O Memory! That Which I Gave Thee To Guard In Thy Garner Yestreen - Little Deeming Thou E'Er Could'St Behave Thee Thus Basely - Hath Gone From Thee Clean! Gone, Fled, As Ere Autumn Is Ended The Yellow Leaves Flee From The Oak - I Have Lost It For Ever, My Splendid Original Joke. What Was It? I Know I Was Brushing My Hair When The Notion Occurred: I Know That I Felt Myself Blushing As I Thought, "How Supremely Absurd! "How They'll Hammer On Floor And On Table As Its Drollery Dawns On Them - How They Will Quote It" - I Wish I Were Able To Quote It Just Now. I Had Thought To Lead Up Conversation To The Subject - It's Easily Done - Then Let Off, As An Airy Creation Of The Moment, That Masterly Pun. Let It Off, With A Flash Like A Rocket'S; In The Midst Of A Dazzled Conclave, Where I Sat, With My Hands In My Pockets, The Only One Grave. I Had Fancied Young Titterton'S Chuckles, And Old Bottleby'S Hearty Guffaws As He Drove At My Ribs With His Knuckles, His Mode Of Expressing Applause: While Jean Bottleby - Queenly Miss Janet - Drew Her Handkerchief Hastily Out, In Fits At My Slyness - What Can It Have All Been About? I Know 'Twas The Happiest, Quaintest Combination Of Pathos And Fun: But I've Got No Idea - The Faintest - Of What Was The Actual Pun. I Think It Was Somehow Connected With Something I'd Recently Read - Or Heard - Or Perhaps Recollected On Going To Bed. What Had I Been Reading? The Standard: "Double Bigamy;" "Speech Of The Mayor." And Later - Eh? Yes! I Meandered Through Some Chapters Of Vanity Fair. How It Fuses The Grave With The Festive! Yet E'En There, There Is Nothing So Fine - So Playfully, Subtly Suggestive - As That Joke Of Mine. Did It Hinge Upon "Parting Asunder?" No, I Don't Part My Hair With My Brush. Was The Point Of It "Hair?" Now I Wonder! Stop A Bit - I Shall Think Of It - Hush! There'S Hare, A Wild Animal - Stuff! It Was Something A Deal More Recondite: Of That I Am Certain Enough; And Of Nothing Beyond It. Hair - Locks! There Are Probably Many Good Things To Be Said About Those. Give Me Time - That's The Best Guess Of Any - "Lock" Has Several Meanings, One Knows. Iron Locks - Iron-Gray Locks - A "Deadlock" - That Would Set Up An Everyday Wit: Then Of Course There'S The Obvious "Wedlock;" But That Wasn't It. No! Mine Was A Joke For The Ages; Full Of Intricate Meaning And Pith; A Feast For Your Scholars And Sages - How It Would Have Rejoiced Sidney Smith! 'Tis Such Thoughts That Ennoble A Mortal; And, Singing Him Out From The Herd, Fling Wide Immortality'S Portal - But What Was The Word? Ah Me! 'Tis A Bootless Endeavour. As The Flight Of A Bird Of The Air Is The Flight Of A Joke - You Will Never See The Same One Again, You May Swear. 'Twas My Firstborn, And O How I Prized It! My Darling, My Treasure, My Own! This Brain And None Other Devised It - And Now It Has Flown.