260 BAGGY KNEES 



into celebrity. A friend of mine, Mr. Hand, a city solic- 

 itor, had all through life hated his legs, principally because 

 his trousers bagged at the knees with that pertinacity 

 which, among inanimate objects, only trousers can exhibit. 

 "Why don't you go to Poole's?" said a peripatetic, fla- 

 neur club friend; "his trousers never bag; look at mine !" 

 So off goes Hand to Poole's, states his case, and, under the 

 assurance that the forthcoming garments shall not bag at 

 the knees, orders several pairs at three times the custom- 

 ary price. They by -and -by came home, and were de- 

 lightful to look upon, to incase one's legs in ; but alas, in 

 a se'nnight or so, the telltale bagginess began to be seen. 

 In a rage, off marched Hand to his Sartorial Highness, de- 

 termined to have the law of him. " It is not necessary to 

 look at them, Mr. Hand," calmly replied the self -satisfied 

 ninth to Hand's aggressive salutation ; " our trousers never 

 bag at the knees." " But there they are as bad as any 

 eight-and-sixpenny pair made in the city !" screamed irate 

 Hand. Adjusting his eye-glass, the apparently surprised 

 but none the less confident tailor condescendingly stooped, 

 smoothed his hand down the front of the garment in dis- 

 pute, gazed at the knees a moment, and then, taking from 

 a distance a side view of the same, and dropping his glass 

 with a half -supercilious, half -pitying smile: "Why, Mr. 

 Hand," quoth he, " you have been sitting down in those 

 trousers !" They were park trousers, to be promenaded 

 in, no more. 



The Arab in Algeria and Tunis may be dressed in rags 

 and tatters, but he is no beggar. Only the blind beg. This 

 is really a point in his favor, and it is a great relief from 

 the mendicancy of many other countries to find a poor 

 population which does not hang on your skirts for alms. 

 So much can, however, not be said of his brother bej^ond 

 the desert, nor can it be said of any country where, owing 



