A fair forty year at the bench ought to give one the tip, I suppose.
If me and my mates and the masters, the Book and the Bench, could combine
To take the job fairly in hand, I suppose we could strike out a line.
Odd luck if we couldn't, at least; but we don't pull together, you see:
Pull devil pull baker's the game,—it's a mad one, as most will agree.
The Book and the Bench! There's the nip. And a fellow will see—if he'll look—
That although the three R's are good value, a man cannot live by the Book.
True, Bench without Book may be blindish, but Book without Bench may be worse,
To read penny papers won't feed you, if you haven't pence in your purse.
Men can't live on cackle not nohow, the bulk of 'em that is to say;