Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

Only $9.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

Mr. Punch's Railway Book
Mr. Punch's Railway Book
Mr. Punch's Railway Book
Ebook307 pages1 hour

Mr. Punch's Railway Book

Rating: 0 out of 5 stars

()

Read preview
LanguageEnglish
Release dateNov 15, 2013
Mr. Punch's Railway Book

Related to Mr. Punch's Railway Book

Related ebooks

Related articles

Reviews for Mr. Punch's Railway Book

Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
0 ratings

0 ratings0 reviews

What did you think?

Tap to rate

Review must be at least 10 words

    Book preview

    Mr. Punch's Railway Book - L. (Leonard) Raven-Hill

    The Project Gutenberg EBook of Mr. Punch's Railway Book, edited by J. A. Hammerton

    This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with

    almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or

    re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included

    with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org

    Title: Mr. Punch's Railway Book

    Editor: J. A. Hammerton

    Illustrator: PHIL MAY,

    GEORGE DU MAURIER,

    CHARLES KEENE,

    JOHN LEECH,

    SIR JOHN TENNIEL,

    E. T. REED,

    L. RAVENHILL,

    J. BERNARD PARTRIDGE,

    REGINALD CLEAVER,

    AND MANY OTHER HUMOROUS ARTISTS

    Release Date: January 21, 2011 [EBook #35027]

    Language: English

    *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MR. PUNCH'S RAILWAY BOOK ***

    Produced by Neville Allen, Chris Curnow and the Online

    Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This

    file was produced from images generously made available

    by The Internet Archive)

    TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE.

    Some pages of this work have been moved from the original sequence to enable the contents to continue without interruption. The page numbering remains unaltered.

    MR. PUNCH'S RAILWAY BOOK

    PUNCH LIBRARY OF HUMOUR

    Edited by J. A. Hammerton

    Designed to provide in a series of volumes, each complete in itself, the cream of our national humour, contributed by the masters of comic draughtsmanship and the leading wits of the age to Punch, from its beginning in 1841 to the present day.


    READING BETWEEN THE LINES


    MR. PUNCH'S RAILWAY BOOK

    WITH 160 ILLUSTRATIONS

    BY

    PHIL MAY,

    GEORGE DU MAURIER,

    CHARLES KEENE,

    JOHN LEECH,

    SIR JOHN TENNIEL,

    E. T. REED,

    L. RAVENHILL,

    J. BERNARD PARTRIDGE,

    REGINALD CLEAVER,

    AND MANY OTHER HUMOROUS ARTISTS

    PUBLISHED BY ARRANGEMENT WITH THE PROPRIETORS OF PUNCH

    THE EDUCATIONAL BOOK CO. LTD.


    Punch Library of Humour

    Twenty-five volumes, crown 8vo, 192 pages fully illustrated

    LIFE IN LONDON COUNTRY

    LIFE IN THE HIGHLANDS

    SCOTTISH HUMOUR

    IRISH HUMOUR

    COCKNEY HUMOUR

    IN SOCIETY

    AFTER DINNER STORIES

    IN BOHEMIA

    AT THE PLAY

    MR. PUNCH AT HOME

    ON THE CONTINONG

    RAILWAY BOOK

    AT THE SEASIDE

    MR. PUNCH AFLOAT

    IN THE HUNTING FIELD

    MR. PUNCH ON TOUR

    WITH ROD AND GUN

    MR. PUNCH AWHEEL

    BOOK OF SPORTS

    GOLF STORIES

    IN WIG AND GOWN

    ON THE WARPATH

    BOOK OF LOVE

    WITH THE CHILDREN


    A WORD AT STARTING

    Only a few years before Mr. Punch began his long and brilliant career had passenger trains and a regular system of railway travelling come into existence. In his early days it was still very much of a novelty to undertake a journey of any length by train; a delightful uncertainty prevailed not only as to the arrival at a given destination, but equally as to getting away from a starting-place. Naturally, the pens and pencils of his clever contributors were then frequently in use to illustrate the humours of railway travel, and even down to the present time Mr. Punch has not failed to find in the railway and its associations a source of innocent merriment.

    It must be admitted that some thirty years ago the pages of Punch literally teemed with biting satires on the management of our railways, and the fact that his whole-hearted denunciations of the inefficient service, the carelessness which resulted in frequent accidents, the excessive charges, the inadequate accommodation, could have been allowed to pass without numerous actions for libel, is proof of the enormous advantages which the present generation enjoys in this great matter of comfortable, rapid and inexpensive transit. Where Mr. Punch in his wrath, as voicing the opinion of the public, was wont to ridicule and condemn the railways and all associated therewith, we to-day are as ready, and with equal reason, to raise our voice in praise. But ridicule is ever a stronger impulse to wit than is appreciation, and in these later days when we are all alive to the abounding merits of our railway system Mr. Punch has had less to say about it. If we were to cull from his pages written in the days of his wrath we might be held guilty of presenting a gross travesty of the conditions now obtaining. Thus it is that in one or two cases only have we retained passages from his earlier chronicles, such as Rules for the Rail and The Third-Class Traveller's Petition, which have some historical value as reminders that the railway comfort of the present day presents a remarkable contrast to the not very distant past.

    To-day every member of the community may be regarded as a railway traveller, so large a part does the railway play in modern life; and it will be admitted that, with all our improvements, the element of humour has not been eliminated from our comings and goings by train. We trust it never may. Here, then, is a compilation of the best things, literary and pictorial, that have appeared in Mr. Punch's pages on the subject, and with his cheery presence as our guard, let us set forth upon our excursion into the Realm of Fun!


    MR. PUNCH'S RAILWAY BOOK

    RAILWAY JOKES

    As Played Daily on the Principal Lines

    Turning Business into Pleasure.—Take a traveller pressed for time, and induce him to enter a train supposed to be in correspondence with another train belonging to another line, and by which other train the traveller proposes to proceed to his destination. As the first train arrives at the junction, start off the second train en route for Town. The dismay of the traveller when he finds his journey interrupted will be, to say the least, most mirth-moving.

    The Panic-stricken Passengers.—Allow an express train to arrive at the station of a rival company two hours behind its time. The travellers will, of course, be anxious to learn the cause of the delay, and will (again of course) receive no sort of information on the subject from the servants of the rival company. Should there be any nervous ladies in the train, the fun will become fast and furious.

    A Lark in the Dark.—Start a train ten minutes late, and gradually lose time until it arrives in the middle of a long tunnel, and then stop the engine. Stay where you are for half an hour, whistling and letting off steam every now and then, to increase the excitement. Should it be known in the train that an express is due on the line of rails already occupied by the carriages, the humour of the situation will be greatly improved. Before playing this joke, it will be as well to lock

    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1