  Once I thought that you could boast Such a perfect southern sky, Flecked with summer clouds at most; Always sunny, always dry, Warm enough, perhaps, to grill an Englishman, O muddy Milan! Now I find you soaking wet, Underneath an English sky; Pavements, mediÆval yet, Whence mud splashes ever fly; And, to make one damp and ill, an Endless downpour, muddy Milan! Though you boast such works of art, Where is that unclouded sky? Muddy Milan, we must part, I shall gladly say good-bye, Pack, and pay my little bill—an Artless thing—and leave you, Milan. At Boulogne.—Ted (to 'Arry). What's the meaning of "avis" on those placards? 'Arry. There's a question from a feller as 'as studied Latin with me at the Board School! 'Ave you forgotten all about the black swan? It's a notice about birds, of course! She. 'So, dear baron,...' She. "So, dear baron, you are just come down from the mountains. What lovely views you get there, do you not?" Herr Baron. "Most lofly!" She. "And what delicious water they give you to drink there!" Herr Baron. "Ach, yes. That also haf I seen." A CHOICE OF IDIOMS A CHOICE OF IDIOMSMr. Brown. "I say, Maria, what's the meaning of 'Sarner fairy hang,' which I hear you say in all the French shops, when they haven't got what you want—which they never have?" Mrs. B. "Oh, it only means 'It's of no consequence.'" Mr. B. "How odd! Now I always say 'Nimport'! But I dare say it comes to the same in the end." |
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