* * * * *

"Wanted Plain Dressmaker, who goes out daily, for altering and
re-making."--_Irish Paper_.

After a few days of this process she may hope to be a plain dressmaker
no longer.

* * * * *

[Illustration: _Mistress_ (_to under-gardener, who has been up to be
examined for the Army_). "I SUPPOSE, JOHN, YOU TOLD THEM YOU WOULD
NOT BE EIGHTEEN UNTIL THE END OF THE MONTH?"

_John_. "NO USE, MUM. YOU ONLY GETS CHEEK UP THERE IF YOU SAYS
ANYTHING."]

* * * * *

OUR BOOKING-OFFICE.

(_BY MR. PUNCH'S STAFF OF LEARNED CLERKS._)

_The Candid Courtship_ (LANE) is a story full of good talk; by which I
do not at all mean brilliant epigram and verbal fireworks, but direct
and genuine conversation, just so far manipulated by the author that
it advances the business in hand without becoming artificial. I must
add, however, that Miss MADGE MEARS occasionally displays the defects
of her qualities, to the extent of sacrificing syntax to ease, even
in passages of pure narrative, with results that might offend the