Early Closing.

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, Issue III, 15 October 1891, Page 2

Early Closing.

Owing to some unfortunate misunderstanding, the Tuesday halfholiday and early closing has been abandoned- The lines we quote below are very much to the point, can any of our readers mention from whose works they are taken ? Ah! who can toll the miseries of men That serve the very cheapest shops in town ? Till faint and weary, they leave off at tan, Knook'd up by ladies beating of 'em down ! But has not Hamlet his opinion given — O Hamlet had a heart for Drapers' servants ! " That custom is " — say custom after seven — " More honour'd in the breach than the observance." O come then, gentle ladies, come in j time, O'erwhelm our counters, and unload our shelves ; Torment us all until the seventh chime, But let us have the remnant to ourselves ! We wish of knowledge to .lay in a stock, And not remain in ignorance incurable ; — To study Shakespeare, Milton, Dryden, Locke, And other fabrics that have proved so durable. We long for thoughts of intellectual kind, And not to go bewilder'd to our beds ; With stuff and fustian taking up the mind, And pins and needles running in our heads t For oh ! the brain gets very dull and dry, Selling from morn till night for cash or credit ; Or with a vacant face and vacant eye, Watching cheap prints that Knight did never edit. Till sick with toil, and lassitude extreme, We often think when we are dull and vapoury, The bliss of Paradise was so supreme, Because that Adam did not deal in drapery.