PUNCH TO PRIMROSE.
"A good one to follow, a bad one to beat!"
Don't envy the man who succeeds to your seat,
My clever ex-L.C.C. Chairman.
Fanatics and faddists will mar the best schemes,
Unless they're restrained from unholy extremes
By the hand of a strong and a fair man.
Your lubber, when first he adventures on wheels,
Has little control of his head or his heels.
With knees on the shake, and arms shrinking,
He scrambles about on the slippery floor,
Like a toper at large, or a mad semaphore,
Half wishing he hadn't gone rinking.
But, guided discreetly, supported at need,
The clumsiest novice at last may succeed,
His knees and his elbows controlling;
And you, my dear PRIMOSE, have played such a part.
You have given your promising pupil a start,
And—so to speak—set the wheels rolling.
He ought to do now; let us hope that he will.
The thanks mainly due to your judgment and skill
Mr. Punch, for the Public, here offers,
The boy's a bit clumsy,—most novices are;
But, give him fair play, and he may prove a "star,"
In spite of the sneerers and scoffers.
