PHARAOH AND THE SERGEANT.

Waikato Argus, Volume III, Issue 209, 13 November 1897, Page 2 (Supplement)

PHARAOH AND THE SERGEANT.

BY RUDY ART) KIPIXG. • consider that tho meritorious service of the Sergeant Instructors attached to the Egyptian Army have been inadequately acknowledged. ". . To the excellence of their work is mainly due the great improvement that lias taken place in the soldiers of 11. 11. the Khedive. (Extract from letter.)

Said England unto Pharaoh, " I must make a man of you That will stand upon his feet and play the game; That will Maxim his oppressor as a Christian ought to do." And so sent old Pharaoh Sergeant Whatisnaine. It was not a Duke nor Earl nor yet a Viscount. It was not a big brass general that came : But a man in Khaki kit who could not handle men a. bit. With his bedding labelled Sergeant Whatisnamc.

Said England unto Pharaoh, " Tho' at present singing small, You shall hum a proper tunc beforo it ends," And she introduced old Pharaoh to the Sergeant once for all, And left 'em in the desert making friends. It was not a Crystal Palace nor Cathedral. It was not a public house of common fame, But a piece of red hot sand, with a palm on cither hand, And a little hut for Sergeant Whatisnaine.

Said England unto Pharaoh, " You've had miracles before. When Aaron struck your rivers into blood ; But if you watch the Sergeant he can show you something more -- He's a charm for making rifle men from mud." It was neither Hindustani, French, nor Coptic : It was odds an<l ends and leavings of the same, Translated by a stick (which is really half the trick), And Pharaoh harked to Sergeant Whatisnaine.

(There were years that no one talked of, there were times of horrid doubt, There was faith anil hope and whacking and despair ; While Sergeant gave the Cautions, and he combed old Pharaoh out. And England did'nt look to know nor care. That is England's lawful way of doing business ; She would serve her Cod and Gordon just the same : For she thinks her Empire still in the Strand or Holborn Hill, And she didn't think o'Sergeant Whatisnaine).

Said England to the Sergeant, " You can let my people go !" (England used'olll cheap and nasty from the first) There was heat and dust and coolie Work and sun, There we're vipers, flies ttud sandstorms,

there was cholera and thirst, But Pharaoh done the best he ever done. Down the desert, down the railway, down the river, Like the Israel ities from bondage so he came,

" Tween the clouds o' dust and lire to the laud of his desire, And his Muses it was Sergeant Whatisnaine !

We arc eating ilirl in hiiudfuls for to save oiil' daily bread, Which we have to buy from those that hate us most, And we must not rise the money where the Sergeant raised the dead, And its wrong and bad and dangerous to boast ; I|ut lie did it en the oheiin and on the ( ,uiet, And lie's not allowed to forward any elaini Though be drilled a black man white though. lie made a miinny tight, He will still continue Sergeant Wlmtisiiaine - Private, Corporal, Colour .Sergeant, and InstructorBui the everlasting miracle's the same!