ed.]

Your hand, Mr. TAPPIN, your hand, Mr. SMEETH.
To the men who protect us we offer no wreath.
They face for our sakes all the rogues and the brutes,
Getting cracks from their bludgeons and kicks from their boots.

They are battered and bruised, yet they never give in,
And at last by good luck they may manage to win.
Then, their heads beaten in all through scorning to shirk,
Scarred and seamed they return without fuss to their work.

O pair of good-plucked 'uns, ye heroes in blue,
As modest as brave, let us give you your due.
Though we cannot do much, we'll do all that we can,
Since our hearts throb with pride at the sight of a Man.

Mr. SMEETH you're a man, Mr. TAPPIN's another;
_Mr. Punch_--pray permit him--henceforth is your brother.
We are proud of you both, and we'll all of us cheer
These Peelers from Greenwich who never knew fear.

* * * * *

MORE BONES TO PICK WITH THE SCHOOL BOARD.

We see there has been some churlish cavilling in some quarters because
the School Management Committee of the London School Board passed
a requisition in November last, sanctioning the purchase of an
articulated skeleton for the Belleville Road School, at the very
reasonable sum of L8 16s. Why make any bones about the matter? What
more ornamental and indeed indispensable article of school-furniture
than a human skeleton nearly six foot high? Still, should the past
system of expenditure be continued in the future, _Mr. Punch_
would suggest that excellent and infinitely cheaper substitutes for
skeletons will be found in the persons of the rate-payers themselves.

* * * * *

CUPID'S TENNIS-COURTS.--Under the heading "Tennis in the Riviera," the
_Daily Telegraph_ recently gave us some important news, which should
largely influence the Matrimonial Market. The names of Ladies and
Gentlemen, both "singles" (a not strictly grammatical plural, by the
way, but what's grammar in a game of Thirty to Love?) were given.
There was, however, no mention of "ties" or of matches to come.

* * * * *

A CORRESPONDENT SIGNING HIMSELF "MINCING LANE" WRITES,--"Sir,--The
_Saturday Review_ complained of Mr. TREE's gait as _Hamlet_, 'which,'
said the Critic, 'reminds one too much of AGAG.' Most cutting
comparison for an actor sticking rigidly to the Shakspearian text!
If there were interpolations in the text of Mr. BEER