_Mr. Punch._ Why, my dear DON QUIXOTE--who seems scarcely the Quixote Quicksight of the nursery rhyme--what _should_ it be but TOBIAS himself with that promised specimen of my Auroral Autocar, or Mirific Motor-Carriage, self-impelled, self-steered, self-lighted, self-heated, the most peerless outcome of the true Progressive spirit, the true acme of sure and speedy Progress; in other words, dear Don, and at your entire service, my =One Hundred and Ninth Volume!!!= [Illustration] * * * * * PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI. Volume 109, July 6, 1895. _edited by Sir Francis Burnand_ [Illustration: VOL 109] * * * * * A PATH OF PEACE. (_The Baltic Canal, June 22, 1895._) ["Peace reigns over the whole fleet," &c.--_"Daily News" Special._] A work of Peace, whereto from near and far Gather the iron-bosomed brood of war, Like new Stymphalian birds, whose claws and wings The warrior welcomes and the poet sings. Oh, gentle Peace, how strange in our strange day. Thy mailèd retinue, thine armed array! Those flower-deck'd obelisks, that silken rope,-- Bright illustrations of the Tales of Hope,-- The royal speeches and the loyal cheers, Disguise misgivings as they silence fears. But Denmark's memories, and the thoughts of France, As through the stream that yacht's white bows advance, Breaking that slender cord from bank to bank, Might move reflections strange. Yet let us thank Adventurous skill which gives our ships to-day A shorter passage and a safer way! Not war alone, but trade, will take the track That shuns the wild and stormy Skager Rak; And may Brunsbüttel's now familiar name Be little linked with Empire's big War-Game May battle-echoes in the Baltic cease, And the Canal be a new Path for Peace * * * * * OUR BOOKING-OFFICE. Our B. A. (_i.e._, "Baron's Assistant") begs to congratulate Mr. GERALD CAMPBELL very heartily on the success of _The Joneses and the Asterisks_ (JOHN LANE). It is no easy task to write a story in a series of what may be called monological dialogues,--dialogues, that is to say, in which only one party speaks while the rest are understood,--and yet to keep that lightness of touch and that sparkle of wit without which dialogues become mere barren boredom. This is the task that Mr. CAMPBELL has brilliantly accomplished. _The Joneses and the Asterisks_ is as keen and telling a piece of social satire as it has been the B. A.'s good fortune to come across for many a long day.