* * * * *

WORK FOR THE HOLIDAYS.

DEAR MR. PUNCH, _New Year's Day_ (_or thereabouts_), 1890.

Every fellow says you are such a good chap, and what every fellow says
must be true. Now we want you to do us a good turn. We wish you would
write down "holiday tasks." It is such a beastly shame that fellows home
for "the Yule-Tide Vacation" (as our Head Master calls it), should have
to be stewing away at all sorts of beastly things. No--if we are to do
anything in the working line, let us have a paper like the subjoined,
which, at any rate, will test our knowledge of what we have been doing
during the holidays. You will see I have added the answers in
the manner I think they should be given to secure full marks.
Believe me, dear _Mr. Punch_,

Yours sincerely, SMITH MINIMUS.

1. Give a short account of your Christmas dinner, distinguishing
between the sustenance for the body, and the food for the mind.

_Answer._ Whole affair stunning. Turkey and mince-pies first-rate.
Champagne might have been drier--but, tol lol! Uncle BOB rather prosy,
but his girls capital fun. Tips satisfactory.

2. What do you know of (1) the Pantomime at the Crystal Palace, (2) the
World's Fair at the Agricultural Hall, and (3) the Panorama of Waterloo
at Ashley Place?

_Answer._ (1.) _Aladdin_ is the subject of the Palace Pantomime, which
is not half bad. Mr. DAUBAN, as usual, capital, and the dresses quite
Drury Lane form. Scenery, too, (especially Willow-pattern Plate) up to
the mark, if not more so. (2.) World's Fair, at Agricultural Hall,
rather mixed. Excellent menagerie--good old BLONDIN--but side-shows
second-rate. Shakspearian Pantaloon in one of the latter seemed to be
enjoying Christmas in the old-fashioned manner. (3.) Panorama of
Waterloo, not only patriotic, but artistic. Regular good set-to between
the Highlanders and French Cuirassiers. Skull in the Relics
Department--pretty ornament for the Annual Banquet at the Surgeons'
Hall.

3. Given a traveller from Charing Cross to St. Clement's Danes,
describe the places of interest he would pass during the journey.

_Answer._ I think the best way of flooring this question is to say what
I should do if I made the voyage. Take a cup of chocolate at Aerated
Bread Company, with two pennyworth of butter and cake; then to the
Lowther Arcade, to get some toys for the young 'uns. Next to GATTI'S
Restaurant for Lunch. Being