"An Autumn Afternoon at Nazareth House." Punch, Nov. 5, 1892.]
I don't just know who Kingsley was, but he was a good sort, I reckon!
When nerves are slack and spirits low, the glowing pipe-bowl seems to beckon
Like a good ghost or spirit kind to the fireside where age reposes.
Yes! bacca makes an old man's chair as easeful as a bed of roses.
Bad habit! So the strict ones say; expensive, wasteful, and un-Christian!
I cannot argue of it out; I'm only a poor old Philistian.
But oh the comfort of a pipe, the company it lends the lonely!
It seems the poor soul's faithful friend, and oftentimes the last and only.