(With apologies to Everybody.)

“I think I would rather not hear it just now,” said Alice politely.

“It is expressly intended for publication,” said Humpty Dumpty; “I don’t suppose{44} there’ll be a paper to-morrow that won’t be talking about it.”

“In that case I suppose I may as well hear it,” said Alice, with resignation.

“The scene,” said Humpty Dumpty, “is Before Ladysmith, and the time—well, the time is After Colenso:
I sent a message to the White
To tell him—if you must, you might.
But then, I said, you p’raps might not
(The weather was extremely hot).
This query, too, I spatchcock-slid,
How would you do it, if you did?
I did not know, I rather thought—
And then I wondered if I ought.”

“It’s dreadfully hard to understand,” said Alice.

“It gets easier as it goes on,” said Humpty Dumpty, and resumed—
They tried a most malignant scheme,
............