Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1904-02-06

cred to preside at the reaSsembling of
the syndicate. After greetings had
been exchanged and inquiries had been
made in regard to his health, he came
to the point without further delay.
E"Our newly-elected councillor, Mr..
lubbock, who celebrated his advent
to the council by successfully accom-
plishing the carrying off of the money
which had been sent from Germany to
. furnish sinews of war for the dock
strike. is apparently not content with
that exploit, but is burning to distin-
guish himself still further in the serv-
Ice of the council. He has communi-
Gated TO me project which | have
promised him to put briefly before you.
1t is, as you know, most necessary that
we should impress our numerous sub
scribers in this country and in America
with our activity. Unless we keep our
selves well before them and before the
public, subscriptions will assuredly
fall off. Nothing has been done for
some time in the way of striking
blow at the monarchy or at the aris-
tocracy, or at any of the other figure
heads which We set up before our own
/ particular public-just as a Snowman
sets up the ever-familiar figure of
Aunt Sally at country fairs-in order
that the public in question may dump
down money for shying at it The pub
lie dearly loves some sort of Aunt
Sally TO shy at, and in a general way
the Aunt Sallies are not very much the
worse. But wise Snowman who
wishes to keep the coin coming in,
humors his public, and takes care that
every now and then one of the many
cudgels that are thrown shall catch
the old lady full in the face. and per-
haps bash her features as well as break
the pipe in her mouth. That makes
| the throwers feel that they are getting
something for the money, and it keeps
the coin coming in.
| well. we've had two tries at the
popular Aunt Sallies' lately. and each
time we have missed. The first time
was when we tried to blow up that
best-hated man in England. Lord Gran
thorpe, and the second was the failure
of our jubilee programme for hosting
The queen and the royal family sky
high. IL wasn't our fault that we
failed. We know now, though we didn't
then, that our failures were due to
treachery. and il any proof were need
ed that it was so, it is, think, to be
found in the fact that the very first
enterprise we undertake, after we have
rid ourselves of the traitor, turns out
q complete success. IL that female
Judas who pulled the linch-pin out of
our plans for the blowing up of Lord
Cranthorpe's place and for celebrat-
ing the jubilee on quite another way
than her majesty intended, had been
a member of this council when we
planned to lay hands upon the $4,000
that was sent to the strikers by Ger
many-if she had been a member of the
council and in our secrets, the money
would not be in our pockets to-day"
Number Two paused for breath, and
a murmur Of unmistakabie approve;
and applause hummed through the
room.
well, my friends" he went on
lubbock has devised a plan for re.
trieving the failure at Lord Gran
thorpe's and the failure at the jubilee
Here it is.
Some years ago lubbock was chef
at the Ishmael club. Have any of you
ever been there? No? Then the Ish-
mael club. you must understand, is a
coterie of travellers, actors, artists
authors, journalists, musicians and SO
on, who pride themselves on being Bo-
hemians. They are popularity supposed
to be in revolt against conventionality
OF every sort, and in suburban and
provincial society a member of the
Ishmael club is looked upon as dread
| full upsetter of the order of things and
as one who stands for all that is 'ad-
vanced' in thought and manners and
| morals.
LAS a matter of fact the members of
the Ishmael club-'Brother Ishmael-
ites,' as they call themselves-ar just
as sober and solvent Sc; of respect
! able, law-abiding, custom following
! taxpayers and citizens as you will find
outside the precincts of the clubs of
actual fogeydom. 1t is true that the
original members who founded the
Ishmael club some so years ago were
| a Bohemian harum-scarum lot, but the
club as it now stands Is simply living
OA us past lT<iulllOu anu reputation.
The present members do their best to
delude themselves and the public into
the belief that they are a daredevil
crew, and they take their club and
themselves SO seriously that l verify
believe most of them are persuaded
that no four walls in the world con-
tain such a gathering of sad dogs as is
to be seen in the dining-room of the
Ishmael on their house dinner night.
They stick their heads, like so many
ostriches, into the sands of the past,
and refuse to see that the old order
changeth and that the members of the
Ishmael are lshmaelites no longer. All
that, however, doesn't concern us. II
they like to play at Tom and Jerry,
they are quite welcome to do it, and if
they can male believe so well as to
persuade themselves that they are the
original and only Toms and ferries,
why, let EN- in Heavens name. and be
hanged TO EN- Our interest in them