CHARADES.

Observer, 21 December 1893, Page 33

CHARADES.

I. If of my first you would make more, Add but the letter ' c ' ; My second's found sometimes on shore, But oftener on the sea. My whole an engine is to kill, To work at times man's good or ill. ii. When Jolly Joe from his carouse Comes home, his irritated spouse Will do my first to raise the house, But lightly all she does is reckoned — By jove 1 who knows it is her second, But next day takes my wliole and goes To Hamilton or — well, who knows. in. M.j first within a pleasant book By Dickens you will find, My second and my wliole, alas, Too often are combined. IV. Once in a hundred years the aloe blooms, Once in a hundred years my first appears ; My second lies within a thousand tombs, And at a million boards my whole appears. v. My first oft leads to separation Between the greatest in the nation ; My second would perplex a college Of one unknown to gain the knowledge. Were you my whole you'd be a poet, And all the world no doubt would know it. VI. Each faded spinster in the land's ray first — Without my second many feel accursed ; But with my whole, no matter rich or poor, Your oldest friends will oft-times shun your door.

My first beheld the light in Eden's bowers, When Adam gazed upon the birth of flowers ; My second pains where'er its touch is given, My whole preserves the dearest gift of Heaven. vm. My first, if my second be triple, is strong, My next's a conjunction, or cockney for hand, Two initials most dear to a painter. You're wrong If you've not got a name very dear to England. IX. Upon the pavement once 1 saw My .first, and then I fled Guarding my eyes and wishing law Would save me from such dread. But law had taken my first in hand, I heard a lawyer tell, To use it on a wicked band Of rogues who'd earned it well. Then home I sped and straighway heard That it had got there, too, Taken my pet canary bird Likewise my Irish stew. This made me tear my hair in rage That made me look a guy ; And I sent out my little page My next and la-it to buy. Then off to Paris did I go, Though high the waves did roll, Eesolved to visit every show, Especially my whole. But such is life, they told me then My whole I could not visit. Such was the rule, that none should dare To enter it. What is it ? x. When the fox for his life is running, my second Then has rung in his ears, What concludes in my first, To be able to quote from niy whole, Is still reckoned, The sign of a scholar in poetry versed. XI. My first* a kind of mediaeval curse, Which left most folks no better and no worse. My second is a lawyer, whom I'd fee If enemies brought actions versus me, My lohole is said to utter hideous screams, A statement which you'll put mid idle dreams. XII. My first the Jew That Shakespeare drew, Objectionable reckoned ; But when that Jew Well played on view, The boxes are my second. A Negro critic said with a groan, 1 Dat whole, sar, best am let alone. XIII. When a person's my first He is said to be sold, Don't appear in my second, You'd far better not ; But no better breakfast is Offered I hold, Than my whole nicely pepnered And buttered and hot. XIV. If a little fair she-baby Chanced to lose ray first and next, Ma would call the nurse a gaby, And be very justly vexed. Then you'll hardly fail to see that If those words united fast, And a man should choose to be that He'd be far behind my last . If you've often chance of tasting What's my whole (a friend and free), And such chances you are wasting, You're less wise than you should be.