MAY. "Come to my arms. Now then, everybody, how is that for high!"
(_Slow curtain, relieved by eccentric gymnastics by the_ COMIC YANKEE.)

BOY IN THE AUDIENCE. "Pa! isn't that splendid?"

DISCRIMINATING PARENT. "What! How! Who! Where am I? O, to be sure, I
came to see _Heart's Ease_, and to take my evening nap. Did LOTTA play
the banjo?"

BOY. "O didn't she just. She played and sung dead loads of times."

DISCRIMINATING PARENT. "I have had a sweet nap. My son, I think I can
now risk taking you to the minstrels. If I slept through this, I could
feel reasonably sure of sleeping through even the dark conundrums and
sentimental colored ballads. There is only a shade of difference between
the two styles of performance, and that slight shade is only burnt
cork."

MATADOR.

* * * * *

Mural Decorations in Rome.

The "dead walls" of Rome, as we learn from the telegrams, were lately
placarded with immense posters proclaiming the Italian Republic.

Rome being an "Eternal City," we were not previously aware that any of
her walls were dead. If they are, however, it may be that the posters of
the posters referred to took that method of bringing them to life again,