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plshly ; « do it on my head. What do you think an old — » (he checked himself , and went on hastily) — « an old pressman like me and can't -Write the New Humour ? Why, so I hâve — many a time » . Hère he glanced down his coat, ^'hich laeked ail its Buttons save one, and con- ■cluded :

« I ain't thriven over ît, — no, — and Tvhy ? Because this bloomin' world simply plays pitch and toss with us — and Tve come down tails — ■and you ean'thelp it, and neither can I. » (He -vvas a philosopher after ail.) « But as to writing (if that's what you call it) the New^ Humoiu*, — look hère, give me half-a-quid » (see Gloss. — Ed.) « and a couple of hours, and TU hand you a bit of the real New Humour, ail about landladies, and lodgers, and such-like — quite the regular thiug. And you can publish it if you give me the crédit for it. I sign myself The Yak — Fmwell-known about hère underthat style »

{which was certainly mystic although a little suggestive).

We were so tickled by this that we duly conçluded a contract with him, gave him our card, and two hours and twenty minutes afterwards The Yak handed in a package to Sam our concierge, and received his half-a quid. Furthermore, being a sociable mann, he invited Sam

out for refreshment in célébration thereof, and confided to the latter that he and his friends wereprojecting a journal to be styled « Shreds » which he expeeted would astonish the world, and as it was to be controUed by a Limited Company having a Stock Exehange quotation, he advised Sam to take up a few shares. In the parcel he had enclosed his prospectus, which stated his charges for the foot run, or offering specially cheap terms for matter by the year.

This is what The Yak had written. It is évident he knows something about fiction, and if he isn't a New Humorist, what is he ?

Shreds, Limited, will assuredly be quoted at a premium.