To fairs and races go must you,
And get in rows and fights a few,
And stopping out all night it's true
Must often be your plan.
And as through the world you budgery,
Get well awake to fudgery,
And rub off every grudgery,
And do the best you can.
XII
But mummery and slummery
You must keep in your mind,
For every day, mind what I say,
Fresh fakements you will find.
But stick to this while you can crawl.
To stand 'till you're obliged to fall,
And when you're wide awake to all
You'll be a Leary Man.
[1: dodge; learn] [2: nonsense] [3: money] [4: drink] [5: hat; head] [6: necktie] [7: talk slang] [8: Notes] [9: handkerchief] [10: neck; men] [11: good fellow; money] [12: head; pugilism]
"A HUNDRED STRETCHES HENCE" [Notes] [1859]
[From The Vocabulum: or Rogues Lexicon, by G. W. MATSELL, New
York].
I
Oh! where will be the culls of the bing [1]
A hundred stretches hence? [2]
The bene morts who sweetly sing, [3]
A hundred stretches hence?
The autum-cacklers, autum-coves, [4]
The jolly blade who wildly roves; [5]
And where the buffer, bruiser, blowen, [6]
And all the cops, and beaks so knowin, [7]
A hundred stretches hence?
II
And where the swag so bleakly pinched [8]
A hundred stretches hence?
The thimbles, slangs, and danglers filched, [9]
A hundred stretches hence?
The chips, the fawneys, chatty-feeders, [10]
The bugs, the boungs, and well-filled readers; [11]
And where the fence, and snoozing ken, [12]
With all the prigs and lushing men, [13]
A hundred stretches hence?