(_By Professor H-xl-y._)
_Question._ What is rest?
_Answer._ Unperceived activity.
_Q._ Which is the best way of keeping awake?
_A._ By falling off to sleep.
_Q._ What is sleep?
_A._ Concealed consciousness.
_Q._ What is strength?
_A._ Weakness in excess.
_Q._ What is pessimism?
_A._ Optimism developed to its utmost possibilities.
_Q._ What are possibilities?
_A._ Impossibilities carried into action.
_Q._ What is selfishness?
_A._ Pity in the concrete.
_Q._ What is the summit of civilisation?
_A._ The commencement of barbarism.
_Q._ What is nature?
_A._ Art in its initial form.
_Q._ What is the survival of the fittest?
_A._ The Romanes Lecture.
_Q._ What was its comparative commencement?
_A._ Mr. GLADSTONE.
_Q._ And what has been its absolute end?
_A._ Positive ... bosh.
* * * * *
"THE WORLD'S FAIR."--Yes, so it is, perhaps, occasionally, to some
people; but "The World's _Un_fair" to those on whom it chooses to sit
in judgment.
* * * * *