A BALLADE OF EVENING NEWSPAPERS.
The evening shadows gather round the room;
How full of joy it were to sit and greet
The twilight slowly deepening into gloom,
And in the cool forget the noontide heat.
The busy hum, the noise of passing feet,
Such quiet calm could scarcely serve to mar,
Did there not come to us from out the street,
Globe, Evening News, Pall Mall, St. James's, Star!
The gaily-coloured omnibuses loom,
Approach, and disappear with footsteps fleet,
The crossing-sweepers blithely ply the broom,
Policemen slowly pace upon their beat.
We buy the blossoms with their fragrance sweet,
And only on our senses sadly jar
The noises of the ruffians who repeat,
Globe, Evening News, Pall Mall, St. James's, Star!
The latest aspect of the latest boom,
The starting price of winners and of wheat,
The thousand lives lost in a late simoom,
A conflagration, or a bursting leat,
How gallant gentlemen can stoop to cheat,
The spicy current gossip of the Bar—
Can all be found in this or that news-sheet,
Globe, Evening News, Pall Mall, St. James's, Star!