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A NATURAL anxiety that his pupils should be furnished with as complete a
repertory as possible, has prompted _Mr. Punch_ to command one of his
spare Poets to knock off a little dramatic piece founded (at a
respectful distance) upon a famous Transatlantic model. The spare Poet
in question--all reluctant as he felt even to appear to be competing
with the inimitable--had, as the minion of _Punch_ the Peremptory, no
option but to obey to the best of his powers. The special merit of the
present production will be found in the care with which it has been
watered down to suit the capacity of amateurs for whom the original
would offer difficulties well-nigh insuperable. This poem is
particularly recommended to diffident young ladies with a suppressed
talent for recitation. Some on reading it may imagine that its rough but
genuine pathos is scarcely adapted to feminine treatment--but wait until
you hear some young lady recite it! _Mr. Punch_, for his part, is
content to wait for almost any length of time. The Author calls it:--