THE JOLLY YOUNG WATERMAN.
(Up to Date.)
And did you not hear of the East London Watermen,
Who our requirements failed to supply,
If the weather was hot or was cold in severity
Their pipes and their cisterns were equally dry.
In cold or in heat they charged as steadily,
But water to drink we couldn't get readily;
Yet water or none, with an impudent air,
They charged all the same, and it didn't seem fair.
What sights of distress there were seen in the district,
Its drains were unflushed, and were tainted withal,
(There was always a cause—some "Progressive" obstruction,)
But the party supporting them grew very small;
And often would there be both swearing and sneering,
But 'twas all one to them the complaining and jeering;
For cursing and praying they little did care—
But charged us for water—it didn't seem fair.
But, only to fancy how strangely things happen,
While rates were collected for nothing at all,
The Government Board held a special inquiry,
Which sat for a while in the Hackney Town Hall.
And should this report (to the Company's sorrow)
Be issued to-day, next month, or to-morrow,
The East London Company'd better take care—
As charging for nothing is scarcely quite fair.
No Joe-k.—A Tory "of the old school" has adapted the well-known Virgilian hexameter thus:—Ch-mb-rl-n væ miseræ nimium vicina Carltonæ!
Wrecks and Casualties.—The barque Metropolitan Improvements stranded on the County Council Sands.