ght, being a colored man, of doing pretty much as I choose. If
this flirtation isn't stopped promptly I'll go to Indiana, divorce you,
and marry EMILIA. Do you know where the boot-jack is?"

DESDEMONA.--"I never did flirt with him, and IAGO tells a big story if
he says I did. The boot-jack must have been kicked under the bed. As for
flirting, after the way you have gone on with EMILIA, the less say about
it the better. If you can't find the boot-jack, call the servant and let
him pull your boots off--you'll catch your death if you go poking round
under the bureau and sofa and things much longer."

OTHELLO.--"Of course it's all right, only don't have too much to say to
him. There's that confounded boot-jack at last. You see, my dear, that
people will talk if you give them the slightest reason. There's a button
off this shirt. Are you all ready for me to put the gas out?"

With the extinction of the gas, the curtain would naturally fall. And it
would fall upon a pleasant, well-constructed, probable, and eminently
realistic play. As it is, OTHELLO ends with a complicated massacre
worthy of the Bowery Theatre in its bloodiest days.

MATADOR.

* * * * *

"Parlez aux Suisses."

It seems that Water Valley, Mississippi, is attracting hosts of Swiss
settlers, speaking of whom a contemporary calls them "iron-handed
mountaineers." We were not previously aware that the Swiss are provided
with iron hands, though we have long known that they have _glaciers_.

* * * * *

A Warning.

The man who tried to arrange his hair with an ice pick got it into a
Nice Pickle.

* * * * *

Suggested by a "Tight" Fit.

What county of Scotland is the best to get a foot-hold in? Bute.

* * * * *

AN EVEN TEMPERATURE FOR CONGRESS.

Warmed by WOOD; Cooled by BROOKS.

* * * * *

[Illustration: ANOTHER "SUCCESSFUL FRENCH SORTIE."]

* * * * *

THE MARCH OF PROGRESS.

The nations of Europe appear to suppose that their advance in
civilization is marked by improvement in their rifles rather than in
their school-houses. The possession of the needle-gun by Prussia
stimulated France to invent the Chassepot, and now it appears that
Russia claims to have a new rifle which surpasses them both. If we may
judge from Prussia's actions in this war, this improve