Eighteen-Pence.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IV, Issue 252, 20 September 1884, Page 5 (Supplement)

Eighteen-Pence.

".Hast Thou, 0 sesquipedalian peripatetic, ' ; Say, hast thou eighteen-pence ? " so asked, I think, ■< ; Walt Whitman of some philosdphio sage I 0f converse most profuse; but "reason's •feast" ' | Fills not an empty stomach — " eighteenjpencel" | Thereon, as from a text, might one discourse In jest and yet m earnest, as he who ; Sartor Resartus wrote : yea, " eighteen^ penes;" I Though Thought's balloon convey ua to th? skies, I Anctwalt us through fair Fancy's rainbow arch, ! We must return to earth ; yet there our stay Need not be long; for, our desires confined : To real needs, our wants are really few ; ; And even eighteenpence per diem earned (Were the much-talked-of brotherhood of man, More than a myth Utopian) might suffice For food and raiment — all accessories, ; Appliances of science or of art To be by richer brethren lent or given * * * • "Hast eighteen-pence ? " oh, who more than the bard Could beauty of style or lofty sentiment ! Admire ? Yet must he rudely interrupt ; The flow of eloquence — " hast eighteen -j pence?" ; Some urgent need was sorely pressing him 1 •' So will th' impatient spirit, as we read I Our essay or lyric, suddenly cry put, ; Oh ! cvi bono t pardon me, dear Bir, — i My good Lord Tennyson or Teufelsdrookh, — i Your sentiments are charming, but will they \ Hate-hunger quench, or give the thirsty soul, ' With disappointment parched, one drink of : hope? * * * * Did the bard ask m vain ? oh, surely not ! ' For, when so small, a bounty can enrich, Who should witlihold would poverish him-! - - mii, : Self-robbed of all the joy of doing good I i And thus incarnate Wisdom-^'J'tis. -more j blessed . ; To give than to receive ! To him that asks, Give, and from borrowers turn not away I " Carltonds.