of lords, than a publican from a number of
admiring cricketers; but the peculiarity of
testimonials is that they set aside all questions of
value, and leap over all barriers of rank. The
master of a workhouse has been gratified by
receiving a substantial token of his paupers'
regard, purchased with their united, determined,
and desperate savings out of——we are really
not in a position to say exactly what. The leading
member of a pantomimic company has received
an appropriate acknowledgment (a wooden leg,
perhaps) from the assembled carpenters and
machinists of the theatre, for his urbanity and
skill in the most trying positions of trap-sinking,
leap-catching, and suspension. A principal
tragedian has become the centre-piece of a
spectacular ceremony, in which a massive goblet
has been put into his hands (according to agreement)
by the lessee of the establishment, the
one attired as Macbeth, the other as Macduff,
and the whole of the witches and soldiers of the
tragedy being present to applaud the crowning
of merit. The superintendent of a cotton-mill
has been astonished by receiving his full-length
portrait, painted in oil, and paid for by a penny
subscription of the workpeople, as a reward for
he does not know exactly what. In like manner,
the Fossil Association, for the promotion of
looking back, have elected the Earl of Cryptgrub
an honorary member, as a testimonial for his
liberality in throwing open for public inspection
the ancient pump of St. Aloes the Martyr. The
captain of the Wheezy Neptune penny steam-
boat his been presented by the youth of London
with a mounted meerschaum-pipe, for his
boldness in destroying that oppressive regulation
which forbade all smoking abaft the funnel.

Hundreds of such cases of rewarded merit
must have come within the observation of every
discerning man, and shall thousands of instances
of painful neglect be passed over unnoticed?
It is not given to us all to be masters of work-
houses, an affable clown, an overwhelming
tragedian, a superintendent of grateful factory
hands, the proprietors of historical relics, or
the popular captain of a popular steam-boat.
Most of us are compelled to walk in a way of life
upon which the shadow of a testimonial and its
presentation has never fallen. Some of us have
been tantalised with waking dreams, excited
with feeble promises, and sickened with
deferred hopes.

It is, therefore, to supersede the delicate
and troublesome labour of organising testimonial-
presentations, and to assure to every man—no
matter who or what he may be, as long as he is
a subscriber—a public and satisfactory
acknowledgment of merit, that the Mutual
Testimonial Association has been established.

The plan of the association is very simple.
What has been found to work with advantage
in the case of Christmas goose-clubs,
or coal-clubs, is applied with but few alterations
to the ordinary testimonial. A payment
of a certain sum (which has yet to be
determined upon) shall secure to each member,
according to a rotation to be decided by lottery,
the gratification of receiving a graceful and
showy work of art, with all the honours of a
public presentation. The association, in its
corporate capacity, shall take the lead in thus
exalting its individual member; who will, for the time
during which the ceremony lasts, become
detached from the general body. As each
subscriber who has been a receiver will be
compelled under a stringent rule to join the amiable
ranks of the givers, the system will ensure the
desirable result that everybody shall, in succession,
present something to everybody. That
nothing may be wanted to secure the perfection of
the presentations, the Mutual Testimonial
Association have arranged with several social orators
of undoubted talent, who will undertake that the
speeches, while warmed with the proper degree of
personal friendship, shall be worthy of the most
classic efforts of the ancient Greeks and Romans.

In one important respect the Mutual
Testimonial Association will differ from the goose
clubs and coal clubs, before alluded to. In those
societies the prizes or drawings are not only
consumed, but nearly all the members require to
receive them at the same time. With the Lord
Mayor's festival comes the necessity for fire; and
with Christmas or Michaelmas comes the demand
for poultry. A certain weight of coals and a
certain number of birds have thus to be provided
for each subscriber. This will not be the case
with the articles presented by the Mutual
Testimonial Association. Each member, according to
the chance of the lottery, will wait his turn;
and, as the evidence furnished to the society's
promoters and projectors has proved that every
material testimonial finds its way to the Auction
Mart within a certain number of months, the
rate of subscription will be proportionately low,
for, with a little care and management, one
specimen of metallic art may be made to do the
whole presentation work of the Mutual Testimonial
Association.

TRADE SONGS. THE CARPENTER.

  You know our friend the Carpenter;
  We hear him all day long:
  No lark is ever merrier,
  No blither is her song.
    Sharp falls his hammer,
    Swift slides the plane,
    Then the awl, and then the chisel,
    Then he sings again.

  Within his little attic
  What little comforts lurk:
  He sleepeth there throughout the night,
  But at dawn he's up, at work.
    Then he plies the screw-driver,
    Then he drives the plane;
    Then he sings thro' his merry meal,
    And then he works again.

  All the week he is a carpenter,
  As busy as the bees;
  But on Sunday he's a gentleman,
  And then he takes his ease.
    Then his tools are laid aside,
    And he has welcome rest;
    Or he takes the air with her he loves,
    With her that loves him best.