Outsiders, when asked what was going on in POLLY's store, always
answered with a wise look, "POLLY ticks." The words soon spread, and
talking about the Government was facetiously called POLLY ticks. The
expression was finally used in earnest, and, by euphoric changes,
reached its present shape.

_Cheese-it_.--This compound word has by some silly person been traced to
the Saxon _cyse_, meaning condensed cow, and the Celtic _it_, meaning
it. Now every way-faring man, even though _non compos mentis_, knows
that when he is invited to come in and cut a cheese, come in and take a
drop of whiskey is meant. This word, then, is derived from the Sanscrit
_cheese_, meaning drop, and the English _it_, meaning whatever you may
happen to be saying, and the whole expression may be properly translated
"drop that yarn."

I might go on straight through the Dictionary, but I refrain, desiring
only to show you what a light and entertaining subject philology is, and
what quantities of fun you can get out of it on winter evenings.

If any one should desire to pursue this subject further, let him go
through CHAUCER, SPENSER, SHAKSPEARE, and MILTON with a fine-tooth comb
and a pair of spectacles, looking for roots, and then try my book on
"Words and their Uses." He had better not attack the latter work on an
empty stomach. An empty head will be more appropriate.

* * * * *

The Mendicant Mission.

Two fresh rumors about that unfortunate English Mission are afloat. One