ANOTHER “SCANDALOUS HOAX. ”
Last week a picture appeared in Punch entitled “SummingJUp. ” It represented a Sergeant summing up the irregularities of an incor
rigible Private by saying, “he might be a horficer. ” It was drawn
at the suggestion of a Correspondent. _ It now appears that that Correspondent “drew” us, as we have since been informed that this
very subject was similarly treated in a “Comic Contemporary” ten years ago.
We admit that we ought to know by heart every joke that has ever been said or written anywhere, and that we ought distinctly to remember every picture that has ever been drawn in every comic periodical that has ever appeared, — in fact we admit that we ought to know Everything. But — we don’t.
In this instance, picture and subjeot were both good, and to the majority new, so — as was the case with the Monks in the Jackdaw of Rheins, after the terrible curse — nobody is “a penny the worse, ” except the misguided person who paid the postage.
It is possible that it may have been a boná fide suggestion on the part of the sender, who had recently heard it told as “a fact that had
actually happened. ” The oldest jokes are gener
ally sent us with this assurance, — very great assur
ance. However, we forgive him,
and those who may recollect it —
to use the Parlia
mentary phrase — “in another place, ” as far hack as the date above mentioned, will scarcely blame us for the reproduction of “a drawing after Ten-years.
Latest detail and precise verification. —The picture appeared in the Fun Almanack for 1867. So it was thirteen years, not ten! The talented
individual who took the trouble to work up this hoax, must be a busy man. We should be delighted to hear from him.
The Fortune of War. — Prize-Money.
Last week a picture appeared in Punch entitled “SummingJUp. ” It represented a Sergeant summing up the irregularities of an incor
rigible Private by saying, “he might be a horficer. ” It was drawn
at the suggestion of a Correspondent. _ It now appears that that Correspondent “drew” us, as we have since been informed that this
very subject was similarly treated in a “Comic Contemporary” ten years ago.
We admit that we ought to know by heart every joke that has ever been said or written anywhere, and that we ought distinctly to remember every picture that has ever been drawn in every comic periodical that has ever appeared, — in fact we admit that we ought to know Everything. But — we don’t.
In this instance, picture and subjeot were both good, and to the majority new, so — as was the case with the Monks in the Jackdaw of Rheins, after the terrible curse — nobody is “a penny the worse, ” except the misguided person who paid the postage.
It is possible that it may have been a boná fide suggestion on the part of the sender, who had recently heard it told as “a fact that had
actually happened. ” The oldest jokes are gener
ally sent us with this assurance, — very great assur
ance. However, we forgive him,
and those who may recollect it —
to use the Parlia
mentary phrase — “in another place, ” as far hack as the date above mentioned, will scarcely blame us for the reproduction of “a drawing after Ten-years.
Latest detail and precise verification. —The picture appeared in the Fun Almanack for 1867. So it was thirteen years, not ten! The talented
individual who took the trouble to work up this hoax, must be a busy man. We should be delighted to hear from him.
The Fortune of War. — Prize-Money.