Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 November 1892 — Punch and Judy. [ARTICLE]

Punch and Judy.

It would surprise a good many persons, probably, to hear that “Punch and Judy” is a Chinese institution, but there seems to be good ground for the supposition, according to a correspondent of a London paper, who says: “A few years ago I witnessed at a garden party given by the general then commanding the troops in Hong Kong the exhibition of a Chinese ’ Punch and Judy,’ which had been brought down from Canton. The general arrangements were precisely the same as those of an English • Punch and Judy,’ the only difference being that instead of the dog Toby there was a wooden figure with clapping jaws, supposed to represent a dragon. The costumes were Chinese, and the piece varied in some respects from that which we see in England, but all the characteristic features were the same. The lesser mandarins were duly knocked over by the big mandarin, with just the same satisfactory whack as that with which Punch disposes of Judy and Jaek Ketch, and all the accessories of vdices, pipes, and scenery corresponded’ to those of the English performance.” The correspondent asks Professor Max Muller and the Congress of Orientalists to decide the nice question whether the Chinese or Europeans are the plagiarists. The cat of the postmaster of Danville, Ind., rings the bell when she wants to enter the house.