain't donkeys, Billy?" _Billy._ "Yus, they is! They're donkeys with their football jerseys on!"] * * * * *