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RECULER POUR MIEUX SAUTER.--The thermometer (according to the _Daily
Chronicle_) about ten days ago "went back a little in order to make a
bigger spring." It succeeded in making a second summer.
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[Illustration: A FIN DE SIECLEISM.
_Sympathetic Lady._ "I HOPE YOU HAD A GOOD HOLIDAY, MISS SMITH."
_Overworked Dressmaker._ "OH YES, MY LADY. I TOOK MY MACHINE WITH ME,
YOU KNOW!"
_S. L._ "WHAT A PITY; YOU SHOULD GIVE UP NEEDLE AND THREAD WHEN YOU'RE
OUT FOR A----"
_O. D._ "OH, I DON'T MEAN MY SEWING MACHINE! I REFER TO MY BICYCLE!"]
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"SIC TRANSIT GLORIA HOODI."
A traditional relic of the picturesque poacher prince of Sherwood
Forest, were it even "no bigger than an agate-stone on the forefinger of
an alderman," would, we presume, be worthy of jealous preservation. It
is, therefore, the more surprising that Yorkshiremen have not taken
adequate means for the protection of "a _massive_ piece of millstone
grit which, from time immemorial, has stood on a rising ground
overlooking the Aire Valley." Reclining in the shade of this historic
stone--named after him--"bold ROBIN HOOD would, with his Maid MARIAN,
sup and bowse from horn and can," using it as a kind of half-way house,
so to speak, on his journeys to York. But oh, shade of Friar TUCK, thou
genial exemplar (dare we hint it?) of what is known as the "sporting"
parson--a type, alas! rapidly becoming as extinct as thyself--the Vandal
hordes, in the shape of the Bradford Corporation, have come with their
destroying trail of dynamite, and, under base pretence of making way for
a water conduit, _have cloven the Robin Hood stone into four parts!_ Not
until the blasting powder was in position did the people realise the
full horror of the dread deed about to be wrought; and then, to save
that which once sheltered an outlaw, they sent for a policeman, who, of
course, arrived "after the blast was over." "The occurrence has caused a
feeling of indignation throughout the district," says the _Yorkshire
Post_, adding, "and it is unlikely that the incident will be passed over
in silence." It certainly was not accomplished "in silence"! Yorkers!
why did you not shut the stable door _before_ the steed was stolen?
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