BEAK AND "CHEEK."

Manawatu Times, Volume III, Issue 109, 21 January 1880, Page 2

BEAK AND "CHEEK."

[BY OKB WHO HA.B BEAD POR's " SATIN "

BAVBNOU3LY.J One evening x-uther recently, as I sat drinking decently * f -' / -;... 1 Some mildly -olended- beverage promoting. mental bliss, Aqd my thoughts were waxiug cosy, and I becoming prosy, And right comfortably dosy were my faculties at this, When a Bcruping.at my door made me think " What everY this ?- What the. What's-his-naroe is this ?" Jt struck me that the tapper yras-my loving trieiiii, Greorgo Ckoper, Whose puny pot of patience had fairly bubbled o'oi 1 ; Who had left hu little paper, and o^me to • be a scraper — A scraper of acquaintance, that I would Boon deplore — The, thought was not a happy one, so I . gazed upon the Hoor, While, Vhe scr^tcJier scratched the more. 'Twas a sound that took 5 the shaping of a ! sei\ituhing or a seraph^,' ■'■ -' . Aud it bothered u^o. excejtirely .$o fancy ", ' ". . its import, ■ So I Bata minute wond'ring, miSsTfam con- I jectures blundering, Jill I thought it had been thundering — absurdity m short — A rat got m the cupboard, or someth.ng of that sort Was there that hadu't ought. i But the scraping Bjall continued, and my nerves grew strongly sinewed ' To i he necessary effort the dark riddlo to explore, Thinks 1, my vvord its queer, but I bet a, pint of beer " ' That I nuke- the truth uppoar just by opening of the door — ' Some tipuliitcd visitor whose seas v?sr.c running o'ev — yiuiply that— a.ud nothing wore. So I took my sanctum candle, as I seized the portal* huudle, Aud >luug the entrance opea with a noisy kind of ttkmb, Gazing forth into tim gloom, which, had guthcL'fed ruiuid tjitii ruosi^, Prcpmtn.l to grapple lieicely witli tlie batturiiig kind of ram, And reckless of the consequences thatsoon nyr hood might jimb, Expecting Greorge's kopper to send nic to my doom. When the light illuoVd tho landing I saw a figure standing, And recognised a face which olai I knew too well; On the step I stopped to liuger, while the spectre raised a fiuger In such a threatening uttitudo thattmy i hopes to zero fell, .-...* I \V hii«* »" sepulchral numbara it chan,ted a» a knell, " (io to II- 1 ! go to II -1 !" £ tried to eat the leek, but my lips refused to apeak, As with a ghastly shriek the spectre ma,de a blow ; I nimbly stept one side, so the blow foil rather wide, And with rago the monster cried as he scattered tq aud fro j Impivuulions m Lud English, inigraniniatical, and so ■ I knew thegjuost was <J Jow." Thqn I thought the room grew foggy, and I with 3ouchong groggy, While my hoad kept wheeling round, and I tried m vain to speak ; While- George, the horrid cr^ituro, seemed j to change iv every leature Till he withered into nothing but a mooslroxis mass of " cheek ;" And the words he" kopt repeating were "I give the man a week," Did this journalistic "beak." Said this awful-looking " beak " witK a slice of George's cheek, "Ten shillings or n week iv quod, and take the tiend away ;" And 'midst crowds iv au.t:h wise sinning, sud bobbies grimly grinning, Methought a sad Magguifii.i { weut i^pjn my way — 'Twas a dream ! — I woke to the morning dawning grey, And — had no line to pay. I might append a sequel werA my jnexvo.us system equal, And distinctly point a moral which I uhudowed forth m brief, iiut my readers intellectual, I really must ; expjcb you nil Wiil perceive, tha key, and give ifc un» k qicV?S«d b.e}iu.F -, r tho swearing spoctra, ixa he's sure to ooine to grief. — So now J tako my luave.