Makes me quite sentimental when I sit and listen to him,
and recall days that are no more. _Mrs. Gummidge_ thinking of the
Old 'Un is nothing to me thinking of the Young 'Un who came up from
Birmingham in 1876, and who from '80 to '85 walked hand in hand with
me.
We were patriots together.--Ah! placeman and peer
Are the patrons who smile on your labours to-day;
And Lords of the Treasury lustily cheer
Whatever you do and whatever you say.
Go, pocket, my JOSEPH, as much as you will,
The times are quite altered we very well know;
But will you not, will you not, talk to us still,
As you talked to us once long ago, long ago?
We were patriots together!--I know you will think
Of the cobbler's caresses, the coalheaver's cries,
Of the stones that we throw, and the toasts that we drink
Of our pamphlets and pledges, our libels and lies!
When the truth shall awake, and the country and town
Be heartily weary of BALFOUR & CO.,
My JOSEPH, hark back to the Radical frown,
Let us be what we were, long ago, long ago!"
"Bless me," I cried, "how beautiful! I didn't know that, among your
many accomplishments, you were given to dropping into poetry.
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