On the backs of bank notes one sometimes meets with strange
and peculiar sentiments. “Go, poor devil, get thee gone,” is the
kind of parting salutation most in favour; but the following is chiefly
notable as a rare instance of the bank-note rhymester parting with
his money in a Christian spirit:
Farewell, my note, and wheresoe’er ye wend,
Shun gaudy scenes, and be the poor man’s friend;
You’ve left a poor one--go to one as poor;
And drive despair and hunger from his door.
An Irish merchant, who felt annoyed at a complaining letter he
received from a customer, wrote back:--“We decline to acknowledge the
receipt of yours of the 15th.”
If to-day is the to-morrow of yesterday, is to-day the yesterday of
to-morrow?
67. Suppose that four poor men build their houses around a pond, and
that afterwards four evil-disposed rich men build houses at the back
of the poor people--as shown in illustration--and wish to have a
monopoly of the water: how can they erect a fence so as to shut the
poor people off from the pond?
[Illustration]