* * * * *

"'It was between half-past seven and eight,' said a fireman, 'and as I
was off duty I came out on deck for a blow. The force of the explosion
threw me along the deck for some yards.'"--_Daily Paper._

"This is indeed a blow," said the gallant stoker--we _don't_ think.

* * * * *

[Illustration: "HENRY, I WISH YOU WOULD WRITE TO THE URBAN COUNCIL AND TELL
THEM TO SEND A DUSTMAN WHO TURNS HIS TOES _IN_. OUR ROCK BORDER'S BEING
COMPLETELY RUINED!"]

* * * * *

OUR BOOKING-OFFICE.

(_By Mr. Punch's Staff of Learned Clerks._)

I have the feeling that when Mr. RUDYARD KIPLING called his new volume _A
Diversity of Creatures_ (MACMILLAN) he was rather taking the word out of my
mouth, or the sword out of my hand, or whatever one does for the confusion
and discomforting of critics. Because it is just the extreme diversity of
the tales herein which, while providing (as they say) something for all
tastes, makes it very hard to appraise the book as a whole. In form it
follows the KIPLING convention, endeared to us by so much pleasure, of
sandwiching prose and verse, the poems echoing the idea of the tale that
has preceded them, and themselves likely to prove for many the most