He often went on sprees And said, on starting homus, "Hic labour-opus est, Oh, where's my hic-hic-domus?" Although he lived in Rome,- He was, (excuse the phrase,) Ah, what a different thing Was the homo (dative, hominy) Of far away B. C. From us of Anno Domini. Thomas R. Ybarra. A NEW SONG OF NEW SIMILES My passion is as mustard strong; Drunk as a piper all day long, Round as a hoop the bumpers flow; Pert as a pear-monger I'd be, The rest of womankind. Like a stuck pig I gaping stare, A New Song Plump as a partridge was I known, My cheeks as fat as butter grown, I melancholy as a cat, Am kept awake to weep; But she, insensible of that, Sound as a top can sleep. Hard is her heart as flint or stone, The god of Love at her approach Hearts sound as any bell or roach, Ah me! as thick as hops or hail Straight as my leg her shape appears, My heart would be scot-free from cares, As fine as five-pence is her mien, Her glance is as the razor keen, As soft as pap her kisses are, 755 As smooth as glass, as white as curds Sharp as her needle are her words, Brisk as a body-louse she trips, Sweet as a rose her breath and lips, Full as an egg was I with glee, . Good Lord! how all men envied me! But false as hell, she, like the wind, If I and Molly could agree, Let who would take Peru! Till you grow tender as a chick, And warm as any toast. You'll know me truer than a die, And wish me better sped; Flat as a flounder when I lie, And as a herring dead. Sure as a gun she'll drop a tear And sigh, perhaps, and wish, When I am rotten as a pear, And mute as any fish. John Gay. The American Traveller THE AMERICAN TRAVELLER To Lake Aghmoogenegamook All in the State of Maine, A man from Wittequergaugaum came "I am a traveller," said he, He took a tavern-bed that night, A week passed on, and next we find To that sequestered village called From thence he went to Absequoit, And there quite tired of MaineHe sought the mountains of Vermont, Upon a railroad train. Dog Hollow, in the Green Mount State, And then Skunk's Misery displayed Its sweetness and its grace. By easy stages then he went To visit Devil's Den; And Scrabble Hollow, by the way, Did come within his ken. Then via Nine Holes and Goose Green He travelled through the State; And to Virginia, finally, Was guided by his fate. 757 Within the Old Dominion's bounds, At Pole Cat, too, he spent a week, Till friends from Bull Ring came, And made him spend a day with them In hunting forest-game. Then, with his carpet-bag in hand, From thence, into Negationburg Which having gained, he left the State, North Carolina's friendly soil Morn found him on the road again, At Bull's Tail, and Lick Lizard, too, The country all about Pinch Gut That the beholder thought it like But the plantations near Burnt Coat And made the wondering tourist feel |