THE SLIT TROUSER.
(Whose arrival in England is reported in the photographic press.)
You who see advanced attire
Photographed for you to mock,
Hold your ridicule or ire,
Wax not scornful at the shock;
Let not your compassion freeze,
Hark to Archie for a bit,
Ponder, if you please, his pleas,
Patience, ere you slight his slit.
Long there raged a warfare grim
In the councils of the Nut;
Socks were all in all to him
Abso-simply-lutely; but—
Here's a problem for you pat—
How shall Archibald disclose
Through the thickness of the spat
Iridescent demi-hose?
Yesteryear that problem vexed;
One day spatted he would fare,
Lacking colour; and the next
Spatless, in chromatic wear.
No dilemma reads him now,
Bidding this or that to go.
See, his side-cleft bags allow
Spat and sock an equal show.