Volume 2

The smoker's garland.

Date:
1889-
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The smoker's garland. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    “ Gone out, my old pipe? Well, I need not wait, For I hear them unbarring the dingy gate; I wish ’twould close on me for ever. Lie safe in my bosom till morning comes, To find you again in my toothless gums, While I seek for refuse in filthy slums, And warm my old bones with a shiver.” Now, what the pauper dreamed in his dreams ] cannot tell, nor you ; but it seems That his sleep was sound and lasting. When the summons came to go breaking stones, They found just a bundle of senseless bones; And the coroner said, in plainest tones, “The cause of death was fasting.” One hand was grasping his pipe full fast, As fighting death for that till the last, His cheapest and dearest treasure. However, they bundled him into a shell, And hurried him off to his grave pell-mell; And all the tears that over him fell Might be kept in a bottomless measure. But when the directors came to die, They died in the best of company, And felt quite encouraged to do it: The parson came with his sacrament, And they in a hurry to heaven were sent. Lest the devil got wind of their coming demise, And came to claim his lawful prize, But the parsons pulled them through it. II. Lloyd.