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There modern characters with old may jostle,
Pygmalion may adore his Galatea;
There flaunt in view the works of the apostle
Of modern culture, clothing the idea
That marriage obligation is a fossil:
A comedy ensues in which you see a
Pair of Our Boys with whom things go so cross it
Comes to an attic & “inferior Dossit.”
And ever, at this period of the year,
Strange characters emerge from out the past.
Giants & Gnomes, Pixies & Elves appear
And over Innocence their spells they case
In vain!—
We know their punishment draws near
And the bright Fairy
with her wand at last
Will deal out retribution
(props erratic),
Whose penalties
are mostly acrobatic.
The villain
shall become a clown—
let’s pray
Hard knocks he may encounter
in the rally;
The meaner rogue a pantaloon—
they say
That being thumped
his duty principally
Consists of likewise in the mimic fray
Playing the part assigned
to old “Aunt Sally,”
While as a stimulant, that
seasoned joker,
The clown, revives him with
a red-hot poker.
Go to that land & laugh, ye merry crows,
Wafted away to Fancy’s bright domain,
Where humbling certainly awaits the proud
Defeat the wicked; where the villain slain
Exalts the virtuous poor with wealth endowed
And life’s dark problems seem to work out plain.
You boys!
to play the clown, remember may be
Safe, but don’t try his tricks upon the baby.
C. V. Godby.
