* * * * *
ST. VALENTINE'S EVE.
SCENE--_The outside of a small fancy-stationer's in a
back-street. The windows are plastered with highly-coloured
caricatures, designed to convey the anonymous amenities
prescribed by poetic tradition at this Season of the Year. A
small crowd is inspecting these works of Art and Literature
with hearty approval._
_First Artisan_. See this 'ere, BILL? (_He spells out with a slow
relish._)
"With yer crawlin,' lick-spittle carneyin' ways,
Yo think very likely bein' a nippercrit'll pay!
Still some day it's certain you'll be found out at lorst
As a cringin', sloimy, snoike in the grorss!"
Why, it might ha' been wrote a-purpose for that there little cantin'
beggar up at our shop--blowed if it mightn't!
_Second Artisan_. Young MEALY, yer mean? But that's cawmplimentry--for
_him_--that is!
_First A._ But yer see the ideer of it. They've drawed im a snoike,
all 'cept 'is 'ed, d'ye see? That's why they've wrote "Snoike in the
Grorss," underneath.
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