a pert Chimpanzee, "you have got your trunk
checked, I see." "My children," said a temperate Camel to her young,
"let this awful example teach you to shun the bole." "Does it hurt
much?" said a compassionate Gnu. "Ah, it does; it does; it must; I gnu
it; I have been a mother myself." And while they were sympathising with
him the unfortunate Elephant expired in great agony.

_Moral._--The moral of the above is so plain as to need explanation.
Talk is cheap.

THE CORONER AND THE BANANA PEEL

As a Coroner was entering a saloon to see a man he beheld a careless
boy, who was eating a Banana, cast the rind of the fruit upon the
slippery stone sidewalk, but instead of chiding the urchin, smiled and
passed on. As he was coming out of the saloon, having satisfied his
thirst, he slipped on the peel of the Banana, and, falling, broke his
neck; so that a rival coroner made the fees from the inquest.

_Moral._--It is rare sport to see the Coroner hoist with his own
petard.

THE RHINOCEROS AND THE DROMEDARY

A thirsty Rhinoceros, having to his great joy encountered a Dromedary
in the desert of Sahara, besought the latter animal of his mercy to
give him a drink, but the Dromedary refused, stating that he was
holding the fluid for an advance. "Why," said he to the Rhinoceros,
"did you not imitate my forethought and prudence, and take some heed to
the morrow?" The Rhinoceros acknowledged the justice of the rebuke.
Some time afterwards he met in an oasis the Dromedary, who had realised
at the turn of the market and was now trying to cover his shorts. "For
Heaven's sake," he gasped to the Rhinoceros, who was wallowing in the
midst of a refreshing pool, "trust me for a nip." "When I was thirsty,"
replied the Rhinoceros, "you declined to stand the drinks, but I will
give you a horn." So saying, he let the grateful sunlight into the
Dromedary's innards.

_Moral._--Virtue is its own reward.

THE HEN AND THE TAILOR

A Hen who had saved a Tailor from drowning in a marine disaster that
had cost several of his less fortunate companions their lives asked him
his opinion of the theory of evolution. The grateful Tailor replied
that he was himself an instance of the survival of the fittest; and the
philosophical Fowl, remarking that it was vulgar to pun, walked off
with much dignity to resume her interrupted occupation of hatching out
a china nest-egg.

_Moral._--Some people cannot take a joke.

TH