Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 98, May 24, 1890

In this lively vignette from a late‑Victorian weekly, a pair of spirited girls—Miss Jenny and Miss Polly—bring two new dolls into the nursery: a prim soldier and a jaunty sailor. The children’s innocent play quickly turns into a comic showdown, as the toys assert their own personalities and begin to court the girls with exaggerated bravado. Their banter is punctuated by jaunty music‑hall numbers that parody military swagger and maritime swagger, complete with marching choruses and hornpipe riffs.

The piece gleefully sketches the absurdity of grown‑up pretensions imagined through child’s play, while the witty verse satirises the pomp of both army and navy. Listeners will enjoy the rhythmic dialogue, the tongue‑in‑cheek lyrics, and the charmingly exaggerated performances that capture the mischievous spirit of the era’s popular satire.