The evening tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 189?-190?, 1897-01-26
/ AT PUNCH'S- TABLE.
" WAS THERE THAT HOODS FAMOUS
1 SONG GOT ,Ts START.


Diseussed by the star OF Punch and Ff,Ai-
~ Accepted For Print-The Famous
Board Around Which Many Bright
J Iishts OF Litsrature Have Assembled.
The table, the famous board of which
We all have heard, yet none or but very
fcw of us have seen, myself among the
fortunate few, says Mr.. M. ii. Spielman
An his "History Of Punch" AS piece OF
furniture this hospitable but rather prim-
Alive piece Of joinery is not of much 40
count. the top being Of plain deal (pace
Thaokeray's Mahogany Tree'), oblong
In shape with rounded ends. But Its as
aQciations render 1t treasure among
te@asures, rich and priceless gem. For
Rt this table nearly every man upon the
.QtaH has from the day 1t was made sat
SnA carved bis initials upon It with PEN
Knife when officially elevated to Punch's
Doerage. AS each has died his successor
bas taken his place, just as the Institut do
Ffance creates i'm mortals to I'll the chairs
made vacant by death. and he has cut his
1yitials or his mark close by those OF the
men who occupied the place before him.
There they are, staring at you from the
Hable like 30 many abecedarian skeletons
ut the feast, and II you take a furtive and
hasty peep from the doorway and lift the
green protective cloth you catch sight
nearest you OF "D M" (Du Maurier) In
CLOSE company with beautifully cut Nv.
M. T." (William Makepeace Thackeray),
and monogrammatic leech inside bot
Ale flanked by "J." and an a." John
H.each), and you gaze with deep interest
op the handiwork of them and OF the rest,
many of whom have carved their names,
as on that table, deep into England's roll
of fame.
Thomas Hoods "Song of the Shirt"
was one of Punch's great successes, and at
this table its merits were first discussed.
A woman, with half starved infant at
the breast was charged at the Lambeth
police court with pawnipg her masters
goods, for which she had to give a2 secu-
rity. Her husband had died by an accident
and had left her with two children to sup
port, and she obtained by her needle for
she maintenance Of herself and family
what her master called the good living
of 2 shillings a week" Punch was at
once aglow with redhot indignation, and
in an article entitled Famine and Fash
ion" proposed an advertisement such as
this for the firm that employed her:
Holland coats from two and three arc shown
BY Hungers bagRard fingers neatly sewn,
Embroidered tunics for your infant made
The eyes are sightless now that worked the
braid.
Rich vests Of velvet ut this mart appear.
Zach one bedimm'd by some poor widows tear,
And riding habits formed for maid or wife,
All cheap-aye. ladies, cheap as paupor life.
Tor mourning suits this is the fitting mart,
For every garment help'd to break heart.
The subject touched Hood more power
fully perhaps than others, for his nature
was essentially grave and sympathetic. AS
he himself had said, 1t was only for his
livelihood that he was lively Hood, al
though he was always brimming over
with comicalities, and he never felt more
deeply the dignity of his profession and
his own force and weight than when he
was engaged ON serious work. So Hood
conjured up his "Song Of the Shirt, I"
moved by tho revelations of poor seam
stresses who received, as 1t appeared, 8
farthings a shirt, out of which sum they
had to find their own needles. Mark Lem
on told Mr.. Joseph Hatton that Hood had
accompanied the poem with few lines
In which he expressed the fear that it was
hardly suitable for Punch and leaving 1t
between his discretion and the waste pa
per basket" 1t had, said Hood, already
been rejected by three papers, and he was
sick of the sight of it. Mark Lemon
brought the poem mp at the table, where
the majority of the staff protested against
its inclusion in comic paper. But Lemon
was determined, and, after all, was 1t not
for q Christmas number that he destined
it--a number in which something serious,
pathetic, with a note of pity and love, was
surely not out of place?
The effect of It's publication was tremen-
dous. The poem went through the land
like wildflre. Nearly every paper quoted
It, headed by The Times. 1t was the talk
of the hour, the talk of the country. It
went straight to John Bulls kind, bour-
Reois, sympathetic heart, just as Carlyle
declared that Ruskin' g truths had pierced
like arrows into his The authorship,
too, was vigorously canvassed with intense
interest Dickens, with that keen insight
and critical faculty which had enabled him
almost alone among literary experts to de-
tect the sex of George Eliot, then an un-
known writer, was one of tho few who at
once named the writer of the verses. And
it was we'll for Hood that he had proof Of
the authorship, for one of the most curl
Gus things connected with tho poem was
the number Of persons who had the inoom-
prebensible audacity to claim It.
Punch shared handsomely In the glory
of the poet, and it's circulation tripled on
the strength of It, And Mra Hood, poor
soul, triumphed In her prophecy, for had
she not said aud maintained In spite Of
each successive rejection from foolish odi-
tors: "Now, mind, Hood, mark my words;
this will tell wonderfully. II - one At the
best things you ever did" And % this
song, which in spite of its defeots still
thrills you as you read, achieved such a
popularity that for sudden anu enthusiast
tic applause it's reception has rarely heen
requalSd IL was soon tyapslated into esory
language In Europa Hood used to laugh
ss he wondered how they would render
''seam and susset Spd band" into Dutch
Il was printed and sold - catchrennies,
printed on cotton pocket hsndkerchiefs; IL
was illustrated In thousand ways, and
the greatest triumph of al, which brought
tears of Joy TO Hocd q eyes, before week
was out poor begsar woman came sing
ing Il down Ne street, the words set to q
simple air of her own.