A DERBY DAY DITTY.

NZ Truth, Issue 58, 28 July 1906, Page 7

A DERBY DAY DITTY.

" 'Tis full forty years ago since I first won a Derby bet," - Said the well-to-do old buffer in the train To the antique stranger facing him ; " but I shall ne'er forget The gay doings of myself and comrades twain. We had all three backed the same tip, and the night before the raoe To a music-hall or two we thought we'd roam ; We heard ' Champagne Charlie ' some- » where, I don't recollect the place, - But we all sang ' Champagne Charlie going home 1" "Forty years ago — now, lename think — would be Lord Lyon's year," . Said the antique stranger, looking extra old At hja reminiscent neighbor, who said, chucklingly, "Hear, hear I" '•We'd all backed him weeks before for heaps of gold. We'd each dealt with the same bookie, and ■■' we stood to win such wealth That we reckoned we'd annex his last half-crown ; And on Derby Day we'd lots of lush to drink each other's health, And we all sang ' Champagne Charlie ' going down I" " You were on a cert, that journey," said the stranger, looking hard At a bullot-headed bounder by his side ; "I remember that Lord Lyon, no such horse on this year's card, I remember him, and Custance bad the ride." "Absolutely bo, air," answered the old sportsman, "you're correct. And with' ' Custance lip, the trick was neatly done ; He got home, and wo all got extremely tight, I recollect, And we all sang 'Champagne Charlie * when he'd won 1" "I don't; blame yon," said the stranger, " though I didn't sing myself When that gee-gee won, I didn't feel that way!" Then he turned, and whispered something to the bullet-headed elf, And then shouted, to, the good old sport's dismay, " Naw then, down him, Bill ; go through his kick, and do him for his pile. ; We're aloue here — hot a soul to queer the pitch; Fat him through it, truss him up a bit, and gag him for a while, •' And then give him ' Champagne Charlie on the snitch-'" And before he'd time to size it up the good . old chap was "downed," And his kpocker-out went deftly through hia"sky"; And, on reaching the next' station, to his victim gagged and bound The old "had been" said, as he prepared to guy, 44 That's a wee bit of my own back, it's a funny thing, old bloke, , After forty years, that you should be so slow As to pitch that yarn to me, for I'm the penciller you broke When you all sang ' Champagne Charlie 1 years ago 1"