Punchinello, Volume 1, No. 01, April 2, 1870Various
General
Punchinello, Volume 1, No. 01, April 2, 1870
Various
American wit and humor -- Periodicals
Soon after daylight has been fully turned on, it is the wont of
PUNCHINELLO to descend from his perch on the church, (rhyme,) and roam
waywardly and invisibly among the denizens who occupy the dens of The
Street. He knows all the ins and outs of the place, and has long been
disgustingly familiar with its ups and downs. Gently has he dabbled in
stocks, and no modern operator is half so conversant an he is with the
juggles of the Stock Exchange. PUNCHINELLO, though as fresh and frisky,
in mind and body, as a kid on a June morning, is older than he chooses
to let every body know. Bless you all, readers dear! he was by when the
Tulip Mania was hatched, (mixed figure,) and it was he who punctured the
great South Sea Bubble, and sent it on a burst. Ha! ha! he-e-e!--how he
laughs when he recurs to those days of the long, long ago, with their
miserable little swindles, no better than farthing candles, (allowable
rhyme,) and their puny dodges devised for flagellating LUCIFER round a
stump.
Just think of a lot of fellows pretending to play at Tulipmaniacs
bolting Bubble-and-squeak, and not a jockey among them all had ever
heard of "puts" and "calls." Deuce a one of them know a "corner" from a
cockatrice's egg, and if you had mentioned a "scoop" to the most
intelligent of them, he'd have sworn that you had been and gone and
swallowed a Scandinavian dictionary. (N.B. In this application the nave
in Scandinavian might properly be spelt with a k.) Ah! yes, yes:
What-d'ye-call him was wide-awake when he remarked to Thingumbob that
"the world _does move_."
How strong the contrast to PUNCHINELLO as he glides, invisible, to and
fro among the bulls and bears on 'Change, observing the "modern
instances" of their improved manner of doing business, and taking all
their devices into the corner of his brightest eye! (The only safe
"corner" _he_ knows of on The Street.) How he chuckles as he observes
the ways of 'em--sees a bear selling that which he hasn't, and a bull
buying that which he doesn't want--all "on a margin" and to "settle
regular," of course. Bless you! children of the modern Mammon. Go in and
win, or lose if you find it more exciting. Learn to control finances, if
you would fain grow to be good men and contribute hereafter good men to
the taxable population. Proceed with your virtuous transactions on
'Change. Never mind each other's toes; they who have corns must not care
for being cornered. (Meant playfully.) Inflate the market with your
heavy purchases. Blow the market, and "corner the shorts." Be a "bear,"
if you will; and when you play at "bull," remember the frog in the
fable, who would be an ox, and went on inflating until he burst.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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