Childhood: the period of human life intermediate between the idiocy of infancy and the folly of youth - two removes from the sin of manhood and three from the remorse of age.

PIRACY, n. Commerce without its folly-swaddles, just as God made it.

GUNPOWDER, n. An agency employed by civilized nations for the settlement of disputes which might become troublesome if left unadjusted. By most writers the invention of gunpowder is ascribed to the Chinese, but not upon very convincing evidence. Milton says it was invented by the devil to dispel angels with, and this opinion seems to derive some support from the scarcity of angels.

It is evident that skepticism, while it makes no actual change in man, always makes him feel better.

Alliance - in international politics, the union of two thieves who have their hands so deeply inserted in each other's pockets that they cannot separately plunder a third.

KING, n. A male person commonly known in America as a "crowned head," although he never wears a crown and has usually no head to speak of.

Cribbage, n. A substitute for conversation among those to whom nature has denied ideas.