THE TRAIN.
I COME from haunts of Smith and Son,
I agitate the vapours,
I take in Judy, Punch, and Fun,
And all the morning Papers;
And all the magazines besides,
Since Chambers's began,
And all varieties of guides,
And all degrees of man.
I roll away like "thunder live,"
With half a ship the freight of;
Six hundred miles a day at five
Times ten an hour the rate of.
Twice twenty streets I intersect,
And flash o'er twenty runnels.
With many loops the towns connect,
And vanish in the tunnels.
And out again I curve, and so
Pursue my destination;
For men may come and men may go,
And stop at any station.
I echo down the mountain pass,
I pass fine ruins over,
As light as harebell in the grass,
Or leveret in the clover.
Like Orpheus the trees I charm,
And set the hedgerows dancing;
With here a forest, there a farm
Retiring and advancing.
I draw them all along, and thread
The counties everywhere,
As men must have their daily bread,
So I my daily fare.
Chambers' Journal.
Another imitation (and a very long one) of the same original, appeared in Punch, October 11, 1884, and a parody entitled The Mill was in Judy, April 26, 1884.