astonishingly vivid and agreeable.

* * * * *

_A Maid o' Dorset_ (CASSELL) can be recommended to anyone in need of
light refreshment after a course of sterner literature. Here we are
back again in the world of small things; but if "M.E. FRANCIS'S" theme
is trivial there is no denying the art with which she handles it.
Just a quartette of characters occupies her rural stage--an old
grandmother, wise with the wisdom of years, her granddaughter, a
middle-aged farmer and a young gipsy "dairy-chap." To the horror of
her relations the Maid o' Dorset conceives an infatuation for the
gipsy, a clever rogue but no match for the grandmother. I have met
a good many farmers in my time, but never one so simple-minded as
_Solomon Blanchard_. It is all very Franciscan, and seems easy enough,
but if you think, for that reason, that you could do it yourself, you
couldn't. Its charm lies in its fragrance, and that is a quality which
is not lightly come by.

* * * * *

OUR HELPFUL CONTEMPORARIES.

"The majority of the Russian soldiers are not so naif as, after having
deposed the Tsar, to set to work for the King of Prussia.

"Note.--'Travailler from le Rois des Prusses' is the French colloquial
equivalent for 'To work for nothing.'"--_Pall Mall Gazette_.

* * * * *

FAINT PRAISE.

"Commander Wedgwood said there was no newspaper in this country--not
even the _Daily Mail_--which had not printed during the three years of
war something to which objection could not be taken."--_Daily Paper_.

***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI, VOL.
152, MAY 9, 1917***

******* This file should be named 15330.txt or 15330.zip *******

This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/3/3/15330

Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
will be renamed.

Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules,
set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project
Gutenberg is a regi