ho races every night at Drury
Lane. That's a very good tip, as safe as houses--Drury Lane houses, of
course.

* * * * *

A CITY PARADOX.

Our City Aldermanic lights
Who talk (and live) a trifle high,
In stern defence of civic rights
Profess themselves prepared to die.
And yet the Aldermanic crowd--
It's amply true, say what you will--
With open eyes have just allowed
The Mayoralty to come to KNILL!

* * * * *

"HABITUAL DRUNKARDS COMMITTEE."--An awful-looking heading to a
paragraph! What a picture the imagination may conjure up of a
Committee of Habitual Drunkards! There would be the Honble. TOM TOPER,
Lord SOTT, SAM SOKER, Marquis of MOPPS and BROOMS, Captain FUDDLE,
DICK SWIZZLER, R.N., FRANK FARGONE (of the _Daily Booze_), with TITE
ASA DRUMM in the Chair, or if not, under the table with the others.

* * * * *

CONVERSATIONAL HINTS FOR YOUNG SHOOTERS.

(_BY MR. PUNCH'S OWN GROUSE IN THE GUN-ROOM._)

Many manuals have been published for the edification of beginners in
the art of shooting. If that art can indeed be acquired by reading,
there is no reason why any youth, whose education has been properly
attended to, should not be perfectly proficient in it without having
fired a single shot. But, _Mr. Punch_ has noticed in all these volumes
a grave defect. In none of them is any instruction given which shall
enable a man to obtain a conversational as well as a merely shooting
success. Every pursuit has its proper conversational complement. The
Farmer must know how to speak of crops and the weather in picturesque
and inflammatory language; the Barrister must note, for use at the
dinner-table, the subtle jests of his colleagues, the perplexity
of stumbling witnesses, and the soul-stirring jokes of Judges;
the Clergyman must babble of Sunday-schools and Choir-practices.
Similarly, a Shooter must be able to speak of his sport and its varied
incidents. To be merely a good shot is nothing. Many dull men can
be that. The great thing, surely, is to be both a good shot and a
cheerful light-hearted companion, with a fund of anecdotes and a rich
store of allusions appropriate to every phase of shooting. _Mr. Punch_
ventures to hope that the hints he has here put together, may be of
value to all who propose to go out and "kill something" with a gun.

THE GUN.

No subject offers a greater variety of