TIT FOR TAT.
WE were two children in one house,
She was as meek as the mildest mouse,
The time had come for a midnight spree!
When we were over our jokes and wine,
She scattered horse-hair chopped up fine.
O! the girl was fair to see!
She laughed well-pleased with what she'd done,
She played the dreadful trick for fun.
The time had come for a midnight spree!
I lay awake! and struck a match,
For didn't the horrible horse-hair scratch.
O! the girl was fair to see!
I made a vow! I laid a snare!
And crept quite softly up the stair,
The hour had come for a midnight spree!
And after dinner from her bed
I stole the pillow for her head.
O! the girl was fair to see!
I took the dredger full of flour,
The pillow powdered for an hour;
The time had come for a midnight spree!
I hated her for her cruel sell,
She loved her tresses passing well.
O! the girl was fair to see!
She slept serenely all that night,
But woke up in a dreadful fright;
The time had come for a midnight spree!
When half awake she neared the glass,
She uttered naughty words, alas!
O! the girl was fair to see!
She brush'd and comb'd her floury head,
"I'll never get it out," she said,
The time had come for a midnight spree!
My deep revenge she'll not forget
I think she may be brushing yet!
O! the girl was fair to see!
From Fun, February 1, 1868.
The same journal also contained, December 16th, 1872, Papa's Theory (after A. Tenny..n); and, May 7, 1876, Home They Brought the Gallant Red—(croquet.)
George Cruikshank's Omnibus, published in 1842, contains on page 260 some pertinent remarks on Parody. "It is essential, says E. P. W., to the full effect of a parody, that the original should be familiar to the reader. Now, several parodies we have received possess that advantage, thus we have half-a-dozen parodies on "Gray's Elegy," suggested by the conflagration at the Tower, and a like number of variations of the "Beggar's Petition;" but although these originals are well known, we pass their parodies by in favour of one upon Tennyson's 'Mariana at the Moated Grange,' entitled"—