THE NEW AIR.
(To an Old Tune.)
O Rayleigh now, this raelly strange is
This New Nitrogen!
Air that into water changes
Seem not new to men,
(All our atmosphere this summer
Has been "heavy wet,")
But sheer solid air seems rummer,
More Munchausenish yet!
New things now are awfully common;
And it seems but fair,
With New Humour, Art, and Woman,
We should have New Air.
"Lazy air," one calls it gaily;
Seasonable, very!
Will it quiet us, dear Rayleigh,
Soothe us, make us merry?
Still the flurry, cool the fever,
Calm the nervous stress?
If it be so, you for ever
Punch will praise and bless.
Will the New Air set—oh! grand Sir!—
Life to a new tune?
Lead us to a Lotos-Land, Sir,
Always afternoon?
One per cent. seems rather little!
Can't you make it more?
When 'tis solid is it brittle?
Liquid, does it pour?
Rayleigh? No? You don't say so!
What lots of funny things you know!
The Difference between a bad German Band and a beaten Cricket Team.—One fails to play in time and the other to "play out time."