OUTSIDE O’ THE MAIL INTO MENNEN
And only ten mile and a trifle to go.
Says Benny: “We’re in for a bit of a blow.”
“Well, if it do rain, a good job it don’t snow,”
Says Gracey, “a-riding to Mennen.”
IV
“Here’s what’ll save us the price of a shave,”
Cries Ben, as we got to the moor.
’Twas the picture o’ doom, full o’ nothing but gloom.
An’ just as he spoke, with a shriek and a boom,
Down came the storm, to be sure!
Like hedgehogs we doubled up innards, an’ yet
Our cheeks and our chins were a-running wi’ wet,
An’ we got such a dose o’ the vicious east wind
That I’m sure I was certain my nose ’ud be skinn’d.
But the horses, poor things! They were more on my mind.
They’d to strain onward, stormbeaten an’ blind,
While we’d to do nothing but sit up behind
Like kings, an’ be carried to Mennen.
V
By-an’-by each got a ha’porth o’ speech.
80
