Had in our living made our life divine
Till, as we grew accustomed to look at you,
We worshiped man transformed into a statue.
This poem was written on the inside of a grocer’s bag, and when it was handed to René it contained threepence. It was signed Jethro Lunt, and dated April 4, 1887.
One day Old Lunt extended his usual observations, and ended by asking morosely:
“Did you—did you read my poems?”
“Why, yes,” answered René, “all of them.”
“Have you really now? No one has read my poems for thirty years. It’s only the old ballads I sell now, and them not often. The newspapers do all the murders and hangings. Till the halfpenny newspapers came in, I could sell a murder or two in certain streets. I had one about Charley Peace:
Charles Peace, he played the violin.
Music excited him to sin