Street Circulars.
No. I.
For the Table Book.
WHISTLING JOE.
He whistles as he goes for want of bread.[108]
Old books declare,—in Plutus’ shade,
Whistling was once a roaring trade,—
Great was the call for nerve and gristle;
That Charon, with his Styx in view,
Pierced old Phlegethon through and through,
And whist-led in the ferry-whistle—
That Polyphemus whistled when
He p-layed the pipe r in a pen,
And sought Ulysses’ bark to launch;
That Troy, King Priam had not lost,
But for the whistlers that were horsed[109]
Within the horse’s wooden paunch.
Jupiter was a whist-ling wight,
And Juno heard him with delight;
And Boreas was a reedy swain,
Awak’ning Venus from the sea:
But of the Moderns?—Joe is he
That whistles in the streets for gain.
You wonder as you hear the tone
Sound like a herald in a zone
Distinctly clear, minutely sweet;
You list and Joe is dancing, now
You laugh, and Joe returns a bow
Returning in the crooked street.