I'd like to taste the sweets of "solidarity" In this connection; so would my pale friend; He's a poor Clerk. I fancy human charity, _All round_, a lot of bitter strife would end; And if _that_'s "solidarity," I'm for it; But in your "play" _are_ you considering _us_? No need for snivelling bunkum; I abhor it; But does fraternity shape itself _thus_? Must fight for your own hand? Oh, ah! precisely. Only that's ISHMAEL, after all, right out. Maybe that for yourself you're acting wisely,-- Though even that seems open to some doubt,-- But if your self-advancement means a smasher To mill-hand, poor mechanic, labourer, clerk, Without a fire to fry his slender "rasher," Fraternity's outlook still looks rather dark. With Coal two bob a hundred, and still rising, Poor folk who buy it by the fourteen pound, (Dukes at St. James's Hall, this sounds surprising, But if you'd understand it, just look round!) Dockers and Brickies, charwomen and "childer," With such small deer, mate, as my friend and me, Find one more "Social Question" to bewilder The small brains left us by chill poverty. Fighting _our_ battle? Humph! A rather roundabout Way of so doing! P'r'aps your Masters, too, Would claim the same--there _are_ such Bosses found about; Westminsters, Liveseys, Norwoods, and that crew, All for our good, not only Strike-Committees, But Rate-payers' Defence Leagues, and the like! Oh, the poor Propertied Classes! How one pities Those victims of the School Board, Council, Strike! If Miners and Mine-Owners pull together To raise the price of Coal--well, it may suit Both them and you. But, in this bitter weather, Your "Solidarity" brings _us_ bitter fruit. When our pinched fire dies down to its last ember, The picture of you "making holiday" thus Won't warm our wives and kids. Strike!--but remember That what is "Play" to you means death to us! * * * * * A POSER FOR MR. WEATHERBY.--Mrs. RAM is not in the least astonished at its being said that certain horses turn out "regular flyers," because, she says, "she has often heard of mares' nests." * * * * * "MINER PREMISES."--In the Coal Districts. * * * * * [Illustration: "A LITTLE HOLIDAY!!" WORKING-MAN AND } "AH! IT'S ALL VERY WELL,--BUT WHAT'S _PLAY_ POOR CLERK. } TO _YOU_ IS _DEATH_ TO _US_." * * * * * WHAT DO THEY MEAN BY IT?