INAPPROPRIATE JOKE.
COST OF A WATERLOO MEDAL.—A Frenchman meeting an English soldier with a Waterloo medal, began sneeringly to animadvert on our Government for bestowing such a trifle, which did not cost them three francs. " That is true, to be sure," replied the hero; " it did not cost the English Government three francs, but it cost the French a Napoleon."—United Service Journal. SOME knowledge is necessary even to a jest. Who can fail to perceive that nothing is less in character with a Frenchman than a sneer at the price of a badge of honour ? The inquiry, what does it cost, is indeed essentially English, and indicates the authorship of the story. The common military decorations of our neighbours would not sell for as much as a Waterloo medal, which is always worth its silver. Our fellows well know their value ; as do the pawnbrokers, who hold them frequently as securities. It is dangerous to fling stones on the field of sordidness.
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