Humorous Readings and Recitations, in Prose and Verse

At first sight it may not, perhaps, seem quite the thing that I should be hilarious because I have at last had the courage to kill my brother Henry. For some time, however, Henr...

As for the tea, I don't think I ever tasted such a peculiar mixture. Did you ever sip warm catsup sweetened with borax? _That_ might have been something like it. And what was th...

It's all very well for them noospaper crickets to harry us, and say as we're a set o' this and a set o' the other, and that we ain't got no hideas. They wouldn't 'ave many hidea...

And the Caliph took one egg, and hid it away in his cushion, which done, He bade them all do so. They did it; and sat down awaiting the fun.

Weeks fled. My doctor shook his head and said, "You must embark For an utter change." I did: and went aboard a leaky _Arc_ Bound for the hot _Quadratics_, where I landed for a w...

I was amiable, and pious, too--good deeds were my delight, I practised all the virtues--some by day and some by night; Whilst _Ichabod_ imbrued himself in crime, and, sad to say...

What would you do? You cannot part with the comfortable chair you sit in, and your friends must have their little places; so very likely, if you had no respect for time-honoured...

In through this outer door--closing it warily; Out through an inner door--softly and fairyly-- _She's there!_ In the Lodge, where wax tapers are blazing, All deftly arranged wit...

I skurcely need inform you that the Tower is very pop'lar with pe'ple from the agricultooral districks, and it was chiefly them class which I found waitin' at the gates the othe...

This kind of thing has been going on for more than a week, and I feel worried to death. The latest is that, in addition to No. 1, both the other girls have taken up their reside...

It has always appeared to me as a remarkable fact that the practice of Music does not promote amongst its devotees the harmony which is its own very gist and soul. The "concord...

In introducing to the public a Third Series of "Popular Readings," I consider it merely necessary to state that the courtesy of authors and publishers has enabled me to bring to...

"As the balance-sheet is rather a lengthy document, I will merely quote a few of the figures for your satisfaction. We have received, during the half-year, in subscriptions, don...

I'm not at all given to parading my troubles--nothing of the kind. I may be getting old, in fact, I am; and I may have had disappointments such as have left me slightly irritabl...

Just then, to the astonishment of all, the well known voice of Billy Dumps was heard from the identical bed-room window that his wife had so lately vacated, shouting, "Hullo, yo...