_Patchouli._--What is the substance which enables flies to adhere to the
ceiling?
_Answer._--Ceiling wax.
_Rosalie._--What is the meaning of the term "suspended animation?"
_Answer._--If you remain at any fashionable watering-place after the
close of the season you'll find out.
_Zanesvillian._--Your pronunciation of the French word _bois_ is
incorrect, else you could not have fallen into the blunder of supposing
that the Bois de Boulogne and the Bois de Vincennes are _gamins_ of
Paris.
_Blunderbore._--Your suggestion is ingenious, but the refined sentiment
of cruelty revealed in it is deserving of the severest censure. It is
true that the introduction of German cookery into France by the
Prussians, as you propose, would in a short time decimate the
population, but what a fearful precedent it would be! You can best
realize it by imagining Massachusetts cookery introduced into New York,
and the consequent desolation of her purliens.
_Mrs. Gamp._--No; neither the French nor the Prussians are armed with
air guns. Your mistake arose from puzzling over those distracting war
reports, in which the word Argonnes figures so conspicuously.
_R.G.W._--What is the origin of the term "Bezonian," which occurs in the
Shaksperean drama?
_Answer._--Some trace it to Ben Zine, an inflammable friend of "ancient
Pistol's." It is far more probable, however, that the word was
originally written "Bazainian," and was merely prophetic of the
well-known epithet now bestowed by Prussian soldiers on the French
troops serving under BAZAINE.
_Earl Russel_--In reply to your question as to whether the thumb nail of
HOGARTH on which he made his traditional sketch of a drunken man, is now
in an American collection, we can only state that, of course, it once
formed a leading object of interest in BARNUM'S Museum. As that building
was destroyed by fire in 1865, however, it is to be presumed that the
HOGARTH nail perished with all the other nails, or was sold with them,
as "junk."
_Invalid._--To regain strength you should take means to increase the
amount of iron in your blood. Bark will do it, which accounts for the
fact that the blood of dogs has a large per centage of iron. Here in New
York, the ordinary way of getting iron in the blood is to have a knife
run into you by the hand of an assassin; but this is not considered
favorable to longevity.
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